A Tesla with manufacturer plates and a unique camera system – one that we’ve seen at least once previously, was spotted in Northern California recently (Thanks, Joey!).
Today, we’re just 29 days away from Tesla’s upcoming Robotaxi event, where we expect to see more details on the Cybercab itself, as well as Tesla’s Robotaxi app and process.
What’s a Mule and What Does It Do?
Tesla internally calls these vehicles with these odd camera locations “mules” and uses them to test future vehicle camera locations. Previously, Model 3 mules were spotted with the cameras in a slightly altered arrangement before the launch of the Model 3 refresh – primarily to prepare the vehicles for Full Self-Driving and Autopilot functionality.
These vehicles gather visual data that’s used to feed Tesla’s supercomputers and prepare its AI models to be able to drive a vehicle with different camera locations. This specific mule is likely to be set up for Robotaxi.
Unique Camera Locations
Of note with this specific Model 3 mule is the very different camera locations. There is a heightened rear bumper camera, and the B-Pillar (located between the front and rear doors) camera is offset with an angle not previously seen on Tesla vehicles. The side repeater camera is pushed out and away from the body of the vehicle as well.
The mule also doesn’t have any side mirrors, but most interesting is a low-to-the-ground front bumper camera, similar to the front camera for the Cybertruck and the one recently spotted on the upcoming refresh Model Y. This means that there is a good chance that Robotaxi – and future hardware iterations, could be bringing a front bumper camera to all vehicles.
It appears that the front camera cluster (now reduced to two cameras with HW4) will remain the same or be very similar to today based on these new images.
The Bumper Camera
The new bumper camera will be extremely useful – and is a feature we’ve previously heard could be coming to the Model S and Model X as well. Beyond providing additional information, especially in tight quarters, this could also help with Tesla Vision Park Assist and navigating in densely populated locations, like a parking garage or parking lot.
We hope to see the front camera come to more vehicles as time goes on, but we’ll have to wait and see how the rollout of Hardware 5/AI 5 goes for that.
