Tesla Unveils Autopilot Setting For Cars

Written by BEA KARNES (Patch Staff)

Starting Thursday, you may do a double-take when a Tesla Model S passes you on the highway. Is the driver in control of the car, or is it on autopilot?

Yep, autopilot, same as an airliner slicing through the clouds toward a distant destination. The difference--that Tesla has a whole lot more company on the road than a 747 has in the sky.

At Tesla’s company headquarters in Palo Alto on Wednesday, CEO Elon Musk touted the capabilities of the driverless features on Model S and Model X cars, but also cautioned that the technology is young.

A software upgrade for US cars pushed out Wednesday enables the autopilot features. Overseas drivers may have to wait until next week for the upgrade.

While the current autopilot will not be completely autonomous; it will steer, change lanes and parallel park.

As Tesla vehicles rack-up crash-free miles, the company will gradually release software upgrades, with the goal of convincing regulators to approve fully automated cars. The timeline is ambitious--three years.

--Image by Norsk Elbilforening via WikiMedia Commons