It appears that Tesla has reduced Semi truck's cameras as 10-camera setup observed in production Autopilot code.
Noted Tesla hacker @greentheonly found clues in Autopilot’s code suggesting that the Semi might be released with 10 cameras.
Hm, I did not notice at first, but it seems production autopilot code has a little bit of Semi code in it tooInteresting to know that Semi only has 10 cameras, the extra camera is "right repeater 2", so just one right repeater was not enough.Also it's currently also on hw3.2— green (@greentheonly) December 30, 2020
"Hm, I did not notice at first, but it seems production autopilot code has a little bit of Semi code in it too. Interesting to know that Semi only has 10 cameras, the extra camera is "right repeater 2", so just one right repeater was not enough. Also it's currently also on hw3.2," tweets Green.
"Green’s observations suggest that Tesla has indeed reduced the number of cameras in the Semi, and to a significant degree. The various locations of each camera around the Class 8 truck is unknown. Though the noted Tesla hacker was confident that at least one of the cameras will be installed inside the cabin, similar to the Model 3 and Model Y’s selfie camera," notes Maria Merano at Teslarati.com.
It looks like soon we may see several Tesla Semi trucks being tested in our roads and highways. Another Tesla enthusiast @carsonight/Twitter reports that it received information from a source familiar with the case that Tesla is building four new Semis at a factory in Nevada. They will be manufactured using a new battery cell technology other than 2170 and 4680. It is reported that new cells with a higher density--called 2170L--will be used for the builds. The source says that the battery pack will consist of three blocks arranged in a row, each of which is half the size of the Model S.
"This makes sense because the production Semi should be coming out within a year, and FSD will be a huge benefit on the Semi. Semi accidents can be devastating, and long haul driving is plagued with fatigue and attention issues. So Autopilot and FSD will play a critical role in the Semi's features, and in it's overall value compared to traditional semis," thinks Torque News EV reporter Dean McManis.
Tesla Semi news is piling up, which I think means the manufacturing line should be under construction. I am wondering if the entire manufacturing will come from Giga Nevada. For now, there are at least 2 Tesla Semis prototypes already out on public roads, they have been spotted and photographed many times.
Armen Hareyan is the founder and the Editor in Chief of Torque News. He founded TorqueNews.com in 2010, which since then has been publishing expert news and analysis about the automotive industry. He can be reached at Torque News Twitter, Facebok, Linkedin and Youtube.
