By: Otaiba Ahsan
If you’ve been driving long enough, there’s certainly been a few times when a car suddenly appears next to you, and you’re left wondering how you didn’t know it was there. It’s usually a relatively straightforward answer – the other vehicle was in your blind spot. Accidents caused by the lack of checking one’s blind spot can be quite nasty, which is why most automakers, including Tesla, have a feature to help with this. Continue reading for steps on how to use Blind Spot Assist for your Tesla.
What is Blind Spot Assist?
Blind Spot Assist is a set of features that all Tesla’s have which ensures the driver knows there’s a car in their blind spot. There are three primary ways this system assists:
- On-Screen Visualisation: As you drive, you’ll see that roughly a third of the touchscreen is used to show live visualizations of your Tesla in its lane, and all the vehicles or objects around it. Therefore, if there’s a car creeping up in your blind spot, you’ll see that it shows on the screen. This is helpful as you can take a quick glance at the screen and know someone is there, and then confirm with a physical check if needed.
- Automatic Blind Spot Camera: A camera that’s used when a turn signal is engaged, which helps show what’s right next to you, including the blind spot.
- Blind Spot Collision Warning: An audible warning noise is played if you try to change your lane and there’s a car in the blind spot.
Automatic Blind Spot Camera
As mentioned above, a live visual of what the side camera(s) sees will appear on-screen that displays what’s next to you when using a turn signal. Therefore, if you have the right blinker on, it’ll show you the right side, and the same thing for the left. It’s an extremely useful tool that adds to the overall safety of your drive.
You can either turn this feature on or off by tapping Controls > Autopilot > Automatic Blind Spot Camera using the touchscreen in your car.
When a vehicle is detected in your blind spot in an adjacent lane, a vertical red bar appears on the image to warn you. Lastly, you can move the position of the live visual to certain locations on the touchscreen. To do so, turn on one of your blinkers, and then touch and drag the image to a new location.
NOTE: Suitable locations are indicated by shaded areas. They will display when you begin to move the image.
Blind Spot Collision Warning
This feature will add a chime sound when a vehicle is in your blind spot and a possible collision is detected. However, Tesla warns that this capability cannot predict each potential accident 100% of the time and that you should still shoulder-check and follow all the appropriate steps when changing lanes.
To toggle this feature, tap Controls > Autopilot > Blind Spot Collision Warning Chime when in your Tesla.
The Bottom Line
The steps on how to use Blind Spot Assist for your Tesla are easy. The system features three key benefits. The first is the general On-Screen Visualisation, which helps the driver be aware of what cars are around them, especially their blind spot. The next is the Automatic Blind Spot Camera, which can be toggled by touching Controls > Autopilot > Automatic Blind Spot Camera. Lastly, it’s the Blind Spot Collision Warning, which can be turned on or off by tapping Controls >Autopilot > Blind Spot Collision Warning Chime. This suite of features adds to the overall safety of Tesla ownership, and are welcome additions.