Last Sunday we reported that Tesla would be issuing an autopilot update to its car models. The good news is that the update is finally here and is available to Tesla car’s via an OTA update. Essentially what happens is that now your car will be able to drive itself, sort of. While it won’t turn your vehicle into a full autonomous one, it gets pretty close.
Basically if you think that you get to sit in the passenger’s seat, take a nap, or play on your phone or computer, you probably won’t be able to do that. It also won’t take you to your destination and now where to stop. Essentially it more or less feels like a very much upgraded version of cruise control.
Thanks to the update, the car’s radars, cameras, 12 ultrasonic sensors, and the built-in GPS ensures that your car will be able to stay on the road and driving in the proper lane. However like we said this doesn’t mean you get to doze off. You are required to keep your hands on the wheel, or at least touch it in some way.
If you take your hands off for too long, the car will alert you and ask you to put your hands back on it. Grabbing the wheel too hard will also disengage autopilot. This isn’t so much that there are sensors built into the wheel, but rather the fact that it measures torque, so if it senses and resistance against it, it assume you want to take over.
According to Tesla’s CEO, the reason behind it is for both safety and legal ones, especially since allowing users to drive hands-off is the equivalent of putting self-driving vehicles on the road, which for now is still largely in testing. According to Elon Musk, “Regulators need to see clear evidence that the reliability is there. It works almost to the point where you can take your hands off. but we won’t say that. Almost.”
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