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How Does the Car Recalibrate the Cameras?
- Thread starter PianoAl
- Start date
RTPEV
Active Member
I suspect it needs actual moving objects (well, the objects are stationary, but the car's movement causes the "scene" to change) so that for example it can observe the position of lane markings out of the front camera and as the car passes the same landmarks it can align the other camera views such that it gets a very accurate fix on the location of landmarks the camera sees in relation to the car. A static scene would not be sufficient because (a) each of the cameras do not have overlapping views (the car needs to move so that identified objects come into view in each of the cameras) and (b) there is not enough information in a static view to get accurate fixes on the position of identified objects; you need the movement of the car to generate a stereoscopic view (of sorts) of objects in order to ascertain the distance to those objects.
RTPEV
Active Member
Probably no reason for it (and it may require processing power / separate stack that would preclude using FSD / AP during that time).
Unless something happens to knock the cameras out of calibration (windshield replacement, side camera replacement, or perhaps inconsistent returns from the cameras indicating that the initial calibration did not succeed), I can't think of why it would have to be done continuously. It should be good to go.
EVRider-FL
Well-Known Member
Also, the current recalibration implementation clears the existing calibration first, so AP can’t be used until the recalibration completes. I agree with the previous reply that there’s no reason to recalibrate continuously.
I'll give you a perfect example of why - the repeaters and rear cameras. The windshield and b-pillars are fixed and don't typically move. But the repeaters and rear cameras are mounted on the outside of the car. Repeated opening and closing of the trunk can potentially move the rear camera, even a little. And the repeaters can move quite a bit. Go out to your car and grab one of your repeater cameras, try moving it up, down, front, and back. If there is even a little play in it, that can cause the stitched image to be off by a large amount (physics). Just as a pothole can alter your wheel alignment, it can move a repeater camera a little.
In a properly configured Tesla, camera calibration takes approx 10 miles of driving on a well-marked, multi-lane freeway/highway. IE: not a painful procedure for the vast majority of owners. If it takes you much longer to calibrate the cameras, this could be exposing an underlying condition in your car that needs attention.
I personally recalibrate after every major point update (from 12.3 -> 12.4, but not from 12.3.5 to 12.3.6). The only downside is the loss of AP/FSDS for the 10 miles it takes to finish, in other words, it's super easy - barely an inconvenience.
In a properly configured Tesla, camera calibration takes approx 10 miles of driving on a well-marked, multi-lane freeway/highway. IE: not a painful procedure for the vast majority of owners. If it takes you much longer to calibrate the cameras, this could be exposing an underlying condition in your car that needs attention.
I personally recalibrate after every major point update (from 12.3 -> 12.4, but not from 12.3.5 to 12.3.6). The only downside is the loss of AP/FSDS for the 10 miles it takes to finish, in other words, it's super easy - barely an inconvenience.
RTPEV
Active Member
Strange...other than the initial calibration in July of 2018, I have never recalibrated nor noticed an odd behavior that would have caused me to even consider recalibrating. I guess YMMV.
I thought there was some additional calibration required at some point. Maybe when Navigate on Autopilot was released?
RTPEV
Active Member
Not in my case. I have never experienced any recalibration in my Model 3 since July of 2018.
Wasn't there a recalibration period when getting the HW3 retrofit? I'm pretty sure there was for me, also a July 2018 model (those all had the HW2.5 computer, so you'd need the retrofit before being able to use FSD)
RTPEV
Active Member
Yes, now that you mention it, this is possible, although if there was, it seemed very brief compared to the initial calibration (which was 30 miles or so). I think the recalibration may have been done before I got back home (and I'm very close to the service center!)
dachshund
Member
When calibration is finished, is FSD supposed to be available immediately? It did not for me, it took a few days. Then I got the latest 2024.14.9 with the full-screen visualization. The next day I got a prompt to enable it again. So I'm not sure if the new version brought it back or.. it just takes a while.
When you calibrate or recalibrate the cameras, FSDS is disabled by default, and the system returns to AP. After calibration is complete, including any additional calibration for FSDS, you will need to pull over and park the car, then go into Settings -> Autopilot and set up your settings again for FSDS.
dachshund
Member
Got it. Thanks. It didn’t take long. I wanted to drive on the freeway, but it finished before I got there.
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