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Tesla To Further Restrict Its Autopilot Software To Prevent Accidents (electrek.co)
Tesla is planning to further restrict its Autopilot mode via a v8.0 software update that will make it much harder for drivers to ignore safety alerts. Tesla's Autopilot currently issues alerts on the dashboard "reading Hold Steering Wheel and the driver has to apply pressure on the wheel to make it go away," reports Electrek. "If you quickly respond to those alerts, the Autopilot's Autosteer and Traffic Aware Cruise Control (TACC) do not disengage." The system will disengage if you ignore those warnings for too long. Electrek reports: "Now we learn that Tesla is about to introduce a new restriction with the upcoming v8.0 software update to give more weight to the alerts. According to sources familiar with the Autopilot program, Tesla will add a safety restriction that will result in not only the Autopilot disengaging after alerts are repeatedly ignored, but also blocking the driver from re-engaging the feature after it was automatically disengaged. The driver will not be able to reactivate the Autopilot until the car is stopped and put in 'Park.' So far, it looks like it would only affect the Autosteer feature of the Autopilot and TACC would still be available for the duration of the drive. The goal of the new restriction appears to be to encourage Tesla owners to respond to the visual alert and not to ignore them."
ACAS responds with autopilot disengagement, meaning fucker you need to wake up and fly now cause I could bollocks this up.
No, it most certainly does not. ACAS only gives aural warnings. First "Traffic, Traffic". Then, when you get closer, an actual command like "Climb, climb". It is then up to the pilots to disengage the autopilot (it does not disconnect by itself) and take the corrective action.
I'm a pilot on the A320. I've also flown the 737, A330, Falcon 2000, and a few others. I don't know of any aircraft where the autopilot automatically disconnects because of an ACAS warning.