Tesla changes the autopilot system in Europe: Without Radar

Tesla already announced in early 2021 that it plans to switch to “Tesla Vision”, a camera-based system, instead of the radar-based autopilot system. Now the new Model Y and Model 3 only ship without radar in Europe. This is apparent from various media reports because Tesla has not yet been actively informed about the switch in Europe. In the US and Canada, the phasing-in or phasing-out of the radar-based system has been in effect since May 2021. Now, as of April 2022, Model 3 and Model Y will no longer be equipped with radar in the European and Middle Eastern markets.

Camera instead of radar

The Twitter user “tesla_adri” discovered this on the Tesla Support Page It now reads, “…instead, these will be the first Tesla vehicles to rely on camera vision and neural network processing to enable autopilot, fully automated driving, and certain active safety features.”

The new system brings changes

However, this is not without direct consequences for Tesla drivers. For safety reasons, Tesla initially deactivated some autopilot functions for new deliveries last year and in the US, but later released them. But there are still limitations. For example, the speed limit for Lane Keeping Assist (Autosteer) has been reduced from 90 miles per hour to 80 miles per hour.

In Europe it has remained the same: Tesla allows lane assistance with the new system only up to 130 km/h. The speed limit for the radar system is 150 km/h. It’s unclear why the switch took so long – insiders suspect the necessary parts for the new hardware were not available initially.