‘Tesla trades HAL 9000 for Portal cannon in Sentry car surveillance mode’

For the surveillance mode of its cars, Tesla used a HAL 9000-like display for a while. This is a fictional AI character from 2001: A Space Odyssey. That rendering has reportedly been exchanged for a part of a cannon from the Portal game due to a copyright objection.

According to the Twitter account green, an individual who, according to the website Electrek, is a Tesla hacker and had access to an upcoming update in its early access program, movie company Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios has reached out to Tesla by claiming its HAL 9000-like graphics. for Sentry Mode. HAL 9000 is a fictional AI character from the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey and MGM owns the rights.

Tesla owners who are fans of 2001: A Space Odyssey and HAL 9000 might be able to dry their tears if they also happen to be fans of Valve’s Portal game. The Portal series features Sentry Turrets and these miniature robots are armed with cannons and have a red eye with a laser to mark targets. This red eye has now replaced the circular red HAL 9000 display on the central display in Tesla cars equipped with Sentry mode. The reference to this object from Portal is also confirmed by another Tesla owner.

The so-called Sentry Mode is a monitoring mode for Tesla cars that have at least hardware version 2.0 of the Autopilot processor. From version 2.5, the images can also be recorded on an SD card. This mode allows all kinds of cameras of the car to be used to record a 360-degree image around the car. This has led to the catching of vandals and thieves countless times. In fact, Sentry Mode is an extension of the previously released TeslaCam feature. With this function, images are now recorded in front, behind and on the sides of the car.