Tesla's Autopilot Drifts Toward Driverless Cars



Tesla Motors on Wednesday introduced an autopilot system featuring Tesla version 7.0 software that could aid drivers in finding parking spots making lane changes, and watching for blind spots on the road.

The system is not designed to do the driving just yet, but it could help relieve drivers in the most tedious and thus potentially dangerous aspects of road travel.

The autopilot system is available in Tesla Model S vehicles. The hardware included in those models since last year allows for the gradual introduction of self-driving technology, including forward radar, a forward-looking camera, 12 long-range ultrasonic sensors situated to sense 16 feet around the vehicle in all directions at all speeds, and a high-precision, digitally controlled electric-assist braking system, according to Tesla.

The autopilot technology can search for parking spaces and aid in parallel parking. On the road, it can help the driver change lanes when activated by a simple tap on the turn signal.

This could be a significant leap forward from the semiautonomous systems used in vehicles by Audi, Mercedes-Benz and Volvo. Those systems can maintain a vehicle's position in the lane as well as its distance behind another automobile.

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