Still Unresolved: Tesla’s Ongoing Parking Sensor Removal Issue

For several years now, Elon Musk has been pushing forward with Tesla Vision, a positioning system that relies solely on cameras.

While the program performs fairly well for semi-autonomous driving, the brand also utilizes this feature for parking, replacing the ultrasonic sensors that have been common in cars for decades.

Cameras Can’t Fully Replace Sensors

When parking sensors were removed, early model users who only had cameras expressed significant dissatisfaction: the car poorly estimated distances, especially in underground parking lots where precision is critical down to the last few centimeters.

To address these initial shortcomings, Tesla recently developed a 3D reconstruction algorithm of the environment, still without sensors but using only cameras. This computation requires an AMD chip, as the previous Intel platform was not powerful enough to create such detailed 3D environments.

The system functioned better than its first iteration (without 3D), but not optimally. For instance, the lack of a camera in the grille area meant it failed to detect certain elements near the lower sides of the car, as we noted in our test drive of the Model 3 Highland Performance. Curbs and other objects at grille level were often overlooked by Tesla Vision.

Adding a Camera to the Grille

In the brand new Tesla Model Y we recently tested, there’s a small but significant update: a camera has been added to the grille!

We conducted a clear test: after parking the vehicle, we placed an object (in this case, a boot) directly in front of the car to see if the new camera would detect it. In real life, this could be a bike, a ball, or an animal that moved into position after the car was parked.

The front camera clearly showed our boot, but, the 3D system failed to detect it in its 3D construction. When we moved forward, the car emitted no warning.

How is this possible? Simply because this construction requires movement to generate the 3D model. If you add a stationary object, the car assumes it’s flat and blends it into the scenery. Indeed, the car had previously detected a boot on the adjacent spot upon our arrival and had refused to park there.

A Camera Can’t Fully Replace a Sensor

As you can see, a camera will never truly replace an ultrasonic sensor, unless it’s part of a 3D camera system that can accurately identify objects, which isn’t the case here.

Owners of Tesla models before 2022 are aware that the accuracy of the system has not yet been matched by Tesla Vision, which is quite unfortunate. So why were the ultrasonic sensors removed? To cut costs… but is it worth it if customers end up with vehicle damage due to poor camera judgment?