Tesla Autopilot Will Soon Start To Recognise Emergency Vehicles

Tesla Autopilot  To Recognise Emergency Vehicles

Tesla is developing what is perhaps (and certainly arguably) the best auto-pilot system for cars. How good is it? Well, it managed to drive for 7 miles while its occupant was asleep (and possibly drunk). That rather amusing incident did, however, reveal something of a shortcoming in the current system. While the system worked perfectly in that regard, it did have to deal with a police vehicle attempting to stop it without the driver’s input.

Thankfully, the auto braking system worked and the car could stop, but it is currently an aspect that the autopilot system doesn’t strictly know how to handle correctly.

Well, that is hopefully looking to change. In a report via CNET, Elon Musk has said that planned updates will help the auto-pilot system react to emergency vehicles!

How Will This Work?

In a Twitter post, Elon Musk has said: “We’re adding police car, fire truck & ambulance to the Tesla neural net in coming months”. Following this, he added: “Default Autopilot behaviour, if there’s no driver input, is to slow gradually to a stop & turn on hazard lights. Tesla service then contacts the owner. Looking into what happened here.”

We’re adding police car, fire truck & ambulance to the Tesla neural net in coming months

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 3, 2018

When Will It Be Out?

It’s a little unclear when this particular update will be released. It is known that Tesla plans to launch a major update to the system in 6 months. Will this emergency vehicle update form part of it? Well, I don’t see why not. The implementation is, actually a remarkably straightforward addition to the current software. Well, straight-forward but perhaps not simple!

What do you think? – Let us know in the comments!