Tesla has expanded its camera-based Autopilot strategy, known as Tesla Vision, to two new territories, Australia and New Zealand.
In May 2021, Tesla began shipping Model 3 and Model Y vehicles that were equipped with Tesla Vision, the company’s camera-based Autopilot feature. Tesla’s Autopilot and Full Self-Driving suites, which feature several active safety measures, are totally powered by cameras and neural net computation. Tesla always planned to do this, as Elon Musk stated during the Q1 2021 Earnings Call:
“When your vision works, it works better than the best human because it’s like having eight cameras, it’s like having eyes in the back of your head, beside your head, and has three eyes of different focal distances looking forward. This is — and processing it at a speed that is superhuman. There’s no question in my mind that with a pure vision solution, we can make a car that is dramatically safer than the average person.”
Tesla has revealed it has now transitioned both Model 3 and Model Y vehicles that are built from June 2022 for the Australian and New Zealand markets to its camera-based Tesla Vision.
“We are continuing the transition to Tesla Vision, our camera-based Autopilot system. Model 3 and Model Y vehicles built from June 2022 for the Australian market now utilize our camera-based Tesla vision, which relies on Tesla’s advanced suite of cameras and neural net processing to deliver Autopilot and related features,” the company said in a posting, which was first captured by members of the r/TeslaMotors subreddit.
Tesla said it will limit one feature initially. Autosteer speed will be limited to a maximum of 140 km/h, and the following distance will be slightly further than normal. Tesla has routinely introduced new features in a limited way to ensure maximum safety. Tesla committed to the same precautions when rolling out Pure Vision in the United States, Mexico, and Canada last year, and during the rollout in the European and Middle Eastern markets earlier this year.
Tesla added the Model S and Model X to the Pure Vision lineup in February, but only in North America.