Elon Musk, CEO, and co-founder of Tesla Motors announced that they would begin to roll out the Enhanced Auto Pilot updates for their cars. Musk mentioned that the updates would be given in increments over the weeks starting in December. Enhancements will include updates for both level four and five automation of their cars.
Which Features Will Be Updated?
The enhancements will include updated hardware with an improved suite of sensors, cameras, and a more powerful processor. Tesla, with its level five automation, aims to enable full autonomous capabilities with its vehicles. The rollouts will also include software updates and will start in three weeks, and then in weekly increments thereafter.
Currently, some features that are not yet 100 percent fully operational are auto steer, parking assistant, blind spot detection and forward collision warning. Some other features that need updates are auto windshield wipers, auto low and high beam lights, auto emergency braking, side collision warning and avoidance, lane departure warning, speed assist, traffic aware cruise control, auto park and summon. The updates will include the latest Model X and Model S cars. Part of the weekly updates will make cars fully autonomous as legislation changes.
Current Tesla owners will see these features on their vehicles, however, they will still show as disabled. Autopilot features such as blind sports detection and park assist are disabled by default until the updates are installed. This is to ensure that the features will be well calibrated once updated this December.
The first generation Autopilot system on models that is currently on the streets allows the cars to automatically steer, merge into highways and change lanes. Cars built between September 2014 and October 2016 only had one camera equipped for its Autopilot. Fortunately, newer cars now have eight built-in cameras for 360 degree of visibility and 820 feet of range. Newer models will still come with one radar sensor but will have enhanced processing to see through hazards such as heavy rain, dust, fog and obstacles in front. The 12 ultrasonic sensors will also be updated to detect soft and hard objects with better quality and sensitivity than the previous one.
What's New With The Updates
NVidia's Titan GPU will also power the onboard computer with almost 40 times more computing power than the previous one. The Enhanced Autopilot, or Autopilot 8.1, will have the ability to match the driving speed with its surroundings and traffic conditions better than its predecessor. Changing lanes can now be done without any driver interaction and can merge on and off highways. Maneuvering around through objects can be done now in a more complex environment when being summoned.
The new hardware and software will now enable full autonomous features, or simply put, will allow the car to fully drive itself without human intervention. However, even if you see your car has this feature, they may not yet be enabled due to state laws and legislation. New consumers will have the option to get the new NVidia GPU, cameras, radar and sensors for $5000 dollars.
