Tesla Has Officially Started Releasing Its Revolutionary Autopilot Update

Tesla is again stepping up its autonomous driving game as it begins its roll out of a crucial feature to its Autopilot 2.0 hardware, as reported yesterday by Electrek. The feature comes as a follow up to the 8.1 software update released in March, 2017.

According to a report by Electrek, the Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB) feature was originally intended to be part of the 8.1 update. However, Tesla had to make sure that this safety feature could work. Tesla had to build the new AEB from scratch, using its own "Tesla Vision" technology and an array of new sensors. An unnamed source told Electrek that Tesla's team is now confident and satisfied about the AEB, which is being released as an over-the-air update.

Improvements such as an AEB feature will make Tesla's autonomous vehicles even safer. The report