Has vision caught up to the USS sensor capability yet?

[Webeevdrivers]

Hello all. I know the plan was to replace USS with vision but not sure if this has been abandoned or where this stands. We have a tight garage and this is important to us. Our existing Y has USS and its dead accurate.

Just wondering if we get another Y next year will we be setting up a tennis ball hanging from the roof like the good old days to mark the distance from the front wall?

Thanks in advance.

 

[jjrandorin]

Answer to thread question in title is "no"

Just wondering if we get another Y next year will we be setting up a tennis ball hanging from the roof like the good old days to mark the distance from the front wall?

If your garage is tight and you are depending on USS sensors being highly accurate, then the answer to this is "Yes".

 

[Tam]

Hello all. I know the plan was to replace USS with vision but not sure if this has been abandoned or where this stands. We have a tight garage and this is important to us. Our existing Y has USS and its dead accurate.

Just wondering if we get another Y next year will we be setting up a tennis ball hanging from the roof like the good old days to mark the distance from the front wall?

Thanks in advance.

It's prudent to buy an existing, proven, consumer-proven Ultrasonic Sensors rather than to buy the hope of Tesla vision that someday might measure parking distance accurately.

Tesla Vision to measure parking distance is still on and it's still on beta status.

 

[EVRider-FL]

In the absence of reliable Park Assist, I’ve been turning on the rear camera when driving forward into my garage to judge when I’ve pulled in far enough. Even with USS-based Park Assist in my previous Model S, I had to do the same thing because the garage layout made Park Assist unreliable. I was able to rely on Park Assist for my wife’s previous USS-equipped Model 3, but I have to use the camera to park her new Y in the garage.

 

[Occhis]

That’s exactly how I do it.

 

[Dracaris]

Same. As we pull in, we turn on the rear camera and stop when we can see enough of the driveway floor to feel like there's room to walk around the back and access the trunk without drama once the garage is closed. That approach still leaves plenty of room in front of the car for walking around.

Despite this work-around, I'm still mighty salty about removal of USS and the crippling of several features I was promised when I signed the deal to buy this car.

 

[stopcrazypp]

In the absence of reliable Park Assist, I’ve been turning on the rear camera when driving forward into my garage to judge when I’ve pulled in far enough. Even with USS-based Park Assist in my previous Model S, I had to do the same thing because the garage layout made Park Assist unreliable. I was able to rely on Park Assist for my wife’s previous USS-equipped Model 3, but I have to use the camera to park her new Y in the garage.

I have USS and I still check the rear camera to make sure there is enough clearance all around the car for moving about.

 

[stopcrazypp]

Hello all. I know the plan was to replace USS with vision but not sure if this has been abandoned or where this stands. We have a tight garage and this is important to us. Our existing Y has USS and its dead accurate.

Just wondering if we get another Y next year will we be setting up a tennis ball hanging from the roof like the good old days to mark the distance from the front wall?

Thanks in advance.

You can use tape as a reference point and the rear camera instead of a tennis ball.

 

[Webeevdrivers]

You can use tape as a reference point and the rear camera instead of a tennis ball.

Yah that should work. Sad that as the years go by we lose more and more features.

 

[Tronguy]

Our garage over here is relatively tight, at least from front to rear. At one time, with other cars, we used the hang-the-tennis-ball-from-the-ceiling trick.

Go-to method with both cars (a M3 and a MY) is to turn on the rear camera as the garage is entered. Part of the field of view on the rear camera is the bumper; i.e., straight down, and one can see the lip of the garage, no problem. Pull up far enough so there's a foot or so of distance and stop, easy-peasy.

We did this when both cars had USS, but pretty much ignored the readings. Besides, the USS only works well if there's something large and flat in front of the car, like another car or a wall. If it's miscellaneous bicycles or snow blowers, not so much.

Right now the M3 is spanking new and has no USS and, actually, is in the tighter spot. The car's display has been indicating distance to the snowblower parked in front, fairly accurately as these things go, but the rear camera view is, as I said, the go-to method.

FWIW, back when summon and all was working, we couldn't use summon to get into the garage; the lip into the garage is about an inch (blame the builders) and neither car would "hump" itself over the lip to get in. Getting out worked, but neither one does that either, now, since summon is currently disabled.

 

[Webeevdrivers]

Our garage over here is relatively tight, at least from front to rear. At one time, with other cars, we used the hang-the-tennis-ball-from-the-ceiling trick.

