Elon Musk Promotes New 'Tap to Park' Tesla Feature, Shoots Down 360º View

December 11, 2023

By Kevin Armstrong

Tesla appears closer to releasing an improved Auto Park feature

Tesla

If you’ve been out Christmas shopping, Tesla’s long-awaited Park Seek may have been on your mind. For more than a year, the company has been talking about this technology that would take over the job of not only parking, but finding a parking spot. Elon Musk has brought the long-anticipated feature back into the spotlight.

What is "Tap to Park"?

Now referred to as Tap to Park, Park Seek, also once known as Reverse Summon, is an innovative feature that Tesla officials discussed at AI Day in October of 2022. At that point, Tesla said this feature should be ready by the end of the year.

That didn’t happen, and now it sounds like there have been some changes to the original idea, given Musk’s post on X.

We are working on a feature where the car identifies probable viable parking spaces. You tap on one, exit the vehicle and it parks there.

The Evolution from Autopark to "Tap to Park"

Tesla's current Autopark feature, currently only available in vehicles equipped with Ultrasonic Sensors (USS), has been a stepping stone toward autonomous parking. However, its limitations include the lack of multiple parking spot selections and drivers' need to stay in the car. Tesla users noted these constraints, indicating a need for an upgrade. The current implementation of Autopark is also slow to park and requires driving extremely slowly to get the park symbol to show up on the vehicle’s display.

Earlier this year, Tesla introduced vision-based Park Assist, a system that utilizes camera-based tech to estimate distances between the car and nearby objects while parking. This development marked a transition away from USS and laid the groundwork for more advanced features like "Tap to Park."

Is “Tap to Park” a Replacement for Park Seek?

Park Seek has been previously touted by Musk as a revolutionary feature that will let you stop the vehicle in front of a store, get out, and let the vehicle go hunt for a parking spot itself. There were even leaks that mentioned owners’ would have three parking spot options when using Park Seek. However, this new ‘Tap to Park,’ appears to be a slightly watered-down version of the original vision, that removes the ability for the vehicle to travel autonomously around the parking lot looking for a spot.

The recent deployment of FSD version 12 to Tesla employees is a significant milestone. This version improves by reducing reliance on human-written code and increasing the system's dependence on neural networks trained with real-world driving footage. Such advancements are crucial for successfully implementing "Tap to Park."

It’s possible that “Tap to Park,” is a transitioning step toward the original Park Seek vision. Park Seek has the ability to significantly change urban environments and high-density areas where parking is often challenging.

Although ‘Tap to Park’ is not expected to be a part of Tesla’s 2023 Holiday Update, a new High Fidelity Park Assist is expected to arrive as part of the holiday special this week.

It is interesting to note the timing of this Musk hint on X. Tesla enthusiast Sawyer Merritt posted about the need for 360º views. Still, Whole Mars Catalogue called the feature “irrelevant” in a world with cars that drive themselves. This comes from a Holiday Update that didn’t meet expectations. Perhaps there is another update under the tree? Or, it may be another year away. Insert your two-week joke here.

Tesla Vehicles Spotted With LiDAR: What Do They Use It For?

July 13, 2024

By Karan Singh

Not a Tesla App

Tesla recently hit the news for purchasing approximately $2M in LiDAR sensors from Luminar, one of Tesla’s long-term suppliers. You’ve probably seen photos of Tesla’s Semi and various Tesla models, including the Model 3 and Model Y sporting LIDAR equipment on the roof. These cars drive around with manufacturer plates scanning streets and highways.

However, many people confuse Tesla’s purpose in purchasing LiDAR equipment with using it for FSD versus testing. So, let’s look at what LiDAR is, and why Tesla uses it on its Fleet Validation Vehicles.

What is LiDAR?

LiDAR stands for Light Detecting and Ranging – essentially using lasers to measure distances. A laser pulse is sent out, and the time it takes to return is measured – providing extremely accurate distance measurements.

