The update has already annoyed a number of drivers.
We know that Tesla is still working on its Autopilot feature, and while there have been a few accidents lately, the system is getting a bit better with each update. However, since the company insists that the aforementioned crashes were all due to human error, a new update has rolled out that basically nags drivers into keeping their hands on the wheel. Apparently, this gets annoying pretty fast. Consequently, many Tesla owners have turned to Twitter in order to express their frustration with the new system.
@elonmusk 2018.21.9 is a pain. I now need to white knuckle death grip the wheel to keep away the nags. Don’t need to keep my foot on the peddles with old school cruise control!
— Peter McCullough (@ifnd323) June 13, 2018
Elon Musk has replied.
Sigh. This is crux of matter: can’t make system too annoying or people won’t use it, negatively affecting safety, but also can’t allow people to get too complacent or safety again suffers. Latest update should have a positive effect on latter issue especially.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 10, 2018
In turn, Elon Musk stated that it’s quite difficult to implement such a feature without annoying some users. However, he also specified that you don’t have to hold the wheel but just apply slight up or downward force. A future update will clarify this issue. Moreover, a new update will allow drivers to avoid these alerts completely. It’s not clear when these fixes will arrive, though, which means Tesla owners will have to put up with the warnings for now or try to figure out exactly how to handle the wheel comfortably while avoiding them.
What do you think about this new update? Will it help prevent any future accidents or just discourage drivers to use Autopilot altogether?
