Tesla has been getting a huge amount of flak for their autopilot technology which sounds like it is built for self-driving but in its current state has caused multiple crashes and deaths. The technology isn’t built to be fully autonomous and yet the name has always been “autopilot”. Now, Musk has come out to say that it will all make sense come August where V9 of the software will be rolled out.
That issue is better in latest Autopilot software rolling out now & fully fixed in August update as part of our long-awaited Tesla Version 9. To date, Autopilot resources have rightly focused entirely on safety. With V9, we will begin to enable full self-driving features.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) 10 June 2018
All of Tesla’s cars have the necessary hardware for self-driving capabilities according to Musk a number of years ago and by having just a software update allowing self-driving features does prove it. Compared to other car manufacturers and tech companies who are chasing after the self-driving car race, Tesla cars do not rely on LiDAR but instead rely on 8 cameras, 12 ultrasonic sensors and a front-facing radar.
Behind all that hardware is Tesl’a vision and neural network which continuously learn from the millions of miles travelled on the road by Tesla’s customers. Many have lambasted Tesla for actually using their customers as guinea pigs in their tests compared to the likes of Waymo, Apple, GM and Uber who go through the traditional route of running self-driving cars on private grounds first before embarking on public roads.
Only in August will we see what Musk meant by having enabled self-driving features in a Tesla. Hopefully, we see less crashes and improvement in safety instead as what Musk has been shouting about when it comes to the benefits of the autopilot system.
