Teslas are not equipped with laser sensors and previously only used radar as a “supplementary” system to back up what its optical cameras could pick up visually. Traditional cameras become less reliable as the visual field becomes more dense.
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In a Twitter post, Musk said he would be holding a Q&A session with the media on Sunday and would follow that with a post about autopilot at 3 p.m. ET. Tesla said it will allow the radar system to initiate automatic braking on its own, without requiring its vehicles’ optical cameras to agree the maneuver is needed. It gives the example of a concave soda can amplifying its return signal. The update focuses primarily on the radar component of the Autopilot sensor system, turning it from a supplementary part of the overall tech, created to complement the cameras, into a primary control sensor that, according to Elon Musk himself, should prevent accidents like the one that resulted in Josh Brown’s death. The use of radar mapping brings Tesla that much closer toward Google’s vision of a robotic vehicle in that Google uses a mixture of laser-based sensors, radar and traditional video cameras to see. It will also use fleet learning to reduce unintended braking from large stationary objects like street signs appearing over ridges by assigning geolocation data to those locations.
In August, Musk teased some of the improvements and how they would be rolled out to Tesla’s Model S and Model X electric vehicles.
“Perfect safety is really an impossible goal”, he said. “It’s really about improving the probability of safety, that’s really all you can accomplish”.
The update will also penalize inattentive drivers.
The system is able to brake even when it doesn’t recognize what the object is, and that’s the key to why he suggests it would’ve avoided the accident that resulted in Brown’s death.
Other features coming in the 8.0 update include a new safety mechanism that actually fully disables Autopilot if a driver repeatedly ignores the warning to keep your hands on the wheel.
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Musk also noted that the drivers that end up with the most warnings to pay attention to the road are veterans of the system.
