Tesla and SolarCity are cash-strapped amid a merger proposed by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, who heads both firms. In an emailed response to the Consumer Reports piece last month, Tesla told MLive the carmaker “is constantly introducing enhancements proven over millions of miles of internal testing to ensure that drivers supported by Autopilot remain safer than those operating without assistance”. “This is not good”.
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Yesterday, The Wall Street Journal reported that Tesla disclosed in a securities filing that it owes around $422 million to its bondholders over the present third quarter. Critics have chided the Musk and Tesla officials for not shutting down the function in light of the fatal crash in May, but Musk steadfastly maintained that the system was not being used properly and that the company would continue with its development program.
Many other vehicle companies offer these features, but Tesla’s system is different in some ways.
This will begin if the driver does not respond to instructions or put their hands on the wheel within 15 seconds of a warning message. With an impending update, the restrictions will become just a tad more restrictive.
At present, Tesla’s Autopilot sends out an alert seeking the driver’s intervention when it sensors potential dangers.
At this point, the vehicle will gradually mute any music playing and slow down to a crawl until the driver puts their hands back on the wheel.
Shares of SolarCity tanked by more than 10%, falling as low as $18.31 during regular trading hours on Thursday, while Tesla stock slipped by almost 5% to as low as $200.51 per share.
There’s no official word on when Tesla plans to roll out this update to users. Expect to learn the details and capabilities of Autopilot 2.0 by the end of this year, with the system making it into the Model X and Model S later in 2017.
Tesla’s Autopilot system uses cameras and radar, but not laser-based lidar as some other self-driving systems do.
Now, Electrek, a blog with a strong track record for breaking Tesla news, claims the update will include an Autopilot system able to handle highway interchanges without being disengaged.
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The new (rumored) ability to travel between freeway interchanges autonomously is reportedly the result (mostly) of substantially improved mapping devices.
