Tesla seems to be getting ready to introduce yet one more new digital camera sensor to its {hardware} suite, in response to code discovered within the automaker’s newest firmware. Whereas {hardware} enhancements are usually excellent news, this newest discovery provides to the mounting proof that Tesla is repeatedly transferring the goalposts for self-driving, doubtlessly leaving thousands and thousands of homeowners with “older” {hardware} within the mud… once more.
The invention comes from longtime Tesla hacker and researcher @greentheonly, who continuously digs into Tesla’s software program updates to seek out unannounced options and {hardware} modifications.
In keeping with Inexperienced, Tesla’s firmware now references a brand new sensor mannequin: IMX00N.
Appears to be like like Tesla is altering (upgrading?) cameras in (some?) new vehicles produced.
The place as HW4 up to now used exterior cameras with IMX963, now they (may doubtlessly) have one thing referred to as IMX00N.
This could ostensibly exchange or complement the Sony IMX963 sensors presently utilized in {Hardware} 4.0 (AI4) autos. The IMX963 is the 5-megapixel sensor that changed the 1.2-megapixel Aptina sensors present in {Hardware} 3 vehicles simply two years in the past.
We don’t have the specs for the “IMX00N” but. It could possibly be a customized Sony SKU for Tesla or a placeholder title for a brand new picture sensor.
Listed below are the specs comparisons between the digital camera sensors in HW3 and AI4 Tesla autos:
| Specification | {Hardware} 3.0 (HW3) | {Hardware} 4.0 (AI4) | Technical Implication |
| Sensor Decision | 1.2 Megapixels (1280 × 960) | ~5 Megapixels (2896 × 1876) | 4X Information Density. Permits detection of objects at >300m and digital cropping. |
| Sensor Mannequin | Onsemi AR0136AT | Sony IMX490 (Estimated) | Flagship Automotive Sensor. Simultaneous HDR & LFM. |
| Shade Filter Array | RCCC (Pink-Clear-Clear-Clear) | RGGB (Pink-Inexperienced-Inexperienced-Blue) | Semantic Constancy. True coloration notion for indicators, lights, and street markings. |
| Dynamic Vary | ~110 dB | >120 dB (Single Publicity) | Distinction Mastery. No movement artifacts in tunnel exits or night time driving. |
| Information Interface | FPD-Hyperlink III (Possible) | GMSL2 or MIPI A-PHY | Excessive Bandwidth. Helps uncompressed 5MP streams at excessive body charges. |
| Entrance Cameras | 3 (Predominant, Slim, Extensive) | 2 (Predominant, Extensive) | Optical Simplification. Digital zoom replaces the bodily telephoto lens. |
| Lens Coating | Customary | Deep Pink IR Reduce / Anti-Glare | Glare Mitigation. Reduces blinding from headlights and solar. |
| Heaters | Passive (Waste Warmth) | Energetic Heating Components | All-Climate Resilience. Speedy defogging and de-icing. |
| Retrofit | N/A | Unattainable for HW3 vehicles | Fleet Fragmentation. HW3 vehicles are completely hardware-limited. |
Electrek’s Take
In fact, you’ll count on Tesla to enhance its autos, together with its sensor suite, step by step. It’s a good factor in and of itself.
There are three issues with Tesla updating its {hardware} suite for autonomous driving:
- It promised to all homeowners since 2016 that their autos have all of the required {hardware} to realize “Full Self-Driving,” and on the time, CEO Elon Musk stated that it will imply “unsupervised self-driving.”
- It has but to realize that, and it promised to supply free {hardware} retrofit if wanted, but it surely has but to supply these.
- When Tesla launches a brand new autonomous driving {hardware} suite, it quickly places much less effort into software program that works with its earlier {hardware} suite.
If the present cameras in HW4 (not to mention HW3) are adequate for Stage 4 autonomy, why is Tesla spending sources to combine a brand new sensor? Essentially the most logical reply is that the present sensors have limitations, whether or not it’s glare dealing with, low-light efficiency, or decision, that restrict the system’s reliability.
If that’s the case, can we count on Tesla to replace all of the autos which are purported to have the {hardware} to succeed in stage 4? I wouldn’t guess on it.
CEO Elon Musk already admitted that the HW3 laptop gained’t assist it again in January 2025, virtually a 12 months in the past, and as a substitute of asserting an answer, Tesla homeowners had been solely promised a “mini model” of FSD v14, which itself is just not the promised unsupervised self-driving.
At this level, it’s arduous to place hope on Tesla doing the precise factor right here.
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