Go-to method with both cars (a M3 and a MY) is to turn on the rear camera as the garage is entered. Part of the field of view on the rear camera is the bumper; i.e., straight down, and one can see the lip of the garage, no problem. Pull up far enough so there's a foot or so of distance and stop, easy-peasy.

We did this when both cars had USS, but pretty much ignored the readings. Besides, the USS only works well if there's something large and flat in front of the car, like another car or a wall. If it's miscellaneous bicycles or snow blowers, not so much.

Right now the M3 is spanking new and has no USS and, actually, is in the tighter spot. The car's display has been indicating distance to the snowblower parked in front, fairly accurately as these things go, but the rear camera view is, as I said, the go-to method.

FWIW, back when summon and all was working, we couldn't use summon to get into the garage; the lip into the garage is about an inch (blame the builders) and neither car would "hump" itself over the lip to get in. Getting out worked, but neither one does that either, now, since summon is currently disabled.

Thanks for the response. If you wouldn’t mind can you elaborate on the vision a bit? For example, does it still give the little squiggly lines with a measurement to the wall etc like the USS presentation?

Thanks in advance.

John.

 

[Tronguy]

Thanks for the response. If you wouldn’t mind can you elaborate on the vision a bit? For example, does it still give the little squiggly lines with a measurement to the wall etc like the USS presentation?

Thanks in advance.

John.

Yep, on the M3 we get the little squiggly lines in front when the car gets pulled in. Again, I don't use that as the main positioner for the car, but have noted that the reading was there and seemed roughly right (yea many inches).

I haven't looked at the distance reading that closely but have been mildly curious about how deep into the weeds Tesla has gone on this. Look at it this way: With binocular vision (for those of us blessed with working wetware, not all of us are), one can get a pretty good idea of how far away things are. If memory serves, human depth perception works only to 30' or so. Further out we do it the old-fashioned way, by estimating the angular size of known objects.

But while there are a couple of cameras up on the windshield, they're not very far apart from each other. Without a decent baseline, said cameras are going to have a difficult time working out actual distance. I guess it would work better if there was a foot between them; or, better yet, a pair of forward facing cameras, one in each upper corner of the windshield.

However, having said that, I have an iPhone and have had a decent Android phone. Both of those have a "measure" mode where one waves the camera back and forth at the world a bit; then, one clicks on the corner of some object (a rug, corner of a window, whatever) then moves the aim point of the camera at some other point. And the phone will give one the distance between the two clicked points! I've measured floor width, carpet x by y, size of the top of a table, etc., etc. this way.

Well, the iPhone/Android phones Have But One Lens and they're clearly doing distance measurements just fine. Probably using the angular distance and the size of the pixels or something. And if they can do it, there's probably no particular reason that a Tesla can do it, too. Especially when we're talking about, what, ten or fifteen feet or so, maximum.

My guess is that the camera is picking up the crank handle on the side of the snowblower, which is just about at bumper height, the closest thing to the car, and is probably visible to the camera, and giving the distance between the bumper and the handle. If I feel ambitious this weekend, I'll pull the car in, note the displayed distance, then go and get a tape measure and check it.

Fun.

 

[Supcom]

Thanks for the response. If you wouldn’t mind can you elaborate on the vision a bit? For example, does it still give the little squiggly lines with a measurement to the wall etc like the USS presentation?

Thanks in advance.

John.

Yes, you get squiggly lines. Generally, they're squigglier (more squiggly?) than for a USS car.

 

[Unclepaul]

For years, Tesla has equipped their cars with a combination of camera, ultrasound and radar.

They realized that continous information, coming in from all these sensors can confuse the computer, as they often give conflicting pictures. It takes some time for the computer to analyze all this imput and determine the best and safest course of action.

Tesla now believe that the ultimate FSD will be best served with just one stream of consistant data from an array of cameras. Belief is that humans have driven for years with only visual input. Humans do not have ultrasonics or radar.

Already, data is indicating that their cars are safer being driven in FSD than by human drivers. Of course many drivers feel they are far superior, but the accident, death and crash data are leaning to camera being safer, with further advancements in the cards.

This is a big change in philosophy, but Tesla is betting that vision is the way to go.

 

[Webeevdrivers]

Yes, you get squiggly lines. Generally, they're squigglier (more squiggly?) than for a USS car.

Ok. Thanks for the info. I’m following a thread on Facebook that’s indicating that there is no squiggly lines or any distance indication. So to be clear non USS drivers are getting at least some type of distance indication around the vehicle.

