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Technology Tesla Elon Musk

Elon Musk unveils Tesla autopilot improvements following driver death

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By John Glenday, Reporter

September 12, 2016 | 1 min read

Tesla founder Elon Musk has unveiled an update for its semi-autonomous autopilot system enabling hands free driving following a fatal crash involving one of its vehicles.

The new system purportedly fixes errors in the previous system which contributed to the crash and will be rolled out to all compatible vehicles via an over the air update in the next two weeks.

Principally this will see the electric vehicles place greater reliance on radar to keep tabs on what is going on around them whilst also introducing new restrictions on hands free driving, such as temporarily preventing drivers from using the system if they do not respond to voice commands.

In a statement Musk said: “We're making much more effective use of radar. It will be a dramatic improvement in the safety of the system done entirely through software.”

Tesla’s autopilot system has been implicated in a 7 May collision between a Tesla Model S and a truck in which the driver, Joshua Brown, was killed.

Technology Tesla Elon Musk

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