Related Articles
According to Tesla world Leading manufacturers for self driven cars.
Tesla is adopting a take-it-slow approach to
the rollout of its next-generation Autopilot
system, in an effort to balance safety
concerns against its race to put advanced
self-driving technology in the hands of its
customers. A Tesla spokesperson confirmed
to The Verge that customer safety is the
primary reason behind Tesla’s slow
deployment of Autopilot features and Elon
Musk himself advised owners to exercise
caution when using Autopilot when part of the
system was rolled out over the weekend.
Back in October, Tesla rolled out a suite of
more advanced sensor hardware in its cars —
radar, cameras, and an onboard
“supercomputer” — but the software that
makes the safety and driver assist features
work wasn’t yet complete. As a result, Tesla
vehicles (the Model S sedan and Model X
SUV) built since then have many fewer safety
and convenience features (everything from
rain-sensing windshield wipers to the
Autosteer feature that most consider to be
“Autopilot”) than those available in older
models.
The idea is that while its cars will be more
capable in the future, they aren’t quite there
yet. Once Tesla finishes developing the
software, the newer cars will have more
advanced driver assist systems and, Tesla
says, cars purchased today will eventually be
able drive autonomously in all situations. But
for now, it means that older Tesla cars have
more safety and convenience features than its
newer cars.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk calls the new sensor
suite “HW2,” an acronym for second-
generation hardware, and the software is
called AP2. Tesla considers the entire suite of
safety and driver assist features to be the
Autopilot Safety Features, though the
Autosteer and traffic-aware cruise control
features are what most people consider to be
“Autopilot.”
After a Tesla driver was killed in a crash with
Autopilot active last year, Tesla unsurprisingly
chose to handle the rollout of AP2 with an
abundance of caution. The company is
validating its software “from the ground up,”
and this past weekend, Tesla rolled out a
speed-restricted version of its Autopilot driver
assist software for Tesla cars equipped with
HW2. However, even with that update, new
Teslas are still missing a ton of features
including blind spot monitoring and and
automatic emergency braking that are
available in HW1-equipped cars built between
September 2014 and October 2016, and which
are table stakes for most luxury cars. (See
the bottom of this article for a comprehensive
list.)
Tesla validated the first version of Autopilot
silently for months, running the software in
“shadow mode,” testing in the background and
allowing the company to check its work
without actually taking control of a car. AP2
is currently being tested the same way. The
goal is to verify that the system functions as
expected. Over the weekend, Elon Musk
advised owners to “be cautious” when trying
out the new HW2 Autopilot features.
Extensive testing is a good thing, but the
downside is a slow rollout of Autopilot safety
and convenience features. Tesla’s website
still promises a December 2016 rollout of
“Enhanced Autopilot,” a next-generation of
Autopilot that is more capable than Autopilot
1, promising the ability to automatically
transition from one freeway to another, or for
the car to autonomously park itself in a
parking lot or garage. But Tesla is behind
schedule because it doesn’t want to introduce
Autopilot software that isn’t ready.
In its investigation of the fatal Autopilot crash,
NHTSA said the crash rate of Tesla cars
dropped by 40 percent after Autopilot was
installed, validating Tesla’s claims that the
feature is safer than human driving. The
investigation also cleared Tesla and Autopilot
of any fault for the crash, noting that the
driver should have had at least seven seconds
to react and try to avoid the crash. Tesla has
worked to keep drivers from abusing the
system, and a software update last fall made
Autopilot more insistent in an effort to keep
the driver’s attention on the road.
As Tesla polishes its software, it will loosen
the reins on what drivers can do. Tesla will
raise the speed limit on Autopilot, currently 45
mph, “as we get more data,” said Musk, also
revealing that the autonomous capabilities on
Hardware 2 will improve every two to six
weeks via over-the-air updates. The missing
features, it seems, will show up — eventually.
Tesla is no stranger to slipping schedules, but
it seems the company is delaying the updates
of Autopilot for the right reasons: because it’s
not ready yet. But Tesla buyers seem
unphased: the company delivered 22,200
vehicles in the fourth quarter of 2016, even
though (or perhaps because) all of those cars
have a promise of future technology, rather
than having it today.
For reference, below is a list of safety
features currently available on Tesla cars with
HW2/AP2 (built after October 2016), as well
as features currently available only older
Teslas equipped with HW1/AP1 (built between
September 2014 and October 2016).
Features available on Hardware 1 and
2:
Low-speed Autosteer: It maintains the
vehicle’s position within a lane and
allows the driver to briefly remove their
hands from the wheel in some
situations. Restricted to 45 mph and
below (on HW2).
Traffic-aware cruise control (TACC):
Maintains and adjusts vehicle speed to
match the vehicle in front, accelerating
or decelerating as necessary. When
Autosteer and TACC are used together,
Tesla classifies the system as SAE
Level 2 on the autonomous scale.
Restricted to 75 mph and below (on
HW2).
Forward collision warning (FCW): A
system that warns the driver of an
imminent frontal collision with audible
and visual warnings.
Blind spot warning (BSW): Alerts the
driver when a vehicle is in the car’s
blind spot.
Speed assist: Vehicle can read and
display speed limit signs to the driver.
Automatic headlamps: Turns on the
headlights automatically when it gets
dark.
Features available on Hardware 1 (not
yet available with Hardware 2):
Automatic windshield wipers: Activates
the wipers when it rains.
Automatic high beam headlights: Turns
the high beams on and off
automatically.
Automatic emergency braking (AEB):
Can automatically apply the brakes to
avoid or reduce the severity of a
crash.
Side collision warning: Alerts the driver
when a collision with a vehicle in the
adjacent lane is imminent.
Lane departure warning (LDW): Alerts
the driver when the car leaves its
marked lane without a turn signal
active.
High-speed Autosteer: Autosteer at
speeds above 45 mph.
Auto lane change: An Autosteer
feature where the car can change
lanes on its own when the driver
activates the turn signal on a multi-
lane road.
Autopark: When activated, the car can
steer itself into a parallel or
perpendicular parking space.
Summon: The car can pull in and out
of parking spaces, without a driver in
the car, when a button is held on the
key.