 

[Supcom]

Ok. Thanks for the info. I’m following a thread on Facebook that’s indicating that there is no squiggly lines or any distance indication. So to be clear non USS drivers are getting at least some type of distance indication around the vehicle.

Yes. When you are parking the car, the visualization displays a line, usually u-shaped around the car showing its estimate of the distance to obstructions. You also get a numerical distance reading for obstacles either in front, or rear, of the car depending on the direction you are driving.

I will note that I would not trust the squiggle for maneuvering in very tight spots. IT seems to be getting better, but I would be especially careful if you have complex shaped objects near the car.

If you are considering purchase of a non-USS Tesla, why not go to a showroom and test drive one? You'll see for yourself.

 

[Webeevdrivers]

Yes. When you are parking the car, the visualization displays a line, usually u-shaped around the car showing its estimate of the distance to obstructions. You also get a numerical distance reading for obstacles either in front, or rear, of the car depending on the direction you are driving.

I will note that I would not trust the squiggle for maneuvering in very tight spots. IT seems to be getting better, but I would be especially careful if you have complex shaped objects near the car.

If you are considering purchase of a non-USS Tesla, why not go to a showroom and test drive one? You'll see for yourself.

Thanks for the info. It will probably next spring before we buy but yah. Time for a test drive.

 

[brkaus]

I park 3” off the wall in one side. USS doesn’t cut it. I have a tape T marked on the floor that I line up exactly with the tire using the side mirror while backing in.

 

[Tronguy]

Yep, on the M3 we get the little squiggly lines in front when the car gets pulled in. Again, I don't use that as the main positioner for the car, but have noted that the reading was there and seemed roughly right (yea many inches).

I haven't looked at the distance reading that closely but have been mildly curious about how deep into the weeds Tesla has gone on this. Look at it this way: With binocular vision (for those of us blessed with working wetware, not all of us are), one can get a pretty good idea of how far away things are. If memory serves, human depth perception works only to 30' or so. Further out we do it the old-fashioned way, by estimating the angular size of known objects.

But while there are a couple of cameras up on the windshield, they're not very far apart from each other. Without a decent baseline, said cameras are going to have a difficult time working out actual distance. I guess it would work better if there was a foot between them; or, better yet, a pair of forward facing cameras, one in each upper corner of the windshield.

However, having said that, I have an iPhone and have had a decent Android phone. Both of those have a "measure" mode where one waves the camera back and forth at the world a bit; then, one clicks on the corner of some object (a rug, corner of a window, whatever) then moves the aim point of the camera at some other point. And the phone will give one the distance between the two clicked points! I've measured floor width, carpet x by y, size of the top of a table, etc., etc. this way.

Well, the iPhone/Android phones Have But One Lens and they're clearly doing distance measurements just fine. Probably using the angular distance and the size of the pixels or something. And if they can do it, there's probably no particular reason that a Tesla can do it, too. Especially when we're talking about, what, ten or fifteen feet or so, maximum.

My guess is that the camera is picking up the crank handle on the side of the snowblower, which is just about at bumper height, the closest thing to the car, and is probably visible to the camera, and giving the distance between the bumper and the handle. If I feel ambitious this weekend, I'll pull the car in, note the displayed distance, then go and get a tape measure and check it.

Fun.

So, did my bit today.

Pulled into the garage; got a reading of 13" when the car was stopped, with a pair of bicycles directly in front of the car.

Parked, went and got a tape measure, and verified that the tape measure body added 3" to the actual measurement on the tape. So, with the tape stuck out 10", rested the end on the license plate and observed that the tape measure went straight through one wheel and was about half-way to the next, as per below:

So: Wildly accurate? Nope. Looks to be about 6" off.

On the other hand: the cameras are trying to get the distance to a couple of bicycle wheels that are full of air.

How well would USS work in a similar situation?

 

[Webeevdrivers]

So, did my bit today.

Pulled into the garage; got a reading of 13" when the car was stopped, with a pair of bicycles directly in front of the car.

Parked, went and got a tape measure, and verified that the tape measure body added 3" to the actual measurement on the tape. So, with the tape stuck out 10", rested the end on the license plate and observed that the tape measure went straight through one wheel and was about half-way to the next, as per below:
View attachment 989825
So: Wildly accurate? Nope. Looks to be about 6" off.

On the other hand: the cameras are trying to get the distance to a couple of bicycle wheels that are full of air.

How well would USS work in a similar situation?

Excellent real world report. Thanks. I’m actually impressed.