The manufacturer of high-end electric vehicles Tesla has taken an important step towards the development of autonomous vehicles with the installation step, this Thursday, of a new software which allows, among other applications, change routes or turn brakes automatically.
“We are being particularly cautious at this early stage, so we advise drivers to keep their hands on the wheel in case, because the software is still being developed,” said the founder and Tesla CEO Elon Musk. “In the long term, people will not get your hands on the wheel and sometimes there will be flyers or pedals” simply will indicate the destination to the car and this will lead, predicted Musk told reporters.
For now, the system, which Tesla baptized Autopilot, has more modest applications: combined GPS with a radar system, captors ultrasound and cameras, the company installed in their vehicles for about a year, can keep the car a roadway, or switch to another. By simply pressing a button, you can adapt the speed, off-route or avoid a collision.
However, still does not recognize the color of traffic lights, but it can warn the driver when there is a free parking spot and parallel park.
The new software ‘version 7.0′, presented on Wednesday, began to be installed as an automatic update in North America in the saloons (four side doors ) Model S, Tesla the 11,580 units sold worldwide in the third quarter.
From next week the arrival in Europe and Asia is anticipated, when the necessary permits are achieved. “The driverless cars really take some years yet,” admitted Tesla in a message on its website, announcing the software update, which compares with autopilot systems of the aircraft.
program also will attend the Model X SUV brand, the company launched a few weeks ago, in limited volumes for now.
The owners of the vehicles must, however, pay $ 2,500 for activating the autopilot system, at the time of purchase or later
-. The driver remains responsible –
The autonomous vehicles, without driver, are a segment that inspires much . Most automakers are working on the issue, as big technology groups. Among the most successful prototypes presented so far are the ‘Google Car’, that the US internet giant Alphabet and circulated in several US states, or a futuristic Mercedes, which allows you to sit back on the road, presented in January by the group German Daimler in the CES Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
However, current regulations do not yet allow the circulation of fully autonomous cars without a person behind the wheel. Pending the legislation-and consumers-suit, little by little they are introducing new technologies in commercial motor in the form of speed governors, parking assistance systems, or driving in a traffic jam, for example .
However, Elon Musk Tesla said Wednesday that differs from the proposals of the other manufacturers because operated its entire fleet equipped “as a network: when a car learns something, all cars do. ” He thus imagined a system capable of improving with the passing of time thanks to a “machine learning.”
According to Tesla, the Autopilot has been tested for more than a year ago, and Musk says that works especially well when heavy traffic. “We intend that the vehicle behaves (…) as a very good driver,” nor too careful in relation to other vehicles, not too aggressive, he said. However, he clarified that this is a “beta” (provisional) version and called users to use it wisely. “If there is an accident, the car driver is responsible”, so should be able to regain control at all times, he said.
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