Tesla FSD cameras watch toll booth transactions to drive off on its own

Tesla is working to bring the unsupervised version of its Full Self-Driving software to individual owners by the end of the year.

The FSD branch that doesn't require a driver behind the wheel is currently deployed to a limited batch of Model Y vehicles delivering pilot Robotaxi platform rides in Austin and, soon, California.

It was also loaded on a Model Y that delivered itself straight from the production line to its new owner, and has been used to get finished vehicles to their parking spaces on factory premises all on their own.

To achieve the level of safety desired for Level 4 driverless rides, and minimize interferences for those on the supervised FSD branches, Tesla is now training its autonomous vehicle software on a number of edge case scenarios, as follows:

• Reverse cut-in (occluded)
• Peeking (occluded) 
• Left turn cut-in 
• Parallel cut-in (occluded) 
• Yield for oncoming traffic during overtake
• Stop sign right-of-way violator
• Door opening during overtake
• Right turn harsh braking
• Left turn across path
• Cut-out to static cone
• Dynamic debris (dropped cone)
• U-turn cut-in (occluded)
• High-speed cut-out to stationary vehicle
• High-speed harsh braking
• High-speed stationary child
• High-speed crossing child 

This improves its ability to deal with the complex and often unpredictable situations encountered on public roads that the AI algorithms need to recognize and react to. These situations, however, are not the only ones that the Tesla AI team has thought about and implemented solutions for.

As the video below shows, FSD v13.2.9 can now recognize when a payment transaction is over at an open road toll or parking fee booth, and drive off without any input.

How did the Model Y do it? Well, according to Tesla's AI chief, it used its pillar and side cameras to observe the exchange of money and parking tickets, waited until the procedure is done and dusted, and started slowly pulling away from the toll booth once the payment transaction was over.

The Tesla Model Y didn't need any barrier to be lifted, or a signal to turn green, but rather used its cameras to watch the exchange between the driver and the person manning the booth to gauge when to proceed.

Unfortunately, Tesla owners with older cars on HW3 kits are often left out of those FSD improvements. They won't be able to loan their cars to the Robotaxi platform, for example, at least for now, as Elon Musk promised free HW4 retrofits if Tesla isn't able to make unsupervised FSD work with their vehicles.

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