Lack of 360 degree camera (birds eye view)

[AlmondFarm-Ca.]

My wife and I currently drive a 2016 Volvo XC90, and hands down our favorite feature is the "birds eye view" combining the car's four cameras. My wife escpecilly likes it when kids are playing outside or in tight spaces like small parking garages. So I haven't seen the 360 degree camera as an option for any of the vehicles Tesla makes. I'm just curious how many of you out there are actually interested in some thing like that for the model 3?

 

[Electroman]

My lowly 2013 Leaf had it.. it is really great and I am missing it in my S

 

[Craig9080]

Considering that the autopilot system on the III can/should use cameras as sensors, a birds-eye feature would only need to be implemented in software. Doesn't seem like a stretch for Tesla.

 

[Jim R]

The birds eye view is a nice feature. I have it on Mercedes E250. One great feature: pulling up to a barrier - just select front camera and you can pull up close without scraping the lowest part of the front of your car.

 

[Discoducky]

While 360 is great and needed, I'm of the opinion that a more robust camera system is needed that not only allows the human driver to see what is immediately around the car, but also allows the computer vision system to accurately asses what is a occurring around the car or better to say what is on a collision course. Think about when you are driving in tight spaces and hit something that you didn't see. Especially when you do something that you think is easy like exiting a parking space, but you forgot about small ballast sticking up and crazy scratched your rear bumper. If the vision is good enough you could control longitudinal actuation so the system could not only warn you but actually stop you from damaging the car or hitting anything. Essentially the system would only allow you to drive on smooth roads. Imagine a system that would be good enough to not avoid potholes or even figure out the best maneuver to get into and out of tight spaces.

Maybe a better way to say it is that while it is great that I can see what is going on around the car, I'd rather the computer do it and warn me when appropriate as well as actuate the controls when collision is calculated to be close to imminent so as to keep me from touching the car to anything but smooth road.

Not only that but a smart camera system could easily monitor the car while it is parked. Think vandalism or a parking accident; imagine anything that is moving outside the vehicle is captured on video, processed locally to determine what the intent is, then smart decisions can be made like stream the video to your phone so you can make an informed decision about what the car should or shouldn't do to deter.

Wouldn't it be great to know that your car is looking out for you? How much would you pay for these features?

I don't know about anyone else, but just thinking about the cost to repair a few curbed wheels, minor door dings and small scratches is worth quite a bit, not to mention the peace of mind that you could basically see something even before it happens.

 

[yesup]

I absolutely love surround view camera.
This is one thing sorely missing from Tesla line up.

While 360 is great and needed, I'm of the opinion that a more robust camera system is needed that not only allows the human driver to see what is immediately around the car, but also allows the computer vision system to accurately asses what is a occurring around the car or better to say what is on a collision course.

Car only use the front camera for collision detection, lane change detection etc.
For side and rear, they mostly use ultrasonic or radar sensors instead of cameras.

 

[animorph]

If the full AP 2.0 package ends up with 8 cameras a 360 degree view should be easily available. One of the reasons I'm waiting before ordering a MS.

 

[Jim R]

I absolutely love surround view camera.
This is one thing sorely missing from Tesla line up.



Car only use the front camera for collision detection, lane change detection etc.
For side and rear, they mostly use ultrasonic or radar sensors instead of cameras.

Speaking of front cameras, in my Mercedes, for example, there is the front camera for seeing what is around you and two stereo cameras (positioned on top of the windshield) for viewing the road ahead and warning you of drifting out of your lane. So two different systems. One for looking, another for avoiding.
I like the ideas put forth by Discoducky above.

 

[voip-ninja]

I tweeted a question to EM asking if the 3 would have this, as it is one of my favorite features on my BMW. I didn't get a response. The feature itself has to be pretty cheap to do, but I imagine it is patented or something which is probably why Tesla doesn't offer it.

 

[yesup]

The feature itself has to be pretty cheap to do, but I imagine it is patented or something which is probably why Tesla doesn't offer it.

