Tesla Seeks FCC Approval For New Radar Sensor: What You Need To Know

Tesla Inc TSLA is seeking the U.S. Federal Communications Commission approval for a new radar sensor.

What Happened: Tesla’s FCC application contains a test report dated Jan. 5, 2021, for the Vehicle Millimeter-wave Radar Sensor in 60 GHz band (60-64 GHz), first reported by Electrek on Wednesday.

The equipment under test measures 67 mm (L) X 48 mm (W) X 11 mm (H) and weighs approximately 0.1 kg, as per the report.

The Elon Musk-led company has applied for confidentiality for the sensor, as per Electrek, which noted more information and pictures on the device wouldn't be available until July 2021 — when the confidentiality expires.

See Also: How To Buy Tesla Stock.

Why It Matters: Tesla is betting on cameras and radar in furthering its self-driving push, with Musk taking a public stance against the use of lidar sensors, noted Electrek. 

Musk said this week that even if the cost of lidar sensors became zero, Tesla would not utilize them.

“I mean totally free, well, I think even if it was free, we wouldn’t put it on,” Musk told an analyst, as per Electrek.

The new sensor reportedly appears to be a move that would improve the company’s efforts to enable full-self driving.

Recently, Tesla rival Nio Inc NIO launched a new electric sedan in China that features high-resolution Lidar. 

See Also: How To Buy Nio Stock.

In November, Alphabet Inc’s GOOGL GOOG self-driving unit Waymo said it was working on a Lidar, radar, and camera-based autonomous strategy that was “orders of magnitude more advanced” than Tesla. 

See Also: How To Buy Google Stock.

Price Action: Tesla shares traded almost 1.3% lower at $843.10 in the after-hours session on Wednesday and closed the regular session 0.59% higher at $854.41.

Related Link: XPeng Teases New Sedan With Lidar Technology

Click here to check out Benzinga’s EV Hub for the latest electric vehicles news. 

Photo by Joehawkins on Wikimedia