Watch a Tesla Drive Itself Through Traffic Highlighting Autopilot and FSD Features
According to a newsletter from Tesla today, Autopilot comes standard with every new Tesla packed with active safety features “…enabling your car to steer, accelerate and brake automatically under your active supervision.”
Furthermore, with an upgrade to Full Self-Driving Capability, your can “…access additional features such as Navigate on Autopilot, Autopark and Traffic and Stop Sign Control for an elevated level of assisted driving. Our Full Self-Driving package also includes access to future features and functionalities via over-the-air updates.”
Tesla’s Autopilot System and Safety Implications
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One interesting point is that Tesla video is also making a clear point about what its features are capable of by stating to the viewer that “The person in the seat is only there for legal reasons. He is not doing anything. The car is driving itself.” A cool factor in the video shows the camera sensor capability identifying obstructions as the car navigates safely avoiding colliding with other vehicles, objects, and pedestrians.
Here's a video demonstrating what these features will look like in your Tesla”
Listed Features Condensed
Advanced Sensor Coverage: Eight surround cameras provide 360 degrees of visibility around the car at up to 250 meters of range. Twelve updated ultrasonic sensors complement this vision, allowing for detection of both hard and soft objects at nearly twice the distance of the prior system.
Processing Power Increased 40x: A new onboard computer with over 40 times the computing power of the previous generation runs the new Tesla-developed neural net for vision, sonar and radar processing software…seeing in every direction simultaneously, and on wavelengths that go far beyond the human senses.
Autopilot: Autopilot introduces new features and improves existing functionality…enables your car to steer, accelerate and brake automatically within its lane.
Tesla also offers “Navigate on Autopilot” that suggests lane changes to optimize your route and will also automatically steer your vehicle toward highway interchanges and exits based on your destination.
However, to be clear, Tesla states that “Current Autopilot features require active driver supervision and do not make the vehicle autonomous. “
Smart Summon: With Smart Summon, your car will navigate more complex environments and parking spaces, maneuvering around objects as necessary to come find you in a parking lot.
How Tesla Self-Drives Out of a Flooded Parking Lot
Full Self-Driving Capability:
1. All new Tesla cars have the hardware needed in the future for full self-driving in almost all circumstances. The system is designed to be able to conduct short and long distance trips with no action required by the person in the driver’s seat.
2. All you will need to do is get in and tell your car where to go. If you don’t say anything, the car will look at your calendar and take you there as the assumed destination or just home if nothing is on the calendar…when you arrive at your destination, simply step out at the entrance and your car will enter park seek mode, automatically search for a spot and park itself. A tap on your phone summons it back to you.
3. The future use of these features without supervision is dependent on achieving reliability far in excess of human drivers as demonstrated by billions of miles of experience, as well as regulatory approval, which may take longer in some jurisdictions. As these self-driving capabilities are introduced, your car will be continuously upgraded through over-the-air software updates.
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Timothy Boyer is Torque News Tesla and EV reporter based in Cincinnati. Experienced with early car restorations, he regularly restores older vehicles with engine modifications for improved performance. Follow Tim on Twitter at @TimBoyerWrites for daily Tesla and electric vehicle news.