An intriguing image has emerged that reveals Tesla’s new Hardware 4 suite of self-driving sensors includes a front-facing ‘dummy’ camera.
The photo was first published by the Whole Mars Catalog page on Twitter and surfaced a couple of months after regulators in China revealed that Tesla’s Hardware 4 system would have two front-facing cameras, unlike the three cameras of Hardware 3. However, this photo shows the new setup appearing to rock three cameras but that’s simply because the one on the left is a dummy.
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The presence of this dummy camera has been confirmed in the leaked service manual for Tesla Model S and Model X vehicles being built with Hardware 4.0. It states that “the bi-camera assembly has cutouts for 3 camera lens assemblies, but one of the cutouts is populated with a dummy camera.”
Tesla hasn’t stated why it has equipped the new vehicles with a dummy camera. Electrek speculates that it could be because it intends on updating Hardware 4.0 in the future with a third camera and that it could be located where the dummy camera is.
A commentator from Electrek claims it is possible that the dummy camera may be there so that in right-hand drive locations, Tesla can reposition the real camera visible on the right with the dummy on the left. However, that doesn’t explain why there needs to be a dummy camera when there could simply be a removable plastic cover to fill the void.
