Tesla has been teasing the release of a dashcam feature using Autopilot cameras for over a year now.
Now CEO Elon Musk says that the feature is finally coming in version 9, which is supposed to be released next month.
Tesla’s vehicles are now all equipped with 8 cameras to power its Autopilot features and for a while now, some owners have been asking for the possibility to also use them as a dashcam.
It sort of already does, but for Tesla’s own benefit.
While working on a damaged Model S last year, Tesla tinkerer Jason Hughes found out that Tesla Autopilot camera stores footage after a crash like a dashcam.
He managed to restore the images from the crash that damaged the all-electric vehicle. Hughes even used the feature to find the evidence that points toward pedal misapplication in a case of sudden acceleration in a Model X.
It showed the all-electric SUV pulling into a parking space and crashing into a building:
That was with Tesla’s first generation Autopilot, which had only one forward-facing camera.
Now with even more cameras and using Tesla’s own system instead of Mobileye’s, the company should have more flexibility to offer a dashcam feature using the same hardware.
Last summer, Musk said that it was “coming soon,” but it is still not available over a year later as Tesla had to focus on the development of Model 3 software.
In June, Musk said that it will come with Tesla’s Version 9 software update, but the major update has been behind schedule and the feature wasn’t in an early version of the software that leaked earlier this month.
Fortunately for Tesla owners, Musk now says that the feature is in “final testing”:
Good news on this front. Tesla engineering rallied & this will be part of V9. Going through final testing now.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 17, 2018
The CEO added that the feature will be available in the first version of the new update as a beta feature and they will improve on it in feature updates of version 9.
Musk recently said that Tesla plans to release the version 9 update to its early access fleet of owners (beta testers) any time now and that the wider fleet will receive it a few weeks after that.
As we previously reported, version 9 will also introduce a new user interface, new Autopilot capabilities, and more.
Featured Image: Here’s what Tesla’s Autopilot 2.0 can see with its 8 cameras by Bjornb using images by Green
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