The poster child of the electric vehicle movement, Tesla, has made waves in the autonomous driving industry once again following the announcement that every new model that leaves the production line will come fitted with the necessary hardware for complete autonomy.
Tesla’s bold claim is that their new hardware is capable of operating “at a safety level substantially greater than that of a human driver”. The autonomous system consists of eight 360-degree cameras individually mounted around the vehicle, with each camera able to monitor distances of up to 250 metres and 12 upgraded ultrasonic sensors capable of detecting “both hard and soft objects” at almost double the distance of the current system found on the Model S, while improved processing power on the front camera allows it to maintain visibility through heavy rain, thick fog and, according to Tesla, “even the car ahead”.
Adding to the list of new features is an updated on-board computer which will pack “more than 40 times the computing power” of the current system, while creating a software platform that allows vision, sonar and radar to be processed simultaneously, almost like the ‘brain’ of the car. Both the Model S and Model X have already had examples fitted with the system successfully while the entry-level Model 3 will receive it at launch.
However, Tesla drivers won’t be able to make full use of the autonomous driving function just yet as Tesla is taking their time to “further calibrate the system using real-world driving”. New Tesla models like the Model X fitted with the autonomous hardware will act as real-world test subjects allowing the system to learn and understand the various situations that it will be placed in. During this trial process, features such as adaptive cruise control and automatic emergency braking will be disabled and re-enabled via over-the-air updates as the trial makes progress.
