Tesla is just one of the many companies interested in developing self-driving cars, the company certainly wants to lead the pack in this endeavor which is why it has started testing some of its autopilot features with select Model S drivers. The company recently detailed some semi-autonomous features that will be make their way to its cars before fully autonomous features can arrive after clearing regulatory hurdles, but that might not happen too soon.
Some of the features being tested with select Model S drivers right now include automatic parallel parking and highway autosteer, which basically takes over keeping adequate distance from the car in front, passing and changing lanes.
The idea behind this test is to ensure that these semi-autonomous features are thoroughly put to the test before they’re released for everybody, the testers will try them out and report on any and all kinks they find during the process.
Since there are various hurdles to cross before cars can go fully autonomous these features do require some input from the driver, for example cars on the highway won’t be passed automatically unless the turn signal is flicked so that Tesla is not held liable in case anything goes wrong.
Don’t expect participants of this test to share their experiences with these features, apparently talking about it could get them kicked out from the test.
Filed in . Read more about Model S, Self Driving Car and Tesla. Source: autoblog