Tesla updates Autopilot (TSLA)

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May 16, 2017 9:46 AM

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Global Tesla Deliveries 2017

Tesla Motors recently began rolling out an update to its semi-autonomous Autopilot system through an over-the-air software update, Electrek reports.

The new software, dubbed Autopilot 8.1, gives vehicles shipped by Tesla after October 2016 semi-autonomous features that were already available on older models. For context, these newer Tesla vehicles are equipped with sensor hardware that wasn't initially compatible with all of the Autopilot features.

Here are the new features that come with the Autopilot update:

The company remains on track to meet the goals Musk laid out last summer. In a blog post, Musk said the company planned to incrementally roll out autonomous features until the eventual rollout of full autonomy — which could happen as soon as this year. By bringing its newer cars up to par with the older ones, the automaker has taken another crucial step toward bringing full autonomy to its fleet of vehicles.

Further, Tesla still has more vehicles with semi-autonomous features than most other automakers. Only a few other automakers — notably, BMW, Infiniti, and Mercedes-Benz — have released vehicles with similar features. But BMW is the only other automaker to offer multiple vehicles with semi-autonomous capabilities in line with Tesla’s Autopilot.

Here are some of the key takeaways from the report:

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