Tesla Releases Software Update to Detect Speed Limit Signs

[jiyeon]

Source: electrek

 

Tesla has released a new software update which allows the vehicle to visually detect speed limit signs and some other quality-of-life improvements to the lifestyle of driving a Tesla.

 

Quote

Speed Assist now leverages your car’s cameras to detect speed limit signs to improve the accuracy of speed limit data on local roads. Detected speed limit signs will be displayed in the driving visualization and used to set the associated Speed Limit Warning.

 

The way this is visualised within the Tesla dashboard is that the speed limit sign is detected from cameras and shown to the dashboard, as shown below.

 

 

Presumably this new feature will be utilised in conjunction with Tesla Autopilot to ensure the vehicle does not breac speed limits.

 

Another feature that was added to the newest software update was the addition of a new 'Green light traffic chime'.

 

Quote

A chime will play when the traffic light you are waiting for turns green. If you are waiting behind another car, the chime will play once the car advances unless Traffic-Aware Cruise Control or Autosteer is active When Traffic Light and Stop Sign Control is activated, a chime will play when you can confirm to proceed through a green traffic light. To enable, tap Controls > Autopilot > Green traffic Light Chime

 

While a nice quality-of-life addition, I'm sure that I'm not alone when I say I'm pretty certain most competent drivers will be aware enough that they do not need an auditory notification of when they are able to move from a traffic light... However, I do commend the technology for being more involved to the driving experience.

 

I feel like with the addition of the speed limit detector, we are edging closer to an automated road system. However, my main concern is that cameras can only detect the text, so any graffiti or tape covering any portion of a sign could pose a large problem for the safety of a Tesla vehicle in the future, and could definitely compromise the driver if they are unaware of the speed limit in a particular section of a road, especially if they have enabled Autopilot.

 

But as always, I do feel like the people who are affluent enough to buy these vehicles are more than capable of knowing how to tame the beast and can always know to expect the worse, especially since Autopilot has been a key feature that Tesla has been pushing on their vehicles for years.

 

Time will only tell how these new features will develop and shape the culture around automated vehicles.

[S w a t s o n]

Interesting, they must have found a way around Mobileye's patent which is why they dropped this feature after AP2.

[Guest]

S 3 X Y .

[X-System]

I ask if a guy mades a fake traffic sign "Speed limit 200" and pastes it on a current traffic sign. Tesla car will accelerate ?

[hgpot]

I wonder if they can allow customers to opt-in to an anonymous GPS locations of these signs to build a database of what the speed limit is, to help with situations where the sign may be obstructed from view of the next Tesla or potentially used to calculate travel times. For example if a trip requires 20 miles on a road that was 35mph the last time this driver used it, but the speed limit got upped to 45mph, that changes the travel time and the car could be aware of the change via this database. 

[BlueChinchillaEatingDorito]

Elephant in the room, this is a feature already available even on Mazdas... nothing special here...

 

[poochyena]

what? This hasn't been a feature for years? I'm genuinely shocked by that. computers/cameras have been able to read signs for a decade by now.

[Guest willies leg]

It's always been available, now it's just better.

Love Tesla!

 

The last update gave me the ability to auto close the windows when I walk away from the car. Before that they gave me the backup camera + 2 side cameras in the backup camera view. And before that they gave me the ability to watch YouTube, Netflix, Hulu, Twitch, etc. on the screen. The sound system is amazing! Better than most home theater setups.

 

Not too bad for free software updates!

[BlueChinchillaEatingDorito]

5 minutes ago, willies leg said:

The sound system is amazing! Better than most home theater setups.

That's not really a bragging point considering most home theater setups these days involve the 10W speakers built into the TV. 

[BuckGup]

23 minutes ago, BlueChinchillaEatingDorito said:

Elephant in the room, this is a feature already available even on Mazdas... nothing special here...

They use GPS not vision to detect what the sign is. So in construction zones when the speed is reduced it will be inaccurate 

[BlueChinchillaEatingDorito]

2 minutes ago, BuckGup said:

They use GPS not vision to detect what the sign is. So in construction zones when the speed is reduced it will be inaccurate 

Time to send an angry email to my local reviewer. 

[yolosnail]

25 minutes ago, BlueChinchillaEatingDorito said:

Elephant in the room, this is a feature already available even on Mazdas... nothing special here...

 

Tesla used to have it, but when they upgraded to their own dedicated hardware, they didn't want to pay Mobileye for the privilege of reading road sings, so they just removed it.