Photo: @xiaoteshushu/Twitter
While other manufacturers rely on primitive map loading and expensive multi-radar equipment to try to develop self-driving systems, Tesla went the other way. Equipping their vehicles with only eight cameras and radar, the vehicle's hardware and software receive and process data, which allows the vehicle to self-drive safely. For some time now, Tesla has been striving to move neural networks (NN) to surround video, which will allow cars to reach the next level of Full Self-Driving. It seems that the company has made progress in this and the next version of FSD Beta V9 can work by receiving information only from cameras.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has repeatedly said that the company strives for its cars to receive information in 4D (four dimensions). We see the world in 3D, and the fourth dimension is time; therefore, as soon as cars can "see" in all four dimensions, Tesla's goal will be achieved. In late January, Musk talked about the company moving all NNs to eight-camera surround video and, according to his new tweet, it looks like the company already achieve this.
On March 12, via Twitter, the head of the company shared some information on FSD Beta and its developmental progress. Among other things, he wrote that the next significant release (perhaps he is talking about version 9) will be in April. Musk stressed that the new version is going with pure vision and will not even use radar, which sounds like it will work on the NN with eight-camera surround video. He added a touch of flavor to this by pointing out that this is the way to real-world AI.
FSD Beta has now been expanded to ~2000 owners & we’ve also revoked beta where drivers did not pay sufficient attention to the road. No accidents to date.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 12, 2021
Next significant release will be in April. Going with pure vision — not even using radar. This is the way to real-world AI.
It seems that the new FSD Beta version that Musk previously talked about will indeed be significantly different from what it is at the moment and will be a huge leap towards achieving level 5 autonomy.
© 2021, Eva Fox. All rights reserved.
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Article edited by @SmokeyShorts, you can follow him on Twitter
About the Author
Eva Fox
Eva Fox joined Tesmanian in 2019 to cover breaking news as an automotive journalist. The main topics that she covers are clean energy and electric vehicles. As a journalist, Eva is specialized in Tesla and topics related to the work and development of the company.
