Tesla to Add New Safety Features to Autopilot
Tesla will rollout a new safety feature for its Autopilot autonomous driving system that it hopes will help stop drivers from ignoring alerts.
According to Electrek, Tesla will add a feature that makes some parts of Autopilot unaccessible to those that repeatedly ignore alerts. The system will shut down after alerts are ignored until the next time the car is stopped and put into park. The report says that only Autosteer will be locked out while Tesla’s Traffic Aware Cruise Control will remain accessible.
Currently, Autopilot will periodically tell the driver to place their hands back on the wheel while Autosteer is engaged using visual and audible reminders. If the driver fails to touch the steering wheel for 15 seconds after the warnings begin, Autosteer will go through a shut down procedure which will slowly mute any music that is playing and begin to slow the vehicle down.
In the case of a Model X crash on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, Tesla claims that the shut down procedure had activated 11 seconds before the accident occurred, suggesting that the driver still ignored the alerts and prompts to put their hands back on the wheel.
SEE ALSO: Tesla Hikes Price for Autopilot
The v8.0 update for Tesla vehicles is said to contain updates that will make the Autopilot system better on the whole, including the addition of a new off-ramp feature that allows the vehicle to exit the highway and navigate an off-ramp by itself.
[Source: Electrek]
Discuss this story at our Luxury Lifestyle Forum
Stephen covers all of the day-to-day events of the industry as the News Editor at AutoGuide, along with being the AG truck expert. His truck knowledge comes from working long days on the woodlot with pickups and driving straight trucks professionally. When not at his desk, Steve can be found playing his bass or riding his snowmobile or Sea-Doo. Find Stephen on <A title="@Selmer07 on Twitter" href="http://www.twitter.com/selmer07">Twitter</A> and <A title="Stephen on Google+" href="http://plus.google.com/117833131531784822251?rel=author">Google+</A>
More by Stephen Elmer
Comments
Join the conversation
Autopilot is showing us exactly what is wrong with these technologies, i.e. autonomous and semi-autonomous driving. There just isn't and will never be a substitute for a human at the controls. Mostly because you can't make a computer system aware of absolutely everything that a human mind considers while driving. Emergency vehicles, that other driver who just may not see you, the child on your sidewalk, construction workers, snow and ice.. this list is long! Also, there is the liability consideration. Who pays when someone is fatally injured by an autonomous vehicle? Would it be the fault of the technology and therefore it's manufacturer or the driver-cum-passenger of the autonomous vehicle? What happens when a vehicle erroneously collides with a child it didn't detect, or couldn't avoid? Or malfunctions, or is compromised by hackers or thieves? Jurys will decide and instead of the onus being on the driver (and therefore their insurance) it'll be the manufacturers who are wont to avoid such litigation and its attendant bad publicity at all costs.
You could have made that much on pennystock SKLN today if you bought it yesterday.