A feature that was hinted at last month has made its first appearance in Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) beta software.
Currently Tesla vehicles are equipped with the option to have your mirrors fold and unfold automatically based on a preset location. The feature is particularly helpful when pulling in to and out of narrow garages or parking spots.
Now Tesla has implemented a new behaviour for the auto-folding mirrors that was discovered this morning by FSD beta tester Kim Paquette.
While testing the self-driving software in Newport, Rhode Island along a narrow street with parked cars on one side, the side mirrors automatically folded in to allow more room for the Tesla to squeeze by.
Where #FSDBeta is still struggling for me – tight left turns, and stopping far back from line at 🛑.
New behavior – mirrors folded in automatically on very narrow one way street with parallel parked cars. 😎 #FSD #tesla #model3 pic.twitter.com/M2DI4r8Y1Z
— Kim Paquette 💫 (@kimpaquette) October 27, 2020
We first learned the feature could be coming soon from Tesla hacker @greentheonly last month. While examining the source code for the software update 2020.36.10, he discovered a new reference to “narrow corridor” and “pinch point” that is activated when Autopilot is engaged.
Looking into 2020.36.10 some more – some support for "narrow corridor"/"pinch point" is coming. The autopilot would fold the mirrors in such places it seems. I think this was important in UK?
— green (@greentheonly) September 12, 2020
As noted by green, the new feature will be particularly welcomed by Tesla owners in the UK where most streets are much narrower than what we see in North America.
This isn’t the first new feature that has appeared in the FSD beta software. Just yesterday beta tester James Locke came across some road debris that was mapped on the visualization, hinting at the future pothole detection which Musk has said would be coming in the future.
