The New Self Driving Teslas
In a press release dated October 19th, 2016, Tesla announced to the world that all Tesla cars will now come stock with full self driving hardware. Check out some informative snippets about the new self driving Teslas from the press release below:
From Tesla’s Blog:
“We are excited to announce that, as of today, all Tesla vehicles produced in our factory – including Model 3 – will have the hardware needed for full self-driving capability at a safety level substantially greater than that of a human driver. Eight surround cameras provide 360 degree visibility around the car at up to 250 meters of range. Twelve updated ultrasonic sensors complement this vision, allowing for detection of both hard and soft objects at nearly twice the distance of the prior system. A forward-facing radar with enhanced processing provides additional data about the world on a redundant wavelength, capable of seeing through heavy rain, fog, dust and even the car ahead.
To make sense of all of this data, a new onboard computer with more than 40 times the computing power of the previous generation runs the new Tesla-developed neural net for vision, sonar and radar processing software. Together, this system provides a view of the world that a driver alone cannot access, seeing in every direction simultaneously and on wavelengths that go far beyond the human senses.
Model S and Model X vehicles with this new hardware are already in production, and customers can purchase one today.”
Unfortunately, though this news is exciting, there will be a few temporary drawbacks. Automatic emergency braking, collision warning, lane holding and active cruise control will not be immediately available. Though early generation Tesla’s have had these features, they are being revamped with the new system and will be implemented over time through online software updates.