Well-known Tesla hacker, known as ‘green’ (@greentheonly), recently got his hands on a refreshed Model S equipped with Tesla’s latest Hardware 4 (HW4). In his typical fashion, he carried out a comprehensive teardown of the new radar system installed in the vehicle.
The step taken by Tesla to remove radar from its vehicles, favoring a camera-only Tesla Vision Autopilot for Full Self-Driving, was a major shift in strategy. ‘Green’, however, offers a divergent view after conducting a thorough examination of the new radar system.
Here, we see where the radar is located just behind the front bumper. There’s a massive heatsink to dissipate heat for the unit:
“Paging all HW4 radar deniers, I guess. What is the first thing you do when you get a HW4 car? You take it apart of course,” he tweeted on Monday. “Because FCC pictures are… low res 😉 And old too. Storage dumps TBD.”
When probed about the resolution of this new radar and the reason behind Tesla’s decision to drop radar initially, ‘Green’ offered a clear stance. He stated, “It was not ‘Very vague’, it was rather precise actually (with the vertical resolution exception). It never made sense to drop it as far as I am concerned.”
Here’s what the unit looks like attached to a bracket from the side:
Contrary to what Tesla explained that the radar system created more problems (as it contradicted what was being seen with cameras), ‘Green’ expressed that this assumption was not accurate. “The ‘radar caused more problems’ part is the lie,” he proclaimed. He went on to argue that “this is also a misguided move with the current implementation that has big blindspots around the fender.”
When inquired about how the new radar unit contrasts from those found in older models like the Model 3, ‘Green’ said, “If you mean the old conti radar, this one is supposed to have better accuracy, uses more (RF) bandwidth and also has a MUCH beefier link so it could provide a lot more data back to the autopilot.”
Green also opened up the radar unit and we see copious amounts of a pink adhesive foam used. We also see the design of this radar module as well:
This is not the first time we’ve seen a teardown of the new high definition radar that’s part of HW4. Back in February, green shared similar photos of the circuit board and those images match what we’re seeing shared by the hacker yesterday. That essentially confirms those February units were real and are being installed into Model S and Model X.
Back in September 2022, we saw this new high-resolution radar unit added to Tesla’s parts catalogue, fueling debate about the return of radar.
This exploration into the new radar system puts the focus back on Tesla’s strategy for its Autopilot and Full Self-Driving functionalities, challenging the widely accepted belief about the effectiveness of camera-only vision systems.
It remains unclear if new Model 3 and Model Y builds will regain radar units again, like we’re seeing in the new Model S and Model X. What do you think about the return of radar for Tesla vehicles?
