Tesla May Start Using a New Camera with FSD HW 4.0 Starting with Cybertruck

Photo: Tesla

Tesla may start using a new camera in its cars, along with the new FSD hardware (HW) 4.0, which will be used for the first time in Cybertruck, according to rumors. The new camera has a number of advantages, and may lead to a reduction in their total number in the car.

While Tesla had no plans to give an informational update on FSD HW 4.0, a question about the new computer was asked during the AI ​​Day event in August 2021. The company's CEO Elon Musk said the current HW 3.0 computer is already capable of full self-driving and safer than human-pilot, but Tesla wants to keep improving. That is why the Tesla AI team is always striving to develop new, powerful computers. HW 4.0 was the fruit of this desire, and it seems that in the near future the company will launch cars with the new computer on the market. Musk suggested that in 2022, the public will be able to see HW 4.0. According to him, the iconic Cybertruck will be equipped with the new hardware.

“I’m confident that HW 3.0 or the FSD Computer 1 will be able to achieve full self-driving at a safety level much greater than a human, probably at least 200-300% better than a human. Obviously, there will be a future HW 4.0 or Full Self Driving Computer 2 which we’ll probably introduce with the Cybertruck, so maybe in about a year or so.

“That'll be about four times more capable, roughly. But it's really just gonna be like, can we take it from, say, for argument's sake, 300% safer than a person to 1000% safer. And just like there are people on the road who have varying driving abilities, but we still let people drive. You don't have to be the world's best driver to be on the road.”

In another response regarding new hardware, Musk also said that Tesla is looking into new cameras. While the current cameras are already great, if Tesla can do better then they will.

Tesla currently uses three separate forward-facing cameras in a housing at the top of the windshield. This unit contains wide-angle, standard, and narrow view lenses with three separate CMOS sensors. Each sensor has a resolution of 1280x960 or about 1.2 megapixels.



However, according to a statement by Chris Zheng/Twitter, Tesla is planning to use the new Sony IMX490 automotive image sensor in its upcoming 4.0 hardware version, which has a number of advantages over the current ones.

The pixel density of Tesla HW4.0 will be upgraded to 5.4 million, which is Sony's IMX 490. Due to the large angle of view, I guess the front perception of HW 4.0 will be reduced to 2 camera. pic.twitter.com/fntPROo0Kr

— Chris Zheng (@zxk9523) January 7, 2022

The new sensors support a much higher resolution of 2896x1876, which is 5.4 megapixels. New sensors with more than four times the resolution of existing sensors, allow the system to more accurately detect objects around the vehicle. It will also provide a more detailed image, which improves accuracy in a wide variety of situations. The new sensor could allow Tesla to reduce the number of forward-facing cameras to two or even one.

Here are the new camera specs, according to Sony:



All these features make the new sensor a much better option than the current one. Shooting HDR at 10-bit resolution at 40fps, delivering better contrast and richer colors, and maintaining LED flicker reduction is also critical in today's realities.

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Article edited by @SmokeyShorts, you can follow him on Twitter

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