Tesla releases autopilot, but urges caution
Tesla has launched its "autopilot" mode, which isn’t quite what it sounds…yet. While not fully self-driving, the software means the Model S and new Model X can "automatically steer down the highway, change lanes, and adjust speed in response to traffic". Elon Musk said the autopilot mode was designed to increase driver confidence on the road. However, Mr Musk said users adopting the software should exercise caution while using it. "It should not hit pedestrians, hopefully," he told the media. "It should handle them well." He added that if the car is involved in a collision, the driver is still liable: "The driver cannot abdicate responsibility. That will come at some point in the future."

The electric carmaker Tesla Motors hopes to overtake competitors with a new autopilot system that lets cars change lanes by themselves.

Like other semi-autonomous systems available from companies including Mercedes, Audi and Volvo, Tesla’s system automatically keeps the car within its lane and maintains a certain distance from the car in front, both at highway speeds and on city streets.

It can find a parking spot and parallel park, and it also uses cameras and sensors to warn drivers about potential side impacts.

But analysts say the lane-changing feature is an industry first. Tesla’s chief executive, Elon Musk, said the system would constantly collect data from drivers and improve itself. The system would note, for example, how quickly drivers could safely navigate a particular bend or where there were stop signs.

“I think this is going to be quite a profound experience for people,” Musk said. “It will change people’s perception of the future quite drastically.”

Musk added a caution: drivers needed to keep their hands on the wheel, and the autopilot system would chime to remind them. Drivers – not Tesla – would be held liable in a crash, Musk said.

“We’re being especially cautious at this early stage, so we’re advising drivers to keep their hands on the wheel just in case,” he said. “The software is very new.”

Musk said that from a technical standpoint, fully autonomous, hands-free driving was at least three years away, although it would probably take regulators longer than that to allow it.

The autopilot update would be added to about 60,000 vehicles worldwide, including Model S sedans made after September 2014 and Model X SUVs.

Owners would get the system through a software update starting on Wednesday evening in North America. Owners in Europe and Asia would get the software update in about a week. People with Model S sedans that were made earlier do not have the required sensors and would not be able to add them retroactively.

Only owners who paid the $2,500 charge for the full autopilot system would be able to activate all of the autopilot features, but the side-impact warning was a safety feature and would be available to everyone.

Musk said that for the next update, Tesla was working on having the car drive itself in and out of garages when summoned by the owner.

Karl Brauer, a senior analyst with Kelley Blue Book, said Tesla’s system appeared to up the ante for the industry.

General Motors’ Super Cruise system, for example, which is due out on the 2017 Cadillac CT6, will let drivers take their hands off the wheel at any speed on the highway, but will not change lanes by itself.

“This is the game we’re going to be playing, round and round, for the next five to 10 years until there’s fully autonomous driving,” Brauer said. “Each time there’s a step by someone out there, everyone will have to match it.”

Brauer said there was a danger to that, because people may not know their particular car’s capabilities.

“Having that kind of nebulous, blurry grey zone could introduce many more problems,” he said.

But Musk was optimistic about the benefits of autopilot: “In the long term it will be safer than a person driving.”