I doubt it is patented as almost every manufacturer is offering it.
But it does add to the complexity of manufacturing as you need at least 2 side cameras +/- a front camera (it already has a rear camera). So the wiring and calibration of camera angle would add to the manufacturing time and delay, something Tesla would want to minimize.

 

[TEG]

This idea has been discussed on the forum a number of times before. We want it ! I sure hope Tesla does it.

Tesla Model S Quad Camera 360 Degree System

MODEL 3 - Around View

Model S Gadgets

 

[malcolm]

I'm not saying they're making the right choice, but Tesla seem to be focussing on Summon/Autopark as the solution.

I guess because it provides them with real-world data.

Would be better to have both - there's plenty of other situations where a 360 system would be useful

 

[McHoffa]

Not only that but a smart camera system could easily monitor the car while it is parked. Think vandalism or a parking accident; imagine anything that is moving outside the vehicle is captured on video, processed locally to determine what the intent is, then smart decisions can be made like stream the video to your phone so you can make an informed decision about what the car should or shouldn't do to deter.

I'd love if it did continuous recording, of course overwriting previous video as needed, but if something bumps the car, it automatically saves two minutes before to two minutes after into a separate place that won't get overwritten. If cell data was cheap and unlimited, I'd love if the car could stream live 24/7 and save to the cloud like my Nest cams. I bet Google's eventual car has something similar built in (since they own Nest), along with the front end pedestrian fly paper they patented

 

[Phthalate]

ehhh.

Subjective opinion and all, I had it in my BMW X5 and I don't miss it. Definitely a cool feature and helpful sometimes, not a deal breaker.

 

[voip-ninja]

I'm not saying they're making the right choice, but Tesla seem to be focussing on Summon/Autopark as the solution.

I guess because it provides them with real-world data.

Would be better to have both - there's plenty of other situations where a 360 system would be useful

I can't possibly imagine I am going to use autonomy features every time I need to park the car or pull it out of a tight spot.

 

[zenmaster]

My car has it and it's useful enough to order again if an option.

 

[Red Sage]

Certain ideas and concepts end up being patented. Those who hold the patents often pay licensing fees to use them. As an 'outsider' to the traditional automobile industry, Tesla Motors may not have ready access to all technologies that might be desirable. That is why they make so much of their cars themselves.

I believe that the Model S doesn't have adjustable height seat belts because those who held the patents wanted more than Tesla Motors could afford to pay by the time they had to do crash test certification. Both the Model X and Model ☰ have adjustable height seat belts. Changing the seat belts may have required a new battery of crash tests, so even after the recent refresh of external fascia and color scheme, the Model S still doesn't have adjustable height belts. The Model S uses the same open sourced design for three point seat belts that has been in place since around 1957.

Traditional automobile manufacturers might be willing to work with each other from time-to-time. Help each other out with one thing or another. Or even license technology to each other for a fee. But such considerations are unlikely to be available to Tesla Motors for the duration. Even though Toyota and Mercedes-Benz may have reaped rich rewards from their deals with Tesla in times past, each has cut ties with the smaller company. The tentative support they offered before is probably seen by most as having been too much at this point. They have inadvertently helped to birth what may be a monster in their future, even as they abandoned it to die in the nest. So, whomever owns the 'Bird's Eye' technology likely knows full well it would work well for Tesla Motors products, but won't let them have it. Either to maintain their relationships with other manufacturers, or just for the sake of watching Tesla squirm without them. But patents don't last forever, and can often be improved upon in time.

 

[zenmaster]

I don't think it's patentable, as it literally consists of displaying video from downward pointing cameras below the side mirrors and in front and rear of car.

 

[Saghost]

I don't think it's patentable, as it literally consists of displaying video from downward pointing cameras below the side mirrors and in front and rear of car.

But there's more to it than that - it's also doing a major skew to the camera feeds to generate the artificial perspective, and blending the images at the overlaps.

I'd be very surprised if it wasn't patented.

 

[zenmaster]

But there's more to it than that - it's also doing a major skew to the camera feeds to generate the artificial perspective, and blending the images at the overlaps.

I'd be very surprised if it wasn't patented.

the skew and blend required is brain-dead trivial and obvious.