Miniscule new feature on the Tesla Model Y Juniper is actually the biggest addition

The new Tesla Model Y Juniper is here and everyone’s focusing on one feature.

Everyone noticed, and pointed out, that the headlamps and taillights look very Cybertruck-esque.

But there’s another, admittedly much smaller feature that’s making a big difference.

It’s a new camera at the front.

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Why the Tesla Model Y Juniper is fitted with a new camera

Tesla fitted the new Model Y Juniper with an extra camera at the front, located right below where the front grille would be if the Model Y had one.

The new front bumper camera is designed to provide a wider field of view Tesla’s Full Self-Driving and Advanced Smart Summon, which is Tesla’s self-parking system.

This is because, unlike almost every other brand, Tesla is building its self-driving system using nothing but cameras.

No lidars, no radars, nothing – just cameras.

According to Tesla, the new camera should help the company as it prepares to roll out unsupervised FSD.

Here’s why Tesla believes cameras, not lidars, are the way to go

Tesla is not the only leader when it comes to self-driving, the company is sharing the limelight with Waymo.

Having said that, Musk is convinced robotics and AI will make Tesla a $25 trillion company, and potentially make Musk a trillionaire in the process.

We’ll see.

But what is certain is that Tesla has made a huge bet, and it’ll take a few years to see whether it’ll pay off or not.

Put simply, every company in the world, apart from Tesla and Xpeng (below), is using lidars for their self-driving vehicles.

For reference, lidars are basically radars with built-in thermal imagining capable of detecting light and distance.

But Tesla says lidars are a stopgap measure, and sooner or later their technology will reach its limit.

By contrast, Tesla says that, especially with AI, there’s no limit to what cameras can do.

And, as many people point out, we’ve already been driving using nothing but cameras, our eyes, for about a century at this point.