Tencent’s Keen Security Lab disclosed on its blog that its researchers have remotely controlled few systems on the Tesla S cars in both parking and driving modes by taking advantage of the security bugs that are now fixed by the company.
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Tesla said it “immediately” notified the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) about an accident and the death of Joshua Brown, Tesla said in a statement issued June 30. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.
A fatal crash in Florida earlier this year was caused, Tesla has said, by the failure of a camera to detect the side of a truck on a bright day. CEO Elon Musk says the update will make its autopilot feature safer. Brown was killed when his Model S collided with a tractor-trailer. “We’re determined to help the private sector get this technology right from the start”, President Barack Obama wrote in a op-ed for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
“Because of the damage caused by the collision, the auto was physically incapable of transmitting log data to our servers and we therefore have no way of knowing whether or not Autopilot was engaged at the time of the crash”, a Tesla spokesperson said in an email to the Post.
One of the biggest changes with 8.0 is that Autopilot is now using radar as a primary control sensor.
The company has said the Autopilot system, introduced a year ago, is not a fully autonomous system and drivers are cautioned that they need to be at the wheel and in control.
A lidar system costs more than radar, although Lidow said prices would drop as the market grows. EPC chips are used in some lidar systems. Lidar images are clearer than radar in most circumstances and can be processed faster.
Despite the assurances, people have mixed opinions about using autopilot. Meanwhile, v8.1 is said to come with always-on minimum and maximum temperature controls. The feature automatically turns the air conditioning on if it senses that the temperature in the cockpit rises above 105 degrees Fahrenheit, and if the battery pack has at least a 20-percent charge.
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The auto-cool is created to prevent hot-weather accidents that can cause young children and pets to over-heat. Apparently, this is Musk’s “favorite” new feature.
