Report: Tesla Update to Place Safety Restrictions on Autopilot

According to a Tesla-focused news site, Tesla will introduce an update that places restrictions on its autonomous driving feature, Autopilot. The report claims the feature has already been rolled out to beta testers.

Teslarati reported on the leak of beta Firmware 7.1, which appears to restrict Autopilot capabilities to speeds at or below the posted speed limit. A screenshot on the site shows that in certain conditions, drivers may not be able to enable Autosteer, a feature which is designed to automatically keep the car in its current lane.

On the Tesla Motor Club forum, owners have expressed their disapproval of Tesla taking away features that have already been released. Many say they would choose not to install the Tesla update. Teslarati quoted one forum member who posted, “If there’s an update that removes a functionality that is useful for ME then I’m not going to install it. Moreover, I’ll sue Tesla if they update my car without asking me.”

Tesla first announced its autonomous driving system on the Model S in October. In addition to automatic steering, Autopilot can change lanes, adjust speed in response to traffic, and parallel park itself. The car achieves these functions with the help of a forward-looking camera, radar, 360-degree sonar sensors, and real-time traffic updates in tandem with cruise control and electronic power steering. After testing out the system recently, we were duly impressed.

Tesla has yet to verify the claims made in the report. A quick YouTube search will reveal that people have made some pretty unsafe decisions in Autopilot mode. To the company’s credit, Tesla has always said that drivers should keep their hands on the wheel and remain alert even while in Autopilot.

Source: Teslarati

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