With Tesla’s regular over-the-air software updates, Model S actually improves while you sleep. When you wake up, added functionality, enhanced performance, and improved user experience make you feel like you are driving a new car.
New Safety Features
As most people know, Model S already has the lowest probability of injury of any car ever tested. We are taking that further by adding important active safety features. This over-the-air release includes:
Automatic Emergency Braking, which will engage in the event of an unavoidable collision in order to reduce risk of impact
Blind Spot Warning alerts you when drivers behind you are dangerously close
Side Collision Warning (front collision warning is already enabled)
Valet Mode allows you to place Model S into a restricted mode, limiting its speed, locking the glove box and frunk, and hiding your personal information. It conveniently and discreetly protects your Model S when somebody else is behind the wheel.
The New York Times reported: For many drivers who commute long distances, the prospect of owning a self-driving car — where a driver takes his hands off the wheel and feet off the gas — has been an elusive dream.
But Elon Musk, chief executive of Tesla, took a big step in that direction when he announced that the maker of high-end electric cars would introduce autonomous technology by this summer. The technology would allow drivers to have their cars take control on what he called “major roads” like highways.
Mr. Musk said that a software update — not a repair performed by a mechanic — would give Tesla’s Model S sedans the ability to start driving themselves, at least part of the time, in a hands-free mode that the company refers to as autopilot.
But some industry experts said serious questions remain about whether such autonomous driving is actually legal and are skeptical that Model S owners who try to use autopilot would not run afoul of current regulations.
The design turns the car into a shared social space where any passenger can interact with the vehicle.
Alexis Georgeson, a spokesman for Tesla, said that there was “nothing in our autopilot system that is in conflict with current regulations.”
Ms. Georgeson said the system was designed to be used by an alert driver. “We’re not getting rid of the pilot. This is about releasing the driver from tedious tasks so they can focus and provide better input,” she said.
SBD’s quarterly Safe Car Government Guide assesses the emerging rules and licences covering driverless cars in 18 US states. For more information on the report please contact info@sbd.co.uk
Source: Tesla, The New York Times
