Tesla made some significant changes to their website yesterday. In an update to the product pages for all models, as well as the recruitment page for the Autopilot team, the automaker hinted they had already transitioned away from including radar in some of their vehicles.
The changes came after CEO Elon Musk said just a few months ago the company was moving to a “pure vision” approach to Autopilot and Full Self-Driving (FSD).
Today Tesla has confirmed the change has already made it into production for the Model 3 and Model Y. The automaker also confirmed it hasn’t happened for the Model S or Model X yet, but will eventually.
A new support page entitled “Transitioning to Tesla Vision” reveals that all Model 3/Y delivered in May 2021 and later in Canada and the US will no longer be equipped with radar.
As a result, certain features like Autosteer, Smart Summon, and Emergency Lane Departure will be either “temporarily limited or inactive” until a series of future software updates reinstates these features. These updates are expected to start within weeks.
The page also includes two frequently asked questions (FAQ), one of which explains why the change happened to the Model 3/Y first.
Why aren’t Model S and Model X transitioning now?
Model 3 and Model Y are our higher volume vehicles. Transitioning them to Tesla Vision first allows us to analyze a large volume of real-world data in a short amount of time, which ultimately speeds up the roll-out of features based on Tesla Vision.
This announcement will open the flood gates for deliveries across North America. Vehicles have been piling up in holding lots as Tesla has not completed deliveries for quite some time. It was believed the delay was because of a pending software update that would allow these cars to use a vision-only version of Autopilot.
With the addition of this new page on the website, Tesla has confirmed this theory.
You can read more about the changes here.
h/t: Sawyer Merritt
