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Tesla Inc.’s Model 3 sedan is no longer on a list of top cars for Consumer Reports after the electric-car maker said it was switching to a camera-based system and dropping radar sensors in some of its cars.
The mass-market Model 3 had been a frequent presence (and sometimes the only Tesla vehicle) on Consumer Reports’ “top pick” lists through the years, but without “key advanced safety features” its score dropped too low to belong on the 2021 list, the nonprofit organization said.
In a blog post Wednesday, Tesla
TSLA,
said it was continuing its transition to Tesla Vision, its camera-based Autopilot system.
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Beginning with deliveries this month, Model 3 and Model Y vehicles sold in North America will no longer be equipped with radar and instead will be the first Teslas to rely on camera vision and what the company called “neural net processing” as part of its advanced driver-assistance systems.
During a “short” transition period, cars with Tesla Vision may be delivered with some features temporarily limited or inactive, including the lane-steering feature above certain speeds, its “summons” feature, and others, Tesla said.
Tesla has promised to restore the features “in the weeks ahead.” Tesla’s luxury Model S and Model X, as well as vehicles built for other markets, will continue to be equipped with radar and have radar-based ADAS features.
