Even though you don’t see a lot of it on your display (yet), the cameras on your Tesla can detect more of the surrounding environment than you think. Like other features on your car, these detections also get better with time.
One of the latest improvements is the ability for your car to detect emergency vehicles and also other Teslas by model and colour.
The changes were noted by none other than Tesla hacker @greentheonly. In images shared to Twitter, he showed a behind the scenes look at the computer detecting a stationary “Police Car” 29.0 meters away.
You can also see in the image the car has detected two cars and two minivans in the background.
Not only can it detect emergency vehicles, it can also now detect other Tesla vehicles by both model and colour. In the image below we can see it has detected an oncoming Model 3 (99.98%), and that it is white (100.00%).
Green notes that it can also detect Model S and Model X, although he says it still gets confused between the 3 and Y (just like us humans).
This hopefully means we’ll be seeing a promised feature arrive soon. Last June Elon Musk said the car’s display will “soon” render other Tesla vehicles by model and colour, instead of a generic, grey sedan or SUV.
Maybe that will arrive with the second half of the holiday software update?
Here’s a video showing the detections happening in real time.
Been watching hidden Tesla detections stuff for some time.
It keeps improving. pic.twitter.com/hIFUabeKrz
— green (@greentheonly) May 15, 2021
