Tesla to implement new hazard light system via software update

Tesla to implement new hazards light pattern that drastically improves safety

Emergency Safety Solutions/YouTube

A small, four-year-old company in Houston, Texas, has been using a Tesla Model 3 to demonstrate its revolutionary hazard warning system. Now, their system will be in millions of Teslas.

Emergency Safety Solutions, Inc. (ESS), is the creator of HELP, which stands for Hazard Enhanced Location Protocol. The company claims its system significantly improves driver safety. Tesla, which usually develops its systems, and rarely uses external programs, will be the first automaker to implement HELP in its vehicles.

ESS says that every seven minutes, there is a crash involving a disabled vehicle on American roadways. These crashes kill or injure 15,000 people annually. The company also states the main factor in those crashes is an ineffective hazard light system that is not getting the attention of drivers. The hazard light system was created more than 70 years ago and hasn't been improved since.

According to ESS, HELP will: "provide advanced lighting alerts and digital location-based alerts to greatly improve advance warning communications to drivers." Virginia Tech Transportation Institute studied several lighting combinations and found that 4hz to 6Hz flash frequencies greatly improved drivers' attention. The current system is 1.5Hz.

Researchers then took the 5Hz system to the street and found that drivers responded 12 seconds earlier. They also discovered that drivers moved over 360 meters or nearly four football fields away from the disabled car. In addition, drivers moving to the left of a disabled car jumped from 30 percent with the current system to 87 percent with HELP.

The flashing lights will undoubtedly improve safety, but the system also sends a digital signal to alert drivers using in-car or phone navigation that there is a hazard ahead. The early warning will allow drivers to be warned much sooner than just the visual blinking lights system. Additionally, the HELP system can be manually activated or it will automatically turn on if a collision is detected or an airbag is deployed.

Tom Metzger, CEO of ESS, said, "Tesla is a leader in bringing first-time innovation to passenger vehicles and is leading the way by implementing HELP technology on potentially millions of Tesla vehicles worldwide. It's a monumental step in the effort to overcome the troubling safety issue of crashes into disabled and vulnerable vehicles, which tragically injure or kill tens of thousands around the world each year."

New Hazard Light Pattern on a Model 3

Tesla will implement these changes to these existing vehicles through a software update. It's a rare step for Tesla, which usually creates its own systems and improves traditional programs (Tesla recently improved the seatbelt).

This time Tesla found a company that has done everything necessary to improve this aspect of vehicle safety, so why recreate the wheel?

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

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.

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

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.

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