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

  • March 31, 2017
    Smartphone solution for parking performance
    Automated parking offers optimised space utilisation and fewer damage complaints as David Crawford discovers. As cars become smarter, technology designed to make parking them more straightforward is developing in parallel. In turn, it is becoming clear that the places where vehicles spend much of their time will need to respond – more comprehensively than by supporting established aids such as smartphone-based parking location and reservation, or payment for time used.
  • September 14, 2015
    Ten US automakers commit to automatic braking on new vehicles
    Ten major vehicle manufacturers have committed to making automatic emergency braking (AEB) a standard feature on all new vehicles built, the US Department of Transportation, its National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) announced today. The announcement, made at the dedication of IIHS's newly expanded Vehicle Research Center, represents a major step toward making crash prevention technologies more widely available to consumers. The ten c
  • March 1, 2016
    Google AV in collision with public transit bus
    According to a report made by Google to the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), one of its autonomous vehicles (AV) has been in collision with a municipal bus in California. The crash happened on Valentine’s Day, when the Lexus RX-450H was travelling in autonomous mode in the right-hand lane approaching an intersection. It moved to the far right lane to make a right turn, but stopped when it detected sand bags sitting around a storm drain and blocking its path.
  • May 2, 2025
    Aurora starts driverless delivery in Texas
    Firm says it is first to operate commercial, self-drive heavy truck service in US