Christmas came early for some Tesla owners thanks to the new High-fidelity Park Assist that was part of the Holiday Update. Ashok Elluswamy, Tesla’s Autopilot Software Director, took to X to show off Tesla’s latest technology, a complete overhaul of the parking experience, blending advanced 3D visualization with real-time environmental mapping.
High-fidelity park assist is shipping this weekend to Tesla customers without ultrasonic sensors as part of the holiday release!pic.twitter.com/MEHL6w003r
First, the bad news. The new technology is initially available only to customers with Tesla models that do not have ultrasonic sensors. Elluswamy says models with USS will get the new park assist “eventually” - insert your two-week joke here.
Future
Any time more than one sensor is used to create an output it gets more complicated because the output from each sensor won’t match exactly. Ultrasonic sensors are extremely good at what they do and produce extremely accurate output of distances where they’re aimed, but they can also miss things that are lower to the ground or higher up, things that Tesla Vision may be able to see.
It’s not clear whether Tesla will fuse the two sensor outputs into one or whether they’re planning on disabling USS completely when an improved version gets rolled out to vehicles with USS.
Requirements
The requirements for this new feature are still up in the air as well. All the vehicles that have received the new park assist have Tesla’s latest Ryzen-based infotainment CPU (MCU 3), however, we don’t know whether that will be required for these new visualizations.
Enhanced 3D Surroundings Reconstruction
Elluswamy's posts revealed that the new High-fidelity Park Assist is replacing the older 2D obstacle detection system with a sophisticated 3D reconstruction of the Tesla's surroundings. This breakthrough is an extension of Tesla's Occupancy Network, now boasting much higher resolution, thereby aiding drivers in navigating tight parking spots with unprecedented precision. The engineer posted: “In addition to obstacles, we also predict painted lines on the ground, also in 3D. Together, these help perform the full parking maneuver just by looking at this one screen.”
First Release and Upcoming Enhancements
Acknowledging that this is the initial version, Elluswamy teased future updates to the technology. These updates will likely include improved geometric consistency with the cameras and enhanced tracking of occluded obstacles. Even in its emergent stage, this technology significantly improves upon previous parking assistance systems. He stated: “This is the v1 release of this technology, and will have follow up releases that have even better geometric consistency with the cameras, better persistence of occluded obstacles, etc.”
The visualizations provided by this updated Park Assist system are impressively accurate. The 3D models, which change color based on proximity to the vehicle, offer a new level of awareness and interaction for drivers. This system, which uses vision technology to render 3D models in a way typically associated with LiDAR, is a significant step forward in Tesla's software development.
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Rendering of what Tesla's license plate feature could look like
Not a Tesla App
Tesla update 2024.38 has started rolling out to several regions and vehicles. Thanks to Tesla hacker Greentheonly, we have a behind-the-scenes look at some new features coming to Teslas.
License Plate Display
According to Greentheonly, it looks like Tesla may soon let you display your actual license plate in the vehicle’s visualization on the screen. In our article, The Most Request Tesla Features, several readers suggested displaying the vehicle’s license plate in the visualization instead of a blank, white plate.
It looks like Tesla will be doing just that, at least in China. Green found references that appear to conclude that you’ll be able to display your vehicle’s plate on screen. This will likely be user input, so you could have it say anything you’d like, and it doesn’t have to be your actual license plate.
For many owners, who may find it difficult to remember their license plate, this could serve a practical purpose in addition to adding to the visualization's realism.
While Green was only able to say it’ll be available in China, we expect this is due to China’s software development team working on it and that it’ll eventually be released worldwide.
While code for this feature was found in update 2024.38, we may not be turned on in China yet. We suspect this feature may be a strong candidate for Tesla’s upcoming holiday update.
FSD Hardware Version Display
As part of the 2024.38 update, Tesla has now made it easy to determine whether your vehicle includes Hardware 3 or Hardware 4. You can now simply navigate to Controls > Software and tap Additional Vehicle Information. In addition to other hardware information about your vehicle, your Autopilot hardware version will now be listed as well.
You can see whether your vehicle has HW2.5, HW3, or AI4. This in-car display is useful, but if you don’t have access to the vehicle, you can always use our guide on how to determine the hardware version of a Tesla.
New Battery Health Test & Service Mode Improvements
Green found some additional things as well. There’s a new and improved Battery Health Test. The new test will show you how your car scores compared to similar vehicles in the Tesla fleet.
In addition, maintenance records can now be permanently stored “in the car.” It doesn’t appear that this feature is activated yet, but it’s likely in active development with some parts leaking out in the 2024.38 update.
Tesla has included various Service Mode improvements and new visualizations in this update.
Mr Li on X came across some covered-up Project Juniper vehicles recently and he managed to get various shots of the vehicle.
Juniper Images
This front image reveals what looks like two rows of lights, possibly confirming the front light bar for the Model Y refresh — similar to the one on the Cybercab.
The rear side has a lot of lights on it!
Mr Li on X
The rear side shows a ton of brake lights, but it’s not clear why. While it looks like the Model Y refresh will also feature a rear light bar similar to the Cybertruck, there isn’t strong evidence of that in this photo.
Mr Li on X
There's an obvious set of lights at the bottom, so it looks like the Model Y refresh will be similar to the new Model 3 where the bottom lights can operate as brake lights when the one-piece tail lights and trunk are up.
Mr Li on X
In the last photo, we see that the overall form factor of the refreshed Model Y will remain unchanged, and Tesla is focusing the changes on the front and rear ends of the vehicle, much like the Model 3 refresh. However, in this one shot, we can also see what appears to be red light leaking out of the rear camera cover opening, possibly due to the rear light bar.
The Model Y is not only Tesla’s best-selling vehicle but also the world’s best-selling car in 2023. This year, it’s expected to be the best-selling vehicle in the United States and again in the world, so this refresh will be huge for Tesla.
@DominicBRNKMN made another fantastic set of concepts based on these new images. Given he had the most accurate Model 3 Highland concept before the official launch, we’re pretty sure his latest work be close here as well.
@DominicBRNKMN
We’re super excited to see the eventual reveal of Project Juniper, which is expected in the first half of 2025. However, expect to see a few more leaks before production kicks off at Giga Shanghai.
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