Tesla Autopilot 2.0 Is Coming This Year, Source Confirms (technobuffalo.com)

An anonymous reader writes from a report via TechnoBuffalo: A source close to Tesla Motors confirmed to TechnoBuffalo that Tesla Autopilot 2.0 is coming soon. Other media outlets like Teslarati have reported on prototype Model S and Model X vehicles operating in the wild sporting two forward facing cameras, which may indicate part of the new hardware necessary to take advantage of Autopilot 2.0's additional features. "The dual camera system is capable of recognizing and reacting to stop signs and traffic lights with no driver input," said the source. The current Autopilot software cannot simply stop itself at a light or a stop sign on its own -- it needs a car in front of it in order to automatically slow down or stop. The added cameras should help Autopilot 2.0 read and react to traffic lights and stop signs, and thus bring Tesla's cars closer to autonomous driving. The source did mention that Tesla's current test vehicles with Autopilot 2.0 are running "very beta" software that was likely the precursor to v8.0. U.S. regulators are actively investigating 25,000 Tesla Model S cars after a fatal crash involving a vehicle using the "Autopilot" mode was reported. Despite the tragedy, Elon Musk recently said that Autopilot could save half a million lives every year if Tesla Autopilot was universally available.

Comments

Re:Awesome

[bill_mcgonigle]

Now when there's too much sunlight we can have Teslas not recognise traffic lights, and drive straight through intersections causing T-bone accidents and pileups.

It's a shame their programmers who work on this full time will never think of this problem and add detection and maps/GPS augmentation. You should probably call them up and offer your advice.

Re: Why is Slashdot pushing this story so hard?

[imgod2u]

You alread need to be "the right type of person" to drive. After getting 16-18 depending on the State, you have to meet requirements by the big, fascist government before you are given a driver's license. Or risk going to jail.

I fail to see what the difference with autonomous cars would be except in some post apocalyptic survivor fantasy you may be preparing your daily choices for.

Awesome!

[penguinoid]

Now instead of working autonomously 99% of the time, it'll work autonomously 99.9% of the time! That's good enough for me to just let it do its thing while I watch a movie.