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Rear Cross Traffic Warning?

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Isn't cross traffic detection typically done with radar?

Sonar would only give you so much distance (not too useful), and I'm not sure if the camera's are positioned well enough that when you're backing out of a space they can see the cross traffic before it's too late (aren't the side cameras on the B-pillars?)
 
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Isn't cross traffic detection typically done with radar?

Sonar would only give you so much distance (not too useful), and I'm not sure if the camera's are positioned well enough that when you're backing out of a space they can see the cross traffic before it's too late (aren't the side cameras on the B-pillars?)

Not sure, but have it on a GMC Yukon and as I said previous Lexus, and I don't believe those vehicles use Radar??? Surely the technology on the Tesla is on par or exceeds those manufacturers.
 
Whatever the required technology would be, I think the absence of this on the Tesla vehicles is one of the worst omissions in the feature set, especially because of the severely limited outward visibility to the rear on the Model S (at least). This is not new technology and I have always been disappointed it was missing.
 
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Not sure, but have it on a GMC Yukon and as I said previous Lexus, and I don't believe those vehicles use Radar??? Surely the technology on the Tesla is on par or exceeds those manufacturers.

They do use radar, actually. Tesla is one of the few manufacturers that uses ultrasonics instead of rear quarter panel radar to perform blind spot detection.

I mean perhaps some day when the side cameras are activated, the car can provide similar protection using vision, but right now Teslas simply don't have the sensors to do rear cross traffic detection.
 
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I'm also very disappointed regarding both the cross traffic as well as blind spot detection warning. I had gotten used to the additional alerts on our Volvo XC60 and it feels like a big step backward not to have it. I rode in a Honda Uber ride last week and it popped up a view of the side lane every time the turn signal was used. Tesla seems remarkably behind the curve in this regard.

My configuration included the advanced autopilot which is described as including 12 sonar detectors that provide 360 degree coverage but does that only work when activated?

2018 S100D
 
They do use radar, actually. Tesla is one of the few manufacturers that uses ultrasonics instead of rear quarter panel radar to perform blind spot detection.

I mean perhaps some day when the side cameras are activated, the car can provide similar protection using vision, but right now Teslas simply don't have the sensors to do rear cross traffic detection.
My 2017 Chevy Volt uses ultrasonic for cross traffic and back up car/pedestrian detection... if my Chevy Volt can do it, so can Tesla...No?
 
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As far as I can tell it uses ultrasonics in addition to a K-band patch antenna in each rear quarter panel, 2017 2018 CHEVY VOLT IMPALA BLIND SPOT MODULE RADAR SENSOR 23275021 OEM 17 VOLT | eBay
The owner / operator manual for the 2017 Volt Premier only lists operation and maintenance of front radar. I own the car. There is no rear radar. Here is an example from the manual:
Screen Shot 2018-04-20 at 9.16.51 AM.png
 
Tesla would probably argue that they do have it, in that the sonar returns of a detected object do show up on the little car avatar (sort of). My problem is that it isn't in a convenient place to quickly glance and that there isn't enough hysteresis to filter in a weak return. A nice fix might be something like lighting the appropriate corner of the instrument cluster in a similar manner as to how the whole thing lights white when you need to hold the wheel.
 
Tesla would probably argue that they do have it, in that the sonar returns of a detected object do show up on the little car avatar (sort of). My problem is that it isn't in a convenient place to quickly glance and that there isn't enough hysteresis to filter in a weak return. A nice fix might be something like lighting the appropriate corner of the instrument cluster in a similar manner as to how the whole thing lights white when you need to hold the wheel.

Did you make that suggestion to Tesla or tweet Elon? I'm not kidding, it might work.
 
There's a thought. I don't use Twitter but I guess I could email it to them. I'll do that this afternoon.

I'll tweet Elon, but someone like @bonnie would probably get this attention more readily than me.

I think that your suggestion is something Tesla could deliver that would put people at more ease with lane changes though I think with the upcoming use of the repeater cameras, they probably will have a game changer in terms of performance, including truly automatic lane changing (with AP2/2.5) and I'd hope that they would've thought out a good way to communicate that information to the driver.