SAN FRANCISCO—Tesla Inc. said on Tuesday it will remove ultrasonic sensors from its vehicles starting this month, as it moves ahead with using only cameras in its safety and driver-assistant features.
Tesla vehicles now have 12 ultrasonic sensors on the front and rear bumpers, and short-range sound sensors are mainly used in parking applications and to detect close objects.
“It’ll save them a few dollars. I mean those things are pretty cheap,” Guidehouse Insights analyst Sam Abuelsamid said, referring to ultrasonic sensors. “It’ll also save them some chips.”
Tesla last year started dropping radar sensors amid a chip shortage.
Chief Executive Elon Musk has said Tesla can achieve full autonomy with cameras only, but he has missed his targets to roll out self-driving taxis which require no drivers.