Tesla Begins Rollout Of 'Pure Vision Autopilot:' What You Need To Know

Tesla Inc.TSLA 0.29%is abandoning the radar in favor of a camera-based Autopilot system for its vehicles.

What Happened: Tesla CEO Elon Musk said on Twitter that the electric vehicle maker is now rolling out “Pure vision Autopilot” in North America. This will be followed by the release of a Full-Self Driving (FSD) beta V9.0 based on the pure vision system three weeks later.

Musk added that the long-awaitedFSD subscription servicewill be enabled “around the same time” as FSD beta V9.0. Tesla hadrolled outa “beta” version of the FSD software to a small set of customers in October last year.

Tesla alsosaidthat beginning with deliveries this month, the Model 3 and Model Y vehicles built for the North American market will no longer be equipped with radar and will instead feature a camera-based Autopilot system.

The vehicles will initially lose some functionality due to the lack of radar, but this will be restored through future software updates, Tesla said.

Why It Matters: Tesla’s Autopilot and FSD systems currently use radar, cameras and ultrasonic sensors to make decisions. Tesla's FSD is an advanced driver assistance system, while autopilot is part of all its vehicles.

Tesla has previously said it was abandoning the radar to switch to an all-vision system that is needed for full autonomy to work. Musksaidin January that even if the cost of lidar sensors — used in an alternative approach by rivals — becomes zero, Tesla would not utilize them.

The move by Tesla also comes amidgrowing scrutinyby regulators about the safety of the company’s self-driving technology. A fatalModel S crashin Texas in April is the twenty-eighth Tesla accident to be investigated by the NHTSA, according to Reuters.

Price Action: Tesla shares closed almost 0.3% lower in Tuesday’s regular trading session at $604.69, but rose more than 0.4% in the after-hours session to $607.35.