Skip to main content

Your Tesla Autopilot has arrived

In a blog on its website, Tesla Motors, which since October 2014 has been equipping its Model S car with hardware such as a forward radar, forward camera, electric assist braking system, to allow for the incremental introduction of self-driving technology, has announced the release of Tesla version 7 software. Called Tesla Autopilot, it allows those tools to deliver a range of new active safety and convenience features, designed to work in conjunction with the automated driving capabilities already offered
October 20, 2015 Read time: 2 mins
In a blog on its website, 597 Tesla Motors, which since October 2014 has been equipping its Model S car with hardware such as a forward radar, forward camera, electric assist braking system, to allow for the incremental introduction of self-driving technology, has announced the release of Tesla version 7 software. Called Tesla Autopilot, it allows those tools to deliver a range of new active safety and convenience features, designed to work in conjunction with the automated driving capabilities already offered in the Model S.

This combined suite of features represents what Tesla claims is the only fully integrated autopilot system involving four different feedback modules: camera, radar, ultrasonics, and GPS. These mutually reinforcing systems offer real-time data feedback from the Tesla fleet, ensuring that the system is continually learning and improving upon itself.

Autopilot allows the Model S to steer within a lane, change lanes with the simple tap of a turn signal, and manage speed by using active, traffic-aware cruise control. Digital control of motors, brakes, and steering helps avoid collisions from the front and sides, as well as preventing the car from wandering off the road. Your car can also scan for a parking space, alert you when one is available, and parallel park on command.

Tesla Autopilot relieves drivers of the most tedious and potentially dangerous aspects of road travel. While truly driverless cars are still a few years away, Tesla claims Autopilot functions like the systems that airplane pilots use when conditions are clear. The driver is still responsible for, and ultimately in control of, the car and always has intuitive access to the information the car is using to inform its actions.

This release also features a visual refresh of the digital displays for every single Model S around the world. The instrument panel is focused on the driver and includes more functional apps to help the driver monitor the ride.

Related Content

  • October 5, 2015
    New York’s MTA tests new safety technology on buses
    As part of the MTA’s ongoing commitment to improving safety across all agencies and in coordination with New York City’s Vision Zero plan, MTA New York City Transit has begun to test new technologies aimed at improving safety for drivers, bus customers and pedestrians. The 60-day tests of pedestrian turn warning and collision avoidance systems will determine if a full pilot of one or both systems can proceed in 2016. NYC Transit’s Department of Buses is testing two systems on six buses: a pedestrian turn
  • April 21, 2021
    Two deaths in Tesla crash with no driver
    Victims found in the front and back seats - but this was not an autonomous vehicle
  • July 10, 2018
    Adaptive cruise control can mitigate phantom traffic jams, says Ford
    Phantom traffic jams can be minimised through adaptive cruise control (ACC) technology, says Ford. These traffic jams occur when one driver hits the brakes and causes a chain reaction of other drivers tapping their brakes which causes traffic flow to halt. Ford conducted a test alongside Vanderbilt University researchers on a closed test track involving 36 vehicles across three lanes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GYfXxVn2Oc The motor company says the main causes of phantom jams are human fa
  • April 5, 2017
    Autonomous vehicles will not prevent half of real-world crashes
    Alan Thomas of CAVT looks at the reality behind the safety claims fuelling the drive towards autonomous vehicles