Tesla Autopilot Update Now Rolling Out With New Semi-Autonomous Features

Tesla's latest Enhanced Autopilot update is finally rolling out today following months of delays. As CEO Elon Musk announced on Twitter, the update is coming to all Tesla vehicles with second-generation Autopilot hardware installed, known as HW2 models, which includes any Model S and Model X cars manufactured since October. Installed as an over-the-air update, it introduces new and improved semi-autonomous features.

Among the changes are better navigation for Autosteer, the feature meant for use on roads with clearly visible lane markers, such as highways. Autosteer is now limited to speeds of 45mph and below, while traffic-aware cruise control (TACC), which makes small adjustments to the car's speed based on the vehicle ahead, can be used up to speeds of 75mph. Other features include automatic lane changing for situations with slow-moving highway traffic.

Tesla's HW2 models are also getting the Forward Collision Warning (FCW) safety feature, which warns drivers with audio and visual alerts that the car will soon collide with an object. This is not to be confused with Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB), the feature that can automatically apply the brakes to avoid or reduce the impact of a collision, which is not part of this update.

Musk also notes that some cars will need to have their cameras' angles adjusted by Tesla technicians in order to work properly with Autosteer. While there are still a number of Enhanced Autopilot features to be activated on Tesla's newer models, this update does a decent job of bringing them up to parity with what's available on the older models equipped with Autopilot hardware.

SOURCE Elon Musk/Twitter