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Tesla unveils autopilot, range assurance, and trip planner features in Model S update

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R

RastaMentality

Banned
Tesla's preparing a software update that will bring powerful auto-steering functionality to its Model S fleet. During today's press call — which mostly focused on curing range anxiety — CEO Elon Musk revealed that Tesla will ship a software update "in about three months" that will turn on auto-steering, or "autopilot" as Musk often refers to it. "We can basically go between San Francisco and Seattle without the driver doing anything," Musk said of the autonomous system that Tesla has developed. For now, you'll only be able to engage auto-steering on highways. We got a preview of the autopilot functionality during our initial test drive in the P85D, which you can watch below.


"It is technically capable of going from parking lot to parking lot," said Musk. "But we won't be enabling that for users with this hardware suite, because we don't think it's likely to be safe in suburban neighborhoods," he said, noting that such streets often lack posted speed limit signs and pose obstacles like children playing in the street. In the future, drivers will be able to summon an unmanned Model S to their location or direct the car to drive itself into a garage.

Musk noted that these features remain illegal on most US roads, so he cautioned that drivers will be restricted to using them on private property. He also made clear that autopilot isn't to be confused with a proper self-driving car. "There’s certainly an expectation that when autopilot on the Model S is enabled, that you’re paying attention. But it should also take care of you if you have moments of distraction."
Click to expand...

http://theverge.com/e/8021974?utm_c...t=chorus&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter
 
M

Makki

Member
A flap will open under your feet which will allow you to propel your own Tesla and dispose of anxiety at the same time.
 
S

subrock

Member
Probably a UI update, not a performance update. Although they have retroactively increased range before though. Could also be a program to push out more charging stations too
 
F

Flo_Evans

Member
Probably an update to the nav to alert you of the closest supercharger.

Of all the cool shit in the cars OS I was shocked the nav didn't take superchargers into account when planning routes.
 
R

RastaMentality

Banned
Flo_Evans said:
Probably an update to the nav to alert you of the closest supercharger.

Of all the cool shit in the cars OS I was shocked the nav didn't take superchargers into account when planning routes.
Click to expand...

I'm shocked Google maps and every other map company has yet to provide a way to search for food/gas stations/POIs in general along the way of your route. It's my most requested feature by far. It's annoying as fuck having to look up the route, remember where the lines were on the map, then search for the business you want to visit and select one along that line.
 
Pagusas

Pagusas

Elden Member
I wish we could have F-zero like pads on the interstates you drive over and they refuel the battery.
 
n0razi

n0razi

Member
its basically this
1560056-nintendo-64-expansion-pak-0.jpg
 
H

HariKari

Member
dLMN8R said:
Could this be an announcement related to the battery swap tech Tesla demoed a couple years ago?

http://www.cnet.com/news/tesla-demos-electric-battery-swap-in-just-90-seconds/#!
Click to expand...

It will likely be something that says "you're in range of a swap/quick charge, you're safe" rather than minor tweaks to eek out a few extra miles. Like if you wanted to plot a cross country trip and the navi kicked back "we're good to go, stop here, here, and here."

Not really unlimited range but it reduces the feeling that you could be marooned somewhere without a charge.
 
J

jamesinclair

Banned
RastaMentality said:
I'm shocked Google maps and every other map company has yet to provide a way to search for food/gas stations/POIs in general along the way of your route. It's my most requested feature by far. It's annoying as fuck having to look up the route, remember where the lines were on the map, then search for the business you want to visit and select one along that line.
Click to expand...

How the fuck are they the market leader? When it shows directions clicking on anything is disabled wtf?


I bet the feature is that the car no longer shows you range. Nothing to be anxious at anymore!
 
W

Wafflecakes

Member
Still completely unviable in most of the country, and probably won't be for years yet to come.

The nearest destination city to me is a 3-4 hour drive. God forbid I get stuck in traffic.....
 
J

jamesinclair

Banned
Wafflecakes said:
Still completely unviable in most of the country, and probably won't be for years yet to come.

The nearest destination city to me is a 3-4 hour drive. God forbid I get stuck in traffic.....
Click to expand...

Yeah that's nut how density works.

Most of the country lives in cities along the coasts.

People who live three hours away from anything, for the purpose of business, so not matter
 
W

Wafflecakes

Member
jamesinclair said:
Yeah that's nut how density works.

Most of the country lives in cities along the coasts.

People who live three hours away from anything, for the purpose of business, so not matter
Click to expand...

Where did I say that was how density works?

Do people who live in the big cities never travel anywhere else? Because god forbid they need to travel to a different major city once or twice a year.
 
F

FyreWulff

Member
Wafflecakes said:
Still completely unviable in most of the country, and probably won't be for years yet to come.

The nearest destination city to me is a 3-4 hour drive. God forbid I get stuck in traffic.....
Click to expand...

An electric car doesn't use burn away energy while it's not moving.

And you'd need to make stops in a gas car anyway.

I always thought the "but MILES" excuse was poor FUD against electric cars anyway. I live out in the damn prairie. I will drive more than the range of the tesla in one go like.. twice a year, at most.
 
V

Veritigo_X

Member
Wafflecakes said:
Where did I say that was how density works?

Do people who live in the big cities never travel anywhere else? Because god forbid they need to travel to a different major city once or twice a year.
Click to expand...

I'm actually surprised how many stations have opened since I last checked this map out a year ago. I don't know the last time you checkout out the charging station map, but major cities seem pretty well covered these days:

http://www.teslamotors.com/findus#/bounds/49.38,-66.94,25.82,-124.39?search=supercharger&name=us

Nowhere near as good as gas stations obviously, but from NYC it looks like I could pretty much go to any other major city in the country.
 
S

SRG01

Member
mmazurkiewicz said:
yeh okay elon. stock is about to freefall and this won't help.
Click to expand...

Not really. 190-200 seems like the stable price range for the stock. Even Elon Musk said that 220+ was way too high several months ago. You can draw a parallel between Tesla and Facebook when Zuckerberg openly stated that he wasn't catering to short-term investors... and he was eventually proven right if you look at FB's performance now.

Stock performance usually has weak correlation to a company's activities, especially during the initial phases. In fact, I'd be more worried if Tesla wasn't incurring more costs (which investors are clamoring about, amongst other small issues) at this point, since it would mean the company wasn't expanding.

If there's one misstep that one could rightfully call out Tesla for, it's their inability to gauge the Chinese market. The urban infrastructure just isn't there to support electric vehicles yet.
 
rokkerkory

rokkerkory

Member
All Tesla battery packs are anywhere between 50-75% unlocked, meaning there is another at least 25% to be unlocked. This is for both power and range.
 
E

Ether_Snake

安安安安安安安安安安安安安安安
If you lift the car and spin the wheels backwards, it turns out it produces more energy than it consumes.
 
P

Psychotext

Member
Version 6.2 of Tesla Model S software has two new features.

1. Range assurance communicates real time with Tesla superchargers and warns you before you drive out of range. Navigation system will direct you to the nearest supercharger taking into account numerous factors.

2. Trip planner. Model S will direct you to you destination taking into account the most convenient charger locations and charge time needed.
Click to expand...

Shrug?
 
R

RastaMentality

Banned
Tesla's preparing a software update that will bring powerful auto-steering functionality to its Model S fleet. During today's press call — which mostly focused on curing range anxiety — CEO Elon Musk revealed that Tesla will ship a software update "in about three months" that will turn on auto-steering, or "autopilot" as Musk often refers to it. "We can basically go between San Francisco and Seattle without the driver doing anything," Musk said of the autonomous system that Tesla has developed. For now, you'll only be able to engage auto-steering on highways. We got a preview of the autopilot functionality during our initial test drive in the P85D, which you can watch below.


"It is technically capable of going from parking lot to parking lot," said Musk. "But we won't be enabling that for users with this hardware suite, because we don't think it's likely to be safe in suburban neighborhoods," he said, noting that such streets often lack posted speed limit signs and pose obstacles like children playing in the street. In the future, drivers will be able to summon an unmanned Model S to their location or direct the car to drive itself into a garage.

Musk noted that these features remain illegal on most US roads, so he cautioned that drivers will be restricted to using them on private property. He also made clear that autopilot isn't to be confused with a proper self-driving car. "There’s certainly an expectation that when autopilot on the Model S is enabled, that you’re paying attention. But it should also take care of you if you have moments of distraction."
Click to expand...

http://theverge.com/e/8021974?utm_c...t=chorus&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter
 
P

phaonaut

Member
latest
Click to expand...

Can't wait to make my car go to the parking lot after dropping me off.

--

Side note

With self driving cars (you can sleep) and cheap electricity to power them($8 per 300miles). I think this bring about a resurgence in cross country travel by vehicle.
 
S

sarcastor

Member
not sure if i want a self driving car that is 100% completely fucking silent. especially since I am a soft and squishy pedestrian.
 
L

Laekon

Member
Really think the auto pilot is an exaggeration. The GPS is not dependable or accurate enough to always know what lane you are in so how is it going to take a corner or off ramp? Being 3 feet off the mark while pulling into a garage could be disastrous. THe sensors for it to know what is around it is also very limited.
 
J

jblank83

Member
I can't wait for auto-pilot cars.

Even if it's only 30 minutes a day, that's time I could spend doing something else.
 
B

Bit-Bit

Member
Laekon said:
Really think the auto pilot is an exaggeration. The GPS is not dependable or accurate enough to always know what lane you are in so how is it going to take a corner or off ramp? Being 3 feet off the mark while pulling into a garage could be disastrous. THe sensors for it to know what is around it is also very limited.
Click to expand...

GPS isn't used how you think it is.

Most of the autonomous cars unveiled have a laser that spins 360 degree, allowing the car to "see" all around it at the speed of light. Better than most humans, I think :p
 
A

androvsky

Member
Bit-Bit said:
GPS isn't used how you think it is.

Most of the autonomous cars unveiled have a laser that spins 360 degree, allowing the car to "see" all around it at the speed of light. Better than most humans, I think :p
Click to expand...

I presume they're talking about the update to current Teslas, so a scanning laser would be one hell of a software update.
 
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