The Tesla Model 3 has been spotted in two new videos, just one day after the car was spotted in a series of photos. New videos from a source called “Wayne” surfaced on Wednesday, captured around the Tesla headquarters. The two videos document the same car spotted Tuesday by the same source, suggesting Tesla is making a regular habit of this test route.
The $35,000 car is big news for Tesla. When the entry-level model enters production in July, it will reposition the company from solely serving premium customers to reach a more mass market audience. The company is aiming to produce 250,000 Model 3 cars per year by the end of 2018, comprising half of total projected car production.
It seems Tesla is treading familiar ground with these Model 3 tests. Teslarati, which published one of the videos, said that the car was spotted at 3.14 p.m. Wednesday on Arastradero Road near the company’s headquarters. This is true to form for the company: eagle-eyed drivers spotted the Model X following the same route prior to the first deliveries in September 2015.
Electrek, which published the other video, noted that the company appears to be using a BMW to follow the car around.
Beyond an insight into the test sighting, these videos and photos seem to point to two new sensors on the C-pillars of the car by the rear doors. Current Teslas shipping with the Hardware 2 autonomous driving platform contain eight cameras, along with an array of other sensors.
If Tesla is adding new sensors, it would chime with the view of Morgan Stanley’s Adam Jonas, an automotive analyst that believes Tesla could be “underselling” the Model 3’s self-driving capabilities to avoid hurting current model sales. The company is aiming to release a software update by the end of the year to enable full autonomy, and Musk has already said that the Model 3 is specifically designed with autonomous driving in mind.
