Tesla didn’t say a word about Tesla Semi having autopilot/self-driving

During the unveiling of the production version of the Tesla Semi, the automaker announced a lot about the electric truck, but it didn’t say a word about it being equipped with Autopilot/Full Self-Technology. Driving.

This is despite being equipped with the necessary hardware.

When Tesla first announced the Tesla Semi in 2017, the automaker was still in the early stages of its Autopilot and full self-driving efforts, but the automaker had already announced that all production vehicles at the future would eventually be able to drive themselves with future software updates.

The automaker didn’t go so far as to talk about self-driving when it came to the Tesla Semi, but the company announced at the time that it would come with an improved Autopilot.

This was the original presentation slide to unveil the electric truck:

Along with the safety features that Autopilot can activate, Tesla had also announced that Tesla Semi would be able to achieve a sort of convoy mode where you can have multiple semis follow each other autonomously on the road. highway.

Here’s the quick video demo of the feature she posted at the time:

5 years later and now that the production version of the Tesla Semi has been unveiled, Tesla has removed any mention of the electric truck equipped with Autopilot or this convoy mode from its website.

Tesla also didn’t mention anything about advanced driver assistance features when showing off the production version of the Tesla Semi.

Although Tesla didn’t mention anything about it, it looks like the hardware is there to make it happen. Minimal Duck posted a video on Youtube giving a glimpse of the Tesla Semi trucks at the event and they were equipped with a wide array of cameras.

First, there are 3 cameras on each mirror:

One of them is used to power the side views inside the vehicle and we expect Tesla’s goal to be able to eventually remove the mirror portion of the side mirror to just use the power camera and improve aerodynamic performance.

Here you can see the side camera feeds inside the Tesla Semi cockpit:

As for the other two cameras on the side mirrors, they appear to be the equivalent of the fender and B-pillar cameras of the Autopilot sensor suite found on Tesla’s passenger vehicles.

Tesla also appears to have integrated the same 3-camera array found at the top of passenger vehicle windshields in the Tesla Semi:

Therefore, it looks like Tesla has recreated its suite of Autopilot/FSD cameras in its passenger cars in the new electric truck.

Tesla also seems to have added a camera in the front bumper of the Tesla Semi:

In conclusion, it looks like Tesla has integrated its Autopilot/FSD hardware suite into the Tesla Semi, but it’s not about enabling self-driving capability like it does in its passenger vehicles.

Electrek’s Grasp

I may have an idea why Tesla doesn’t want to talk too much about autopilot or self-driving when it comes to Tesla Semi car right now and probably for the foreseeable future it’s going to need drivers truck to get on board with the vehicle.

That might be harder to achieve if you’re talking about eventually replacing them with features that already exist inside the electric truck.

It’s not really transparent, but it’s business.

Anyway, I think truckers don’t have too much to worry about for a long time. Not only is Tesla fully self-driving clearly not ready to have anyone behind the wheel, but truck drivers are also doing more than just driving. They have responsibilities where they get their load and where they deliver and in between that haven’t been automated yet.

I think in the years to come truckers will see some work related tasks automated, including driving to some degree, but they will still be needed for probably more than a decade in my opinion.

If anything, I see Tesla Semi making truck driving an even more fun job.