360 Cameras?

[B8BB8B]

With the 2.0 AP announcement today do you think the cars will have the ability to have 360 cameras now?

I am rooting for it because I love backing up with 360 when packing close to curbs.

 

[outie]

Depends if Tesla wants to add that capability to the UI. It looks like the extra cameras are only used for EAP and EAP+. You will have to find out through later software updates!

 

[gearchruncher]

Look at the AP page on Tesla's page it shows that there are no cameras overseeing most of the side of the car.

 

[MP3Mike]

Look at the AP page on Tesla's page it shows that there are no cameras overseeing most of the side of the car.

Look again:

It does appear that there might be a small gap in front of those cameras, but I don't think it will be an issue.

 

[S'toon]

Eight surround cameras provide 360 degree visibility around the car at up to 250 meters of range.

All Tesla Cars Being Produced Now Have Full Self-Driving Hardware

 

[timf]

The surround view is for the car, not the driver. The ultimate intent is all parking operations would be autonomous so the view wouldn't be of use to the human. In the short term it would be nice to have the top-down view many new cars have, but I think Tesla's vision is beyond this so it's not something they'd waste time on.

 

[Johan]

Yes the view is for the car/Autopilot and not for the driver primarily. As one could see from the video there are continuous feeds that can be recorded, at least in the mule vehicle, but they're in black and white.

 

[gearchruncher]

I stand corrected. I was looking at this image, which doesn't show a side camera, just side ultrasonics. An image below does show side cameras.

That being said, they do appear to be B&W.

 

[ccutrer]

I'd be fine with a top-down view being in all or mostly black and white.

 

[jjen@EDH]

Same here.

While we are waiting for the dream of fully automated parking is realized, why not stitch the feeds and make the parking easier for us now assuming reasonable quality and coverage surrounding the car with existing software.

Totally understand the argument of prioritizing limited R&D resources and such, but even if/when Tesla grantees to pay for the full repair if/when the car parks itself into the ditch because of whatever reason, I would still like to have the option to do it myself with better view around the car.

Just like i am pretty sure the day when the fully self-driving capability is roll-out, they won't take the steering wheel and pedals away!

Please make it so!

 

[earlyretirement]

There is NO reason why with all the technology out there that this isn't already a feature in ALL Teslas. My wife's Cadillac Escalade has this and it's wonderful for the ability to easily park in parking spaces and seeing the lines where you are parking. Especially with the wide Model X. They really should have this already.

 

[Scrith]

I absolutely agree that the Model X, at least, should have surround cameras, like my 2013 LEAF had. It needs them more than any other car I've driven (due to the size and bulkiness of the vehicle), yet we are forced to open doors and position mirrors to check, like cars made 100 years ago. A tremendous driver-unfriendly oversight.

 

[outie]

There are a lot of stuff that Tesla should have but not have in the same price range, and not going to have. I don't know if that's relevant.

If you are waiting for something that Tesla needs to have, then get the Tesla after it's available, if ever.

 

[earlyretirement]

There are a lot of stuff that Tesla should have but not have in the same price range, and not going to have. I don't know if that's relevant.

If you are waiting for something that Tesla needs to have, then get the Tesla after it's available, if ever.

Forget about "in the same price range". At any price point a car billed as being this technologically advanced really should have it. The issue is that although Tesla has a big head start on EV's, if they don't have basic things like surround view, they won't be the leader in EV's in the future. All the other big players will get into EV's and Tesla doesn't have a chance if they can't get very basic things found in cheap cars.

Don't get me wrong. I love my Tesla. I've owned the Model S since mid 2013 and also own the Model X but this is one of the most basic things they need. As Scrith mentioned, it's so bulky that it's embarrassing that they don't already have this in it. Forget about self driving, etc. etc. They need to get the very basic things right first.

 

[AnxietyRanger]

nVidia actually demonstrated black and white 360 parking views on DRIVE PX already back in 2015. Perhaps this is indicative of things to come - after all the Tesla's UI's current parking view certainly already has room for that view, the big black space on the lower half of the screen around the car image...

Here is the DRIVE PX image: https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/posts/1817400/

Of course we do not know for sure if some or all of the cameras really are black and white only, although the video from Tesla does suggest that.

It would seem to me this 360 view (in black and white or otherwise) is also a feature Tesla could add later in software if it does not make the first release.

 

[vandacca]

The lacking Surround View feature in a Tesla seems like the exact same thing as the lacking Cut n Paste feature in the first iPhones.

Like Apple, I hope that Tesla will come out with a better implementation. In the meantime, I find that Tesla's cloud view with distance to obstacles, to be a good temporary solution.

 

[MP3Mike]

Tweet from Elon: "we could enable that, although the cameras use grey, grey, grey, red detection, so it would look a little greyish red " (Though it was more in response to recording an incident than a Surround View feature.)


So I'm not sure the cameras are up to the task that people want. I do wonder if the center rear camera is special since it is probably the backup camera so would be in full color. (Or maybe there are two cameras back there?)

 

[wesley888]

For the purpose of a dash cam, greyish red is good enough for me.

 

[Peteski]

Is there any update on this?

Having just ordered an X I stupidly presumed it would have a top down 360 view like every other premium SUV I can think of. Even our Qashqai has it! Autonomous parking is all very cool, but often too slow in many situations and not great if there are other cars jostling for position at the same time. I just want to see the kerbs around the vehicle while parking, I don’t care if it’s in colour or not. The 360 view on the Qashqai is cheap and cheerful (uses 4 simple cameras - front/rear/door mirrors), but makes close kerb parking quick and foolproof. It can actually self park too, but at a snails pace that other drivers won’t tolerate. I borrowed a Volvo XC90 recently and the 360 camera on that was amazing. Hi-res colour with a really clear composite 360 degree image. It made inch perfect safe parking effortless and quick. Again the Volvo has automated parking too, but much quicker to park manually.

So I’m disappointed this simple feature has been overlooked by Tesla. I don’t want to be reliant on automated parking (even if it can be useful at times) and I certainly don’t want to have to open doors etc while trying to park close to kerbs. Maybe this is not such an issue in US parking lots, but in the UK parking is often tight, especially with a big SUV!

 

[Krazaak]

Is there any update on this?

Having just ordered an X I stupidly presumed it would have a top down 360 view like every other premium SUV I can think of. Even our Qashqai has it! Autonomous parking is all very cool, but often too slow in many situations and not great if there are other cars jostling for position at the same time. I just want to see the kerbs around the vehicle while parking, I don’t care if it’s in colour or not. The 360 view on the Qashqai is cheap and cheerful (uses 4 simple cameras - front/rear/door mirrors), but makes close kerb parking quick and foolproof. It can actually self park too, but at a snails pace that other drivers won’t tolerate. I borrowed a Volvo XC90 recently and the 360 camera on that was amazing. Hi-res colour with a really clear composite 360 degree image. It made inch perfect safe parking effortless and quick. Again the Volvo has automated parking too, but much quicker to park manually.

So I’m disappointed this simple feature has been overlooked by Tesla. I don’t want to be reliant on automated parking (even if it can be useful at times) and I certainly don’t want to have to open doors etc while trying to park close to kerbs. Maybe this is not such an issue in US parking lots, but in the UK parking is often tight, especially with a big SUV!

If you look at one of the articles showing what the AP2.0 cameras can actually see, I don't think the side cameras have enough visibility downward to be of any use for a top down view.

The top down view and the heads-up display are the two features I miss most from my BMW X6M. I try to back into spots when traffic permits, instead of pulling nose in. The backup camera combined with the auto-tilt mirrors are almost as good as the top down view and it's safer when leaving anyway.