Some companies working on self-driving vehicles, including Waymo and BYD, use LiDAR as part of their self-driving suites, but Tesla is one of the few stand-outs that does not. Even Rimac’s “Verne” Robotaxi – which uses self-driving technology from Mobileye, also uses LiDAR.

While LiDAR can produce extremely accurate and high-quality 3D environments, it comes with its downsides as well. Not only is LiDAR costly and requires large gear strapped to a vehicle, but it also can not be used in bad weather and can have interference issues if there are other strong light sources present.

Why Does Tesla Use LiDAR?

A LiDAR rig mounted on a Tesla Semi for testing FSD.

Not a Tesla App

At Autonomy Day in 2019, Elon Musk mentioned that LiDAR isn’t the solution for self-driving cars – it's just a crutch. Thus, Tesla hasn’t used LiDAR for any production self-driving software.

Instead, Tesla uses it exactly how it's described – they use it to gather ground-truth data. This data is then used to feed Tesla’s Full Self Driving system – which helps validate its vision-only system's accuracy. LiDAR provides very accurate measurements to help ensure that FSD’s perception of space is accurate – and is only used by Tesla to ensure that its AI technology which is the brains of FSD is capable of accurately interpreting depth from just visual data.

Tesla’s vision-only system has been seen to be extremely accurate, with Vision-only Autopark being able to park in even narrower and tighter spaces faster than the previous version that relied on ultrasonic sensors.

We’ll likely continue to see Tesla purchase LiDAR systems, as well as use them for validation well into the future.

Tesla's Upcoming Robotaxi Event in August Delayed, According to Bloomberg

July 12, 2024

By Karan Singh

Sugar Design

In a report from Bloomberg, it is claimed that Tesla will be delaying its much-anticipated 8/8 Robotaxi event by two months to October 2024.

While sources other than Bloomberg haven't confirmed this report, Bloomberg has a positive track record of reporting on financial decisions. We’ll be sure to update the article if there is confirmation on X from Elon Musk or another Tesla senior official.

Tesla’s stock has dropped nearly 8.5% over the day, ending back-to-back gains over the last two weeks. It closed yesterday at $ 241 after hitting a peak of $270 earlier in the day before the news broke.

Why the Delay?

The delay – of approximately two months – has been communicated internally, but not publicly announced just yet. Bloomberg goes on to mention that the design team was told to rework certain elements of the Cybercab, necessitating the delay.

If Bloomberg’s report is correct, it sounds like Tesla’s unveil event will be largely focused on showing off the vehicle, instead of demoing how it will work. Of course, it could still be both, but given past events, Tesla has always shown off the vehicle years before it hits production.

Rimac recently showed off their version of robotaxi vehicle named Verne, and surprisingly, it could almost pass for Tesla’s own robotaxi. A lot of design cues in Rimac’s version are elements we have already seen or expect to see in Tesla’s autonomous taxi.

A recent Tesla patent revealed that Tesla is incorporating a sanitation system into their robotaxi that will be responsible for analyzing and cleaning the vehicle’s interior, although the delay itself is likely tied more to a physical feature rather than software.

Another element we know almost nothing about is how Tesla plans to charge these robotic taxis. Will they rely on the existing charge port and adapt a solution like the robotic charging arm (video below) we saw almost eight years ago, or will wireless charging or a dock finally become realized?

While the delay for Tesla’s event appears to be related to the vehicle’s design itself and not further development of FSD, Tesla is wasting no time in getting FSD working for the upcoming vehicle. Model 3 vehicles have already been spotted with camera locations that resemble a robotaxi.

Is the Delay Accurate?

We expect that this delay might actually be true – Elon Musk usually takes to X within hours of such news breaking if it's false to refute it and hasn’t done so yet.

Tesla has delayed several of their events in the past, and a delay of a couple of months seems plausible. We should hear from Musk himself soon on whether this report is accurate.