Tesla's safety technology upgrade child protection and anti-theft millimeter wave sensors approved by FCC

Beijing time, April 25, according to foreign media reports, Tesla 's application to the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for millimeter wave sensors and anti-theft measures for child protection has been approved.

On April 14, local time, Tesla received a response from the Federal Communications Commission along with five other companies. The six companies were approved to install radar sensors in the 57GHz to 64GHz frequency band in their respective passenger cars.

The sensors may appear in Tesla's upcoming driver monitoring system, which is designed to ensure that drivers are paying attention when using Tesla's Full Self-Driving (FSD) software suite.

The other five companies approved by the FCC to use millimeter wave sensors are: Israel's Vayyar Imaging, Valeo North America, Infineon Technologies America Corp, IEE Sensing and Germany's Brose North America. Tesla and IEE were approved to use the 60 to 64 GHz frequency band, while the other companies were approved to use the 57 to 64 GHz frequency band.

Millimeter wave sensors

In August 2020, Tesla's online community Teslarati revealed that Tesla had applied to the Federal Communications Commission for the use of a short-range motion sensor that can help prevent children from being forgotten in the car.

The sensor will also improve the performance of Tesla's anti-theft system, which is activated to respond to window breakage or intrusion if there is activity within a radius of about 6 feet of the vehicle, Tesla said in an application filed on July 31, 2020.

After months of study and deliberation, the FCC lifted the restrictions that prevented the systems from being used. "We find that approving these systems will have immediate positive effects on industry and the public," the FCC said. "In particular, our decision will provide lasting benefits to the public by improving the safety of child-friendly vehicles and providing opportunities for additional vehicle automation and theft prevention applications."

Sensors used by users of the FSD function to monitor the vehicle

This sensor can be used in conjunction with the cabin camera in the car, which can monitor the driver's facial dynamics and important signs to ensure that the driver is paying attention. It is worth mentioning that Tesla recently cancelled the FSD beta program entrance on some vehicles because Tesla found that the owners of these vehicles failed to pay enough attention when using the FSD function.

In early April this year, a working video of Tesla's driver monitoring system was exposed. The video showed that the system can continuously monitor the driver's facial movements through the camera inside the car.

This ensures that drivers using FSD or Autopilot can stay focused on road conditions at all times.

Since Tesla's FSD does not reach the L5 level of autonomous driving function, it requires the driver to pay attention to the road and the conditions around the vehicle.

Child safety and anti-theft devices

The sensor that Tesla was allowed to use this time was originally designed to detect whether a child was forgotten in a hot car. According to the description of Tesla's initial application, the system can "perceive depth and see things behind soft materials, such as children wrapped in blankets. The system can also distinguish whether there are children sitting on the seat or other objects, thereby reducing the probability of misjudgment." Tesla also said that the system can also "detect weak movements such as breathing and heartbeats, which could not be detected independently by cameras or built-in sensors in the seat before." It is worth mentioning that the Federal Communications Commission approved Google to use a device with the same technical parameters as Tesla in 2018.

The sensor system can also detect when thieves break into the vehicle, and it can also complement Tesla's efficient "Sentry Mode" function.

Sentinel Mode records events that occur near a vehicle and has helped police solve several cases of vandalism and robbery.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said that 105 children died in hot cars from 2018 to 2019, and 54% of the accidents were caused by their families forgetting them in the car. After Tesla was approved to use millimeter wave sensors, if it can be approved for wider use in the future, this device will significantly reduce the frequency of the above accidents.