A new filing with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from Tesla suggests that the automaker could be reintroducing radar to some of its vehicles, though it has submitted a request for an extension of confidentiality on the matter.
Tesla has submitted a letter to the FCC requesting that its upcoming high-definition radar part remain secret until mid-January, when the hardware will begin being marketed, as seen in a letter filed with the agency (via @GreenTheOnly) last month.
The letter is categorized as a Short-Term Confidentiality Extension Request Letter, and Tesla engineer Cindy Li writes in the letter that the documents for the radar part were set to go public on December 7. The letter goes on to request that confidentiality continue through February 7, 2023.
That totally explains why the radar made it's appearance in the EPC for a model X car back in September or so, right?
— green (@greentheonly) December 7, 2022
“However, this device will not be marketed until Mid-January 2023. To avoid any unnecessary disclosure and competitive harm before our product launching, we would like to request above exhibits to be held for another 60 days until 2023-02-07,” Li wrote in the letter.
Although it’s speculative, Green also notes later in the thread that high-definition radar hardware was listed in the European parts catalog (EPC) for the Model X and S in September, while another user posited that it could be an early development for upcoming Robotaxis from Tesla.
Other theories suggest Tesla may be using this next-gen radar to go with its next hardware version. Would retrofits be possible for existing Tesla cars to get radar again?
It seems like the existing harness would support this new radar unit. But an Autopilot hardware upgrade might be required for any retrofit, since the old radar unit uses a Canbus connection typically made for automotive applications, while the new radar uses Ethernet, according to @Greentheonly.
