Welcome to Tinkla!

In early 2018 I got involved with the Comma.ai OpenPilot project. The more I got involved, the deeper I wanted to integrate OpenPilot with my Tesla Model S for a better experience. Today, by just looking at the instrument cluster (IC) or the center instrument display (CID) you would not know if the car is equipped with the Tesla original AutoPilot (AP1) or with our version of OpenPilot for Tesla.

Getting started

• Please read and understand the Disclaimers and Licensing.
• Many of the options and features are configured and enabled through the OpenPilot Configuration File.
• Out of the box (well, just few easy mods to your Tesla), OpenPilot does a fairly good job at lane keep assist (LKA) and introduces a limited adaptive cruise control (ACC) based on the OpenPilot vision radar and just regenerative (regen) braking. Also, the system has a built in lane departure warning (LDW). All you would need is an EON, a Panda, a Tesla Giraffe and a fairly easy to make EPAS harness.The cost for this complete setup is about $1,000 USD when getting all the components from Comma.ai and ebay (for the harness)
• The Comma.ai Pedal is a small unit that gets connected between your accelerator pedal on your model S and the Giraffe. While the stock cruise control on Tesla only works above 18 MPH, with the pedal we can control speed down to 1 MPH (though the regen brakes only work above 5 MPH). The benefit of the pedal is better (and smoother) adaptive cruise control over just the stock one.
• If you have access to the CID and IC on your Tesla (aka have root access), then you can follow some simple steps for turning on the IC and CID integration. This will allow you to visualize the path and cars on our Tesla's IC as well as control OpenPilot features from your Tesla's CID. This part is free as just involves some config changes on your Tesla.
• With few more wires and a harness (plus some ebay parts) you can add a Tesla Bosch radar to your pre-AP1 car. With full radar integration now available in OpenPilot, you get more accurate lead car detection which leads to a better ACC (still limited to regen braking). Also, if you have the IC integration, now you can see 3 lanes full of cars on your IC.
• Comma.ai has brought map integration for longitudinal control (slowing down in turns for example) few releases ago and there are plans to start bringing map info into lateral control as well to improve turning. Map integration is a key component for us too in order to improve the turning capabilities of the system.
• The next steps for us is integration with iBooster brakes for full stop and go traffic. This will require the replacement of the sandard vacuum brakes on your pre-AP1 Model S with the iBooster system that Tesla used in the AP1 cars and beyond. This will be about $500-$800 in parts and some more involved mechanical work as you would need to flush your brakes and such. Also, root access is needed for this upgrade.
• Finally, we will be integrating the AP1 style parking sensors into the OpenPilot code, allowing us to use the data from the 12 sensors to detect cars next to us. This is one step I'm hoping to start in the next month. Depending on where you source the sensors and harness, this by itself can be somewhere between $500 and $1,500.
• Once all this will be done, we will actually be able to fully integrate with AP1 cars as well. With Tesla no longer paying any attention to the older Model S (the AP1 was based on the MobileEye platform that Tesla dumped in October 2016 and has received limited code updates ever since), the only option to get new features and functionality is by joining the OpenPilot group.