Would anyone be interested in this feature? I often times park too far away from the parking block because I am afraid I will hit my car. And when I parallel park, the reverse feature helps. But something that shows distance from tire to curb would be more helpful.
I agree this feature would be nice; its available on my wife's Nissan Rogue. I suspect that between two cameras on the side and those in the front; some type of view could be provided with electronic manipulation. Nissan electronically manipulates the image from their cameras on the side and front to make it look like there is a drone mounted camera above the car.
But where is the front camera on the Nissan? (Most companies put them in the front grill pointing downward.) The front camera on a Tesla is behind the rear view mirror, and as such it can't see anything directly in front of the car.
The front camera on the NIssan on the grill as you describe. But there are also side cameras mounted on each side-view mirror with a fish-eye type lens that looks out along the side. So perhaps the combination of the two side M3 cameras combined have a similar view (or perhaps not; hard to know).
Nope, no cameras on the side view mirrors. There are side-view cameras on the repeaters on the front fenders but they point backwards. And then there are side view cameras facing forward on the B pillars. But they aren't going to give you a view of anything directly in front of the car.
Sorry, guess my post wasn't clear. I was trying to refer to the Nissan that has the cameras on the mirrors; not the Tesla. The Tesla side cameras are exactly as MP3 indicates. It is correct that while B Pillar cameras point forward they won't see anything directly in front of the car. However, there might be sufficient information that when coupled with an electronically superimposed vehicle in the screen that could partially simulate a partial front view. Only the Tesla engineers would know what is possible; certainly not myself.
I feel really bad for the self-driving computer if the cameras can't see a curb. Is it supposed to just assume a curb is small enough to park over? Or is it always going to have it's butt sticking out because the computer has to be cautious?
Most (if not all) self parking would be backing in, so it would use the tires,rear camera, and/or the ultrasonics to detect a curb, car, wall, or line behind it.
I agree with the OP. I have the same concern about not wanting to hit the curb when moving forward. So far, my solution has been to ask my wife to get out of the car and let me know how close I'm getting! I suspect that's going to get old really really soon. She may even insist on driving while I get out, lol.
moving forward can't you just look at the proximity sensor readout that gives you distance in the front?
It doesn't detect curbs. My suggestion is to back into spots instead of nose-in. It might seem harder, but it's actually easier and pulling out, you can see the traffic better.
Interesting, mine always shows something in front of me when i pull in. I've always assumed it's a curb but perhaps I'm just detecting the bush.
The front camera can't show this due to where it is on the car. You would have to back in and use that camera, or use a 3rd party device if you can find one.
Backing in is definitely an option. I pull too far into my garage and back up to get exact position. I know how the door sill looks in the camera when it's exactly right.
More accurately, it doesn't detect curbs with any kind of reliability that I would want to count on to avoid scraping something. It certainly detects curbs now and then... Now that I have a backup camera for the first time ever I'm backing into nearly every parking position (unless I can pull through into what would be a backed in position).
I think I am going to start doing this when I take delivery of my 3 as well. I know I've checked my front bumper a few dozen times on my S because I thought I might have come too close going nose-in, and I'm going to use a sto-n-sho plate, so I don't want do damage the mount for that.
BTW: They did do this "Aftermarket" on the Model S before 2nd run of camera switch that show a front image on the touch screen
The issue of curb height and parking over/ behind is a tricky one, especially ones with rebar sticking up. In general, the car will see the curb from a distance and knows how far it has moved, so no issue in positioning (as long as it remembers there is a curb in front of it when you leave )