Tesla CEO Elon Musk has revealed full details of the ‘version 7.0’ software update for the Model S, including the Beta version of the Autopilot autonomous driving software, and it's available now worldwide
Driverless cars were the future, but Tesla has just brought them to the present. The Californian electric car firm has made live an over the air ‘Version 7.0’ software update for the Model S, which brings with it a Beta version of the ‘Autopilot’ autonomous technology.
Image 13 of 14
It’s not exactly been a secret that Tesla has been working hard to bring autonomous tech to the market first, ahead of rivals such as Audi and BMW. CEO Elon Musk made the official announcement at a press conference that Model S owners globally will find the software automatically downloaded to their car overnight, and revealed full details of how it will work.
• Driverless cars: everything you need to know
Like systems on trial at rival luxury car firms, the system utilizes existing tech such as the forward facing cameras with traffic sign recognition, and an ultrasonic sonar that continually scans the 360-degree perimeter of the car. This combines with the existing GPS navigation software and uses Tesla's own “High Precision Digital maps” to paint a realistic picture of the road ahead.
These extremely detailed maps can plot out individual lanes, upcoming corners and hazards, for example when traffic builds up on a multi-lane motorway. The system can even decide whether the camera and radar info, or the GPS data, is the most trustworthy and ignore misleading data from either source, eliminating jerky reactions from the car’s Autosteer function.
Image 3 of 14
The ‘Auto Lane Change’ system is capable of changing lanes on a motorway if the driver indicates left or right to do so. Part of the update also sees fully autonomous parallel parking. Musk did confirm that early Model S examples without camera or radar systems could (theoretically) have it retro-fitted, but stated it “simply would not make financial sense” for owners or Tesla themselves.
• Audi A7 drives itself (and us) on public roads
Where Tesla’s autopilot software differs from rivals’ is that every autonomous Model S constantly contributes data to a central network as it drives, meaning day-to-day updates for other Autopilot users. Musk calls it an “automatic learning system” but stresses this is far away from the idea of ‘artificial intelligence’.
Image 2 of 14
As the Autopilot software is considered in early 'Beta' trial period, users will still be required to keep their hands firmly on the wheel for now. But the car will make steering inputs and corrections by itself as it follows the lanes on the road, so it won't be long before drivers can take their hands away, if leagal barriers can be overcome.
Model S owners in the United States will be the first to receive the Autopilot tech, which will be fully operable within two or three days. Asian and European countries (and the UK) will receive the software update within a week. Musk claims around 60,000 Model S cars will have autonomous capability, and the forthcoming Model X will also receive the same tech.
What do you think of Tesla's Autopilot upgrade? Let us know in the comments section below...