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

  • January 31, 2012
    In-vehicle intersection violation Warning system
    Mike Schagrin, ITS Joint Program Office, RITA, and John Harding, NHTSA, describe US progress towards an in-vehicle Intersection Violation Warning system. In 2008, there were 37,261 fatalities on US roadways. Of these, 7,772, some 20.8 per cent of the total, were defined as intersection crashes or intersection-related crashes. Through a multi-agency research initiative led by the Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA), the US Department of Transportation (USDOT) has developed a prototype In
  • March 20, 2014
    Adaptive cruise control would suppress traffic instability
    Professor Berthold Horn of Massachusetts Institute of Technology believes a modified adaptive cruise control could mitigate phantom traffic jamsthat occur for no apparent reason. The phenomenon of the phantom traffic jam is all too common: they appear for no apparent reason and, having caused frustrating delays for all travelers, evaporate for an equally mystical reason. Phantom traffic jams usually occur on busy highways and often take the form of repeatedly stopping and then accelerating up to near the
  • October 5, 2015
    Gridsmart Technologies demonstrates GS2 processor
    Gridsmart Technologies is here at the ITS World Congress to unveil a major new advancement for the world’s only single camera product for intersection actuation, data collection and situational awareness. Visitors here in Bordeaux will get an exclusive opportunity to experience the Gridsmart GS2, a powerful new 1-U processor, before it is released in 2016. The GS2 adheres to the company philosophy of founder and CEO Bill Malkes – that everything about us should be simple, flexible and transparent.
  • May 25, 2023
    Transport is evolving – and road safety must keep pace, says Parifex
    France-headquartered Parifex works at the cutting edge of Lidar-based speed control systems. CEO Paul-Henri Renard discusses safety advances made in recent decades - and the causes of accidents that remain…