Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) vehicle owners are in line for another update to its Autopilot autonomous automotive technology, the company has revealed.
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While there are dozens of small refinements with Version 8 of our software, described in addendum below, the most significant upgrade to Autopilot will be the use of more advanced signal processing to create a picture of the world using the onboard radar.
Electrek compiled transcript of the conference and quoted Tesla CEO Elon Musk, saying that radar can “quite easily” see through dust, fog, rain, and snow. The updated system will temporarily prevent drivers from using it if they fail to respond to audible warnings to take back control of the auto.
“The autopilot technology is not mature enough, so Tesla should provide strict guidelines for drivers to follow, to ensure safety”, Zhang said. This essentially bounces radar sensor readings off the road and underneath the vehicle in front and then back off objects ahead of that.
The revised system will sound warnings if drivers take their hands off the wheel for more than a minute at speeds above 45 miles per hour (72 kph) when there is no vehicle ahead, Musk said. Some said Apple would have been Tesla’s only true competitor in the field.
In the past, Tesla’s systems relied more on cameras instead of radar due to the higher incidence of false positives with radar, something the company has managed to get around with a camera-based system.
Tesla Motors Inc. announced an upgrade Sunday for its Autopilot feature that could significantly improve the safety if its semi-autonomous driving system. The radar technology should decrease accident numbers, he noted. In the accident, an OH man was killed when his Model S auto into Autopilot mode crashed into a tractor-trailer.
But the company claims the new version of that software has improved radar and imaging systems.
Other changes applied to Autopilot have reduced the possibility of drivers being distracted, as they will be prompted to keep at least one hand on the wheel when the system is active.
Overall, the new measures should result in the auto hitting the brakes appropriately “even if a UFO were to land on the freeway in zero visibility conditions”, Tesla said.
Tesla also explained that radar can see past the auto ahead, giving vehicle more time to break if need be. Safety activists such as Consumer Reports have urged Tesla to disable the automatic steering function and to stop marketing the system as an Autopilot.
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The automaker has received scrutiny from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for accidents that have occurred while Autopilot was engaged.
