M -Tesla has announced an update to its Autopilot electronic driver assistance system aimed at increasing accuracy and safety.
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CEO Elon Musk told reporters in a conference call that the improvements likely would have prevented the only fatality attributed to the Autopilot system.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk reportedly said the company’s new autopilot software could have prevented the vehicle crash that killed a man in northern Florida earlier this year.
Tesla claims that the features help the vehicle prevent hazards and reduce the driver’s workload. However, Tesla Motors will now be using radar as the primary control sensor for Autopilot, with the system not requiring the onboard cameras to visually confirm objects detected by radar. And that radar will use more advanced signal processing to create a picture of the world.
As part of the software update, Tesla’s Autopilot will also be able to automatically take off-ramp exits and will have improved Autosteering.
The new system, available for users to download within the next two weeks, will deactivate the Autopilot when drivers ignore audible warnings three times in an hour for having their hands off the wheel.
In another key safety upgrade hoped to ease fears that Autopilot lulls drivers into a false sense of security, the system will disengage if drivers fail to respond to warnings to keep their hands on the steering wheel. Musk said he believes the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which opened an investigation as a result of crash, will be receptive to the improvements. They were able to address the problems by having a more detailed point cloud and an assembled radar snapshots. The company said the system also will improve its accuracy in reading road conditions through “fleet learning”, data collected from other Teslas that have travelled the same road. This essentially bounces radar sensor readings off the road and underneath the vehicle in front and then back off objects ahead of that.
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The company will release the Tesla Autopilot 8.0 software as an over the air update for Tesla cars from October 2014, these are the vehicles which are fitted with radar. Autopilot will now use radar and camera sensors together to determine braking events, rather than sensors supplemented by radar information. The 200-plus additions to the software come as it is being investigated by the USA road safety regulator.
