Tesla retires ultrasonic sensors in new cars with new camera tech

San Francisco, Oct 5 Elon Musk-run Tesla has announced to retire ultrasonic sensors in its cars that sense objects around them.

The company said it will now shift towards placing camera-only Tesla Vision Safety technology in its cars.

"In 2021, we began our transition to Tesla Vision by removing radar from Model 3 and Model Y, followed by Model S and Model X in 2022. Today, in most regions around the globe, these vehicles now rely on Tesla Vision, our camera-based Autopilot system," said the company.

Tesla plans to stop including the sensors in Model S and Model X cars next year.

"Model 3 and Model Y with Tesla Vision have either maintained or improved their active safety ratings in the US and Europe, and perform better in pedestrian automatic emergency braking (AEB) intervention," said the electric car-maker.

"Today, we are taking the next step in Tesla Vision by removing ultrasonic sensors (USS) from Model 3 and Model Y," it added.

The company will continue this rollout with Model 3 and Model Y, globally, over the next few months, followed by Model S and Model X in 2023.

Along with the removal of USS, it simultaneously launched vision-based occupancy network -- currently used in Full Self-Driving (FSD) Beta -- to replace the inputs generated by ultrasonic sensors.

With today's software, this approach gives Autopilot high-definition spatial positioning, longer range visibility and ability to identify and differentiate between objects.

"For a short period of time during this transition, Tesla Vision vehicles that are not equipped with USS will be delivered with some features temporarily limited or inactive, including Park Assist, Autopark and Smart Summon," said Tesla.

In the near future, once these features achieve performance parity to today's vehicles, they will be restored via a series of over-the-air software updates.