The CEO of Tesla Motors, Elon Musk disclosed much expected Tesla’s Autopilot update on the New Year’s Eve. With the new update confined to models having advanced hardware which were introduced in October, only 1,000 vehicles will get the update in the first phase. Rest of the HW2 fleet will only receive the update provided no issues arise with the current launch. The upgrade to 8.0v is specific to HW2 vehicles providing them with the advanced autonomous drive control features that they initially lacked.
Although we haven’t been enlightened with extra details, the release notes of electrek inform us about the update features to include Autopilot’s Traffic Aware Cruise Control, Forward Collision Warning and Auto steering feature. The owners of latest S and X models however are lucky enough to get the update tomorrow. Unlike original auto pilot systems, these enhanced hardware packages are equipped with cameras, ultrasonic sensors, radar, and a much more powerful onboard computer. Tesla’s autopilot update will bring in missing features for new cars which include automatic emergency braking and lane guidance, according to Bloomberg. However, the cars will still not be fully autonomous. The new generation of Teslas is however capable of achieving full drive control, which Musk foresees by the end of 2017.