American electric carmaker Tesla Motors Corporation shall reportedly include in the current production of its Model 3 sedan a new hardware that shall enable the vehicle to become fully autonomous.
It was Tesla CEO Elon Musk who officially made the statement on October 19 but the new hardware still does not mean that the Model 3 will become completely autonomous when it rolls out in the American motoring market in the second half of next year.
The company clarified that the hardware is just a prelude to the possibility of enabling the Model 3 to become fully autonomous, reports the Business Insider.
Musk explained that the foundation has been laid for fully autonomous driving on the upcoming Model 3, describing it as twice as safe as a human or maybe even better.
He said that the Model 3 shall have eight surround cameras that provide 360 degrees of visions at up to 250 meters of range. The system shall also include 12 ultrasonic sensors as well as an improve forward-facing radar that is capable of functioning even under extreme weather conditions.
The Tesla Motors CEO explained that the data collected by these sensors will be processed in a new onboard computer that has 40 times more computing power than the previous version. He described it as basically a supercomputer in the Model 3.
Part 2 of the Model 3
Tesla’s announcement on October 19 had something to do with the second part of the Model 3, reports Tech Crunch.
It came as a follow-up to the original Model 3 unveiling back in March. Elon Musk said back then that there would be a part 2 unveiling event close to the start of the production of the Model 3.
As already expected by many enthusiasts and motoring critics, the announcement was focused on the improved Autopilot feature of the Model 3, which did not come off exactly the way they had in mind.
Musk did not announce it to be an Autopilot feature but he did say that the new hardware that shall be incorporated into the Model 3 shall give the car a Level 4 autonomy but not entirely fully autonomous just yet.
It can be recalled that Musk predicted in October 2015 that full autonomy on its electric cars would be available in two years time so the latest announcement about the hardware features on the Model 3 is a step closer to that bold prediction of the Tesla Motors CEO.
The most important car for the company
The scheduled release of the Tesla Model 3 in the second half of next year means a lot of things to the American electric car manufacturer more than just looking at making handsome profits from it.
The official rollout of the electric sedan signals the completion of Tesla’s first master plan which the company made known even before the company launched its first electric vehicle in 2008, the Tesla Roadster.
The Tesla Roadster was a low-volume, high-cost EV used to fund the production of the Model S, a cheaper car produced on a larger scale.
The launch and first deliveries of the Model 3 will see Tesla tick off the last box on its to-do list on its first master plan, the set of goals CEO Elon Musk outlined in 2006 to develop the company into a key player in the automotive industry.
The Model 3 shall continue the pattern as it is set to become the cheapest and most popular EV yet and will be produced in significantly larger numbers compared to its predecessors.
Some critics are even saying that the Tesla Model 3 will be the most important car in the company’s relatively short history. Aside from being the first Tesla car that will be mass produced for the first time, it shall also be sold at a very affordable price.