Redditor silasoverturf spotted an interesting Tesla test vehicle at the Corte Madera store.
The vehicle seems to be equipped with at least 6 cameras and 2 different sensors: 3 forward looking cameras, one on each side and one in the back.
Every Tesla produced since October 2014 comes with what they call “Autopilot” hardware, which includes a forward radar, 12 long range ultrasonic sensors and a forward looking camera.
Safety features such as emergency braking or blind spot warning come standard with the vehicle and customers can pay to activate more advanced features utilizing the same hardware such as adaptive cruise control.
A new software update coming this summer will enable Model S’s with Autopilot hardware to self-park and use lane keeping with automatic steering. According to Tesla, this will be achieved with the current hardware, therefore the use for the new equipment in this test vehicle is unclear.
During the announcement for software update 6.2, Elon Musk said:
We can basically go between San Francisco and Seattle without the driver doing anything.
The most logical explanation for the new equipment would be to achieve a more advanced self-driving system, but nothing is confirmed at this point.
Credit goes to silasoverturf on Reddit for the pictures.
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[…] Electrek.co reports on a photo of a Model S with additional cameras front and back (behind the windshield / hatch glass). Given Tesla’s Autopilot initiative, it is plausible this is a test car for Tesla to further improve the Autopilot experience, either in the upcoming Model X, or a bit further down the road. […]