Tesla electric cars in Australia now detect traffic lights and wheelie bins

Californian electric car maker Tesla has enabled a cool new feature for Australian drivers in its latest software update, allowing its vehicles to detect and then visualise on the in-built touchscreen display new objects including traffic lights, stop signs and wheelie bins.

Having received software update 2020.12.10, some Australian Tesla drivers have noted in social media that as of Wednesday morning they can now see new objects on or near the road.

Australian Tesla owner known as VedaPrime noted the update on Twitter on Wednesday morning, sharing images of the new driving visualisations taken by Tesla Model 3 owner Cameron Kelly.

While witch’s hats (known as traffic cones in the US) have been part of Tesla driving visualisations for a some time now, new visualisations include stop signs, traffic lights and certain road markings such as the word “stop”.

It gets better too: a follow-up image shows a distinct visualisation of a wheelie bin – otherwise known as a kerbside trash can in the US.

Pulled up at traffic lights, VedaPrime notes the green lights shown at the intersection:

Enhanced driving visualisations have been available for Tesla vehicles from software version 10, and the new visualisation update will be available for all Model 3s with hardware version 3 which uses Tesla’s proprietary AI chip that will eventually enable Full Self Driving.

When Tesla’s V10 software was announced, it listed enhanced driving visualisation as one of its keenly awaited new features:

“Enjoy an improved 360 view around your car — a more dynamic interface recognizes and displays a wider variety of objects and lane lines. Since driving visualization is on the touchscreen in Model 3, you can also drag and pinch the display to temporarily adjust view angle and zoom. After a short period of inactivity, the visualisation will return to the default position.”

It is unclear as yet if the new visualisations will be available for Tesla vehicles that are kitted out with earlier hardware versions, including Tesla’s premium Model S sedan and Model X SUV, unless owners have purchased Full Self Driving and are eligible for an upgrade.

As per Tesla’s 2020.12.10 update notes: “The driving visualisation can now display additional objects which include stop lights, stop signs and select road markings.”

Don’t think this mean you can take your eyes off the road, however.While the visualisations shared on various electric vehicle news sites are reportedly faithful to what the driver sees on the roads, others have tested the limits of the visualisations with combinations such as a person walking in front of and behind or even wearing witch’s hats with varying degrees of results, such as in this Youtube video.

This video shows that the vehicle will stop for witch’s hats, at low speed at least. However it must be noted that Tesla goes on to say, “The stop sign and stop light visualisations are not a substitute for an attentive driver and will not stop the car.”

This is not to be confused with another visualisation feature offered by Tesla for drivers of its premium vehicles (which includes Model S and X, as well as Model 3s with premium interior), known as live traffic visualisation.

As The Driven noted on Monday, live traffic visualisations are only available on a Premium Connectivity Subscription. While this is available free for life for all Tesla vehicles purchased before July 2018, it will only be available on a $A16.99 a month subscription for those purchased afterwards.

Customers who have bought or will buy Performance or Long Range models after that date will get a 12-month free trial, and it is understood that customers who buy a Standard Range Plus Model 3 are given a free 30-day trial.

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