Tesla hints at expanding autonomous driving functions in existing models

The head of Tesla’s Autopilot team hints that the Model X and S models could be expanded with new autonomous driving functionality before the manufacturer’s new car, the Model 3, comes to market.

Sterling Anderson, responsible for developing Autopilot, made his hints at the EmTech Digital event in San Francisco. When asked if the Model 3 will be Tesla’s first autonomous car, he replied that it wouldn’t be a big change for the company if the Model 3 started supporting fully autonomous driving.

“We’re not going to withhold technology from Model 3 when it’s ready for other models,” Anderson told MIT Technology Review. “Our vehicles get the latest technology the moment we have it. Model S and X will continue to lead the way in terms of improvements for now,” he emphasized.

Tesla has already shown that it can add new features to existing models. When the Model S was introduced in 2012, the Model S did not have the automatic braking sensors and techniques needed for Autopilot, but Tesla will add these from 2014 and the software can be used from 2015 onwards.

Tesla has since collected functionality data from approximately 70,000 customers, Spectrum reports. This concerns data relating to a total of 161 million kilometers driven in which Autopilot was partly or not activated. This would show, among other things, that with the function switched on, a considerably more central part of the road is occupied.