The king of pure vision technology solutions, analysis of Tesla's automatic assisted driving system!

With the advancement of new energy vehicle technology and the continuous growth of market share, the application of automatic assisted driving systems is becoming more and more widespread, which not only reduces the workload of our drivers, but also improves the safety of vehicles.

For the same automatic assisted driving, different car companies use different technical routes. Since Tesla is a rare car company that adopts a pure visual technology route, and its performance in actual applications by car owners is also relatively good, this time we use the official information to make a simple analysis of it in three parts.

1. Tesla Autopilot Classification

The English name of Tesla's automatic assisted driving is Autopilot, abbreviated as AP. It is currently divided into three levels: basic automatic assisted driving (BAP), enhanced automatic assisted driving (EAP) and fully automatic driving (FSD).

All models are equipped with the basic version of automatic assisted driving, which is L2 level, and can realize functions such as adaptive cruise control and lane keeping. If you want the enhanced version of assisted driving, you need to buy it for 32,000 yuan, which includes automatic assisted navigation driving, automatic assisted lane change, automatic parking, smart summoning and other functions.

The fully automated driving function (FSD) costs 64,000 yuan to purchase, which includes all the functions of the basic assisted driving and enhanced automatic assisted driving. In the future, functions such as recognizing traffic lights and responding to parking signs may be launched. However, the fully automated driving function is not yet available and is not supported in China.

2. Hardware Configuration

A special thing about Tesla's automatic assisted driving is that whether it is the basic version of assisted driving, the enhanced version of assisted driving, or the future fully autonomous driving, their hardware configuration is the same, and the difference lies in the software configuration.

In other words, all Tesla vehicles come standard with basic assisted driving. If you want enhanced assisted driving or fully autonomous driving capabilities, you can directly purchase the software without installing additional hardware.

At present, the hardware of Tesla's assisted driving system in China includes: 8 external cameras around the car body, 1 millimeter-wave radar and 12 ultrasonic radars. The combination of 8 cameras has a field of view of 360 degrees. Their specific installation locations and detection ranges are as follows:

8 cameras detection range

1. There are three cameras installed together in the middle of the front windshield, but their fields of view are different and their functions are also different.

Tri-camera in the front windshield

(1) The one in the middle is the front-view main field of view camera, also known as the wide-angle camera, which is responsible for observing the distance of 150 meters in front of the vehicle, which can cover most traffic scenarios.

(2) The wide-view camera on the driver's side, also called a fisheye lens, is responsible for observing the 60-meter range in front of the vehicle. The characteristics of this camera are just as its name suggests, with a field of view of up to 120 degrees. It mainly captures traffic lights, obstacles on the road, and some relatively close objects. It is suitable for urban streets and slow-moving driving scenarios.

(3) The camera on the passenger side has a narrow field of view, also called a telephoto camera. It has a long observation distance and can see up to 250 meters, making it suitable for high-speed traffic scenarios.

Three camera functions

2. The rear-view camera at the rear of the vehicle has one camera that can observe a distance of 50 meters directly behind the vehicle. It has a high pixel count and the reversing image comes from it. It also plays a role in automatic parking and can predict rear-end collisions.

Rear view camera

3. There are two cameras on the left and right fenders, which can observe a distance of 100 meters backward and detect the rear of both sides of the vehicle. The images when the turn signal is turned on and the images on the side of the vehicle body of the driving recorder are all the functions of these two cameras.

Fender rear view camera

4. There are two side front-view cameras on the left and right B-pillars. Their field of view is 90 degrees to the side, observing the situation within 80 meters on both sides of the vehicle. They can monitor vehicles that suddenly merge into the current lane on the highway, and can also provide more safety when entering intersections with limited vision.

Side view camera

In addition, there is a millimeter-wave radar inside the front bumper, which is invisible from the outside of the car. It can detect a distance of 160 meters forward. There are 6 ultrasonic radars in each of the front and rear bumpers, a total of 12, which mainly detect obstacles within 8 meters of the vehicle and play a role in reversing distance measurement and parking assistance.

3. Working Principle

If the principle of Tesla's automatic assisted driving is explained in detail, the process is very complicated and involves a series of professional terms, which is relatively obscure and difficult to understand. Here I will explain it in simple and popular language.

First of all, we need to know that Tesla adopts a purely visual route, simulating our human driving habits, that is, using our eyes to see, our brains to think, and our own experience and actual conditions to perform acceleration, deceleration, braking and other actions.

Back to the car, the 8 cameras around the car body are equivalent to our eyes, capturing and identifying objects around the vehicle in real time, and transmitting the acquired images and other information to the on-board computer, which is equivalent to our brain receiving what the eyes see. After a series of complex calculations, the on-board computer draws a three-dimensional image of the car's surroundings in real time and displays it on the large central control screen. If the situation around the car body requires the vehicle to respond, the on-board computer will calculate and analyze it on its own, and pass the information to be executed to actuators such as the steering wheel, accelerator pedal and brake pedal, thereby achieving control of the vehicle.

The core of Tesla's automatic assisted driving is the neural network system independently developed by Tesla running on the onboard computer. This system is the basis for Tesla to train and develop the automatic assisted driving system, and it is also the special feature of Tesla. Just like our human brain nervous system, it can learn and evolve.

The above is my analysis based on the automatic assisted driving information officially provided by Tesla and my own understanding. There will inevitably be omissions, but there are no errors overall. Drivers can take a brief look at it.