Ever since Tesla rolled out its autopilot update to the Model S, users have been ignoring safety warnings and letting go of the wheel at dangerous times, even though Tesla calls autopilot a "beta" and tells drivers that they must keep their hands on the wheel at all times.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk recently acknowledged that he knew that people were doing this, saying that the company is planning on implementing some "additional constraints" for the feature to minimize the possibility of people doing things that they shouldn't with autopilot mode.
Musk didn't go into detail about what those constraints might look like, however, it's likely that the Model S will be more insistent in ensuring that drivers keep their hands on the wheel. For example, if the user takes their hands off the wheel, autopilot mode could disengage, forcing the driver to keep driving themselves.
The news comes right after Google's October self-driving car report, in which Google explained why it is working on a fully autonomous car, saying that drivers aren't very good at having to take control of a self-driving car that needs to disengage its self-driving features.
Of course, while Tesla drivers will need to keep their hands on the wheel at this point in time, ideally, the Model S will eventually be able to totally drive by itself while the driver is free to relax or do other tasks. This kind of an update will probably take at least a few years, however.
Musk also talked about the fact that some users were experiencing errors with autopilot mode, however, he downplayed their significance, highlighting that autopilot mode is still in beta.
Musk also discussed the future of autopilot mode, saying that those who weren't a part of the beta test and who did not purchase the Autopilot package when they buy their Model S would still be able to do an "in-app" purchase.
Via: Ars Technica
