Tesla will monitor with on-board camera whether drivers pay attention while driving

Tesla has introduced a new driver monitoring system that uses the inward-facing dashboard camera to monitor whether drivers are paying attention to traffic when they have Autopilot or Full Self-Driving on.

The new feature is in a software update for Tesla. In the release notes you can read that the camera in the rear-view mirror can see whether a driver is paying attention when Autopilot is on. According to Tesla, the data does not leave the car and camera data would not be shared by default. This can be turned on in the car.

For a long time, Tesla didn’t want to use the inward-facing dashboard camera in the rear-view mirror to keep an eye on drivers, writes Electrek. Instead suggested Elon Musk that the camera was intended to prevent vandalism if they were to sit in a self-driving Tesla taxi in the future. Last year, the camera was turned on for the first time in a software update. Users were asked to voluntarily turn on the camera to develop security functionality.

For the time being, drivers who have Autopilot on still have to keep their hands on the wheel and be able to intervene at any time. The update comes just days after Tesla announced in the US that Teslas would ship without radar from May. Autopilot, Full-Self Driving and ‘certain safety functions’ would from now on only use camera images, the so-called Tesla Vision.

Tesla user Kevin Smith was one of the first to discover the update of the on-board camera in his Model Y. Photo: Twitter.