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There’s been a lot of ruckus over Tesla’s Autopilot features as of late. Whether it’s the latest target of traffic safety concerns from drivers or government agencies, the company has been under speculation since the technology’s release, leading to some changes for Tesla and their cars. Big Man in Charge Elon Musk recently announced that new Tesla models will have some of their Autopilot capabilities limited to 45 MPH for the time being, allowing the manufacturer some time to collect data for further development.
This decision looks to be more out of caution than anything. Tesla is a company that can alter their cars on the fly as they rely heavily on programmable intel, all of which can be controlled by the automaker. They can update a car’s system through simple internet connection and even upgrade a customer’s features. This has allowed them to make changes such as these without having to issue a major event for new Tesla owners. While older cars will be able to utilize Autopilot at interstate speeds, new units will be limited to “highways for now … where it is needed most.”
Vehicles fitted with HW2 equipment will see a host of upgrades. The Verge states that they will feature forward collision warning and adaptive cruise control in addition to autonomous emergency braking. This will not only add extra convenience to one of the industry’s most advanced autos, but also safety, a major focus for the manufacturer. Tesla plans to make HW2 cars fully autonomous in the future, showing how close the reality of driverless vehicles really is.
According to Musk, it doesn’t seem like this restriction will be in place permanently. In his tweet, he says “limit will raise as we get more data”, which indicates the temporary position. This decision may be for the better as Tesla is taking extra precaution to their car-of-tomorrow attitude, something that many say the company should have done before releasing Autopilot to the public. Regardless, this is an intermittent pause in the on-going marvel that is Tesla. So cheer up, it won’t stick around forever.
