Elon Musk announces FULL autonomy for all Tesla vehicles and on-board system that he says is 'basically a supercomputer in a car: VIDEO'
Elon Musk announces FULL autonomy for all Tesla vehicles and on-board system that he says is 'basically a supercomputer in a car'
- Musk said all Tesla cars now being built with 'full self-driving capability'
- Said the technology could take a passenger from LA to New York
- But, more testing and regulations needed before feature can be activated
- He says the safety will be at least twice that of a person, or even better
- He also says on-board system achieves 12 trillion operations per second
All Telsa cars 'from here on out' will be built with full autonomous capability - including the Model 3, Elon Musk announced tonight.
In a press call today, the Tesla CEO said 'all of the cars we make are shipping with level five hardware with full self-driving capability.'
Musk claims the technology will soon enable 'full autonomy all the way from LA to New York,' saying this would be achieved 'without the need for a single touch.'
According to the firm, Model S and Model X vehicles with the new hardware are ‘already in production.’
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Models with the new self-driving capabilities will have eight cameras, rather than the four in the simpler autopilot vehicles. This will provide 360 degree visibility around the car at up to 250 meters of range
Buyers will be given two options, Musk said.
This would be 'either basically an improved Autopilot or self-driving,' he said during the media Q&A - but the additional capabilities will cost another $8,000.
Musk says that, 'the foundation is laid for the safety level to be at least twice that of a person, or maybe better.'
He notes, however, that it will take time to complete the validation of the software and go through the regulations before the true self-driving systems can be activated.
With continual improvements, Musk says the firm is aiming for capabilities are 10 times the safety of a human driver.
Models with the new self-driving capabilities will have eight cameras, rather than the four in the simpler Autopilot vehicles.
This will provide 360 degree visibility around the car at up to 250 meters of range.
The enhanced suite will also include 12 updated ultrasonic sensors, allowing the self-driving cars to detect both hard and soft objects.
A forward-facing radar will enable the car to see through 'heavy rain, fog, dust and even the car ahead,' the firm says.
And, the vehicles will be equipped with 'a gigantic increase in computing power,' according to Musk, with an on-board system powered by Nvidia that achieves '12 trillion operations per second, basically a supercomputer in a car.'
This is said to have over 40 times the computing power of earlier generations, and uses a newly developed ‘neural net for vision, sonar and radar processing software.’
With this technology, the firm says the vehicle will be able to see 'in every direction simultaneously and on wavelengths that go far beyond the human senses.'
In the discussion, the billionaire CEO also lashed out at negative media coverage of the Tesla Autopilot crashes, arguing that when ‘you write an article that effectively dissuades people from using an autonomous car, you’re killing people.’
The self-driving capabilities are, statistically, far safer than human drivers, he points out.
The enhanced suite includes 12 updated ultrasonic sensors to compliment the vision, allowing the self-driving
cars to detect both hard and soft objects. Along with this, it has a forward-facing radar that can see through
'heavy rain, fog, dust and even the car ahead'
While Tesla is best known for its electric cars, the company has new products on the way. But fans had to
wait an extra two days to hear what Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla (pictured) has up his sleeve next
Musk tweeted today that the announcement would go live at 8 p.m. (ET), and noted that tonight's reveal would address earlier allusions to a 'Model 3 part 2.'
Many speculated that the mystery product may be a giant touchscreen dashboard or a new version of Autopilot with more autonomous capabilities.
The reveal was initially supposed to come on Monday, but was delayed for 'a few more days of refinement.'
On Twitter today, Musk wrote, ‘Tesla announcement goes live at 5pm California time. 30 minutes of media Q&A to follow.’
He also tweeted: ‘This is also what I was alluding to my Model 3 part 2.’
Elon Musk is set to unveil an 'unexpected product' tonight. The Tesla CEO tweeted today that the announcement would go live at 8 p.m. (ET) after it was delayed for ‘a few more days of refinement’
The reveal was initially supposed to come on Monday, but was delayed for 'a few more days of refinement'
This delay comes as German regulators are calling for Tesla to stop using the 'misleading' term autopilot for the driver-assistance function.
The Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) has written to Elon Musk's company with the request to no longer use the 'misleading' term Autopilot for the driver assistance system of the car.
'In order to prevent misunderstandings and false expectations from clients, we are asking that the misleading term "Autopilot" no longer be used in advertisements for the system,' the letter said.
Many people on Twitter have speculated on what the new product could be.
One user hinted it could be a new vehicle, like an updated version of the Model 3.
The Tesla CEO has previously said the event would happen today. But his latest tweet (pictured) suggests
Tesla will be revealing the unexpected new product on Wednesday. Mr Musk said the product 'needs a few
more days of refinement'
Tesla recently released an update to its 'Autopilot 8.0' system, but it could also be planning to announce new
features. With this updated version, Tesla is expected to add more sensors to the vehicles to give them more
self-driving capabilities
Others suggested that Tesla has been working on an electric two-wheeler, for example Edward Patel, who tweeted: 'Time for a motorcycle maybe?'
The firm has recently faced criticism from customers in Norway about its Model S P85D cars.
The model is best known for its stomach-churning acceleration during 'Insane mode,' allowing the car to go from 0-60 mph in just three seconds.
But it appears that customers in Norway are not happy, and claim the acceleration is not as fast as advertised.
Some 126 owners of the car are seeking money back from Tesla, and it looks like they could get as much as 50,000 kroner (£5,750 in UK and $6,155 in US) each.
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