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New autopilot may have prevented fatality: Tesla
WASHINGTON: Tesla Motors Company chief executive Elon Musk said on Sunday the automaker was updating its semi-autonomous driving system Autopilot with new limits
WASHINGTON: Tesla Motors Company chief executive Elon Musk said on Sunday the automaker was updating its semi-autonomous driving system Autopilot with new limits on hands-off driving that likely would have prevented a fatality in May.
Musk said the update, which will be available within a week or two through an “over-the-air” software update, would rely foremost on radar to give Tesla’s electric luxury cars a better sense of what is around them and when to brake.
New restrictions of Autopilot 8.0 are a nod to widespread concerns that autopilot lulled users into a false sense of security through its “hands-off” driving. The updated system now will temporarily prevent drivers from using the system if they fail to respond to audible warnings to take back control of the car.
“We’re making much more effective use of radar,” Musk told journalists on a call. “It will be a dramatic improvement in the safety of the system done entirely through software.”
Tesla’s Autopilot, introduced in October, has been the focus of intense scrutiny since it was revealed in July that a Tesla Model S driver, Joshua Brown, was killed while using the technology in a May 7 collision with a truck in Florida.
The revised system will sound warnings if drivers take their hands off the wheel for more than a minute at speeds above 45 miles per hour (72 kph) when there is no vehicle ahead.
The warning will sound after the driver’s hands are off the wheel for more than three minutes when the Tesla is following another car at speeds above 45 mph. The dashboard also will flash a pulsing light.
If the driver ignores three audible warnings in an hour, the system will temporarily shut off until it is parked, Musk said.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has been investigating Tesla’s Autopilot system since June because of the fatal accident. The agency said it had been briefed on the changes by Tesla.
“NHTSA will review those changes,” spokesman Bryan Thomas said of the new version of Autopilot. He declined to offer an update on the Tesla investigation.
Musk said it was “very likely” the improved Autopilot would have prevented the death of Brown, whose car sped into the trailer of a truck crossing a highway, but he cautioned that the update “doesn’t mean perfect safety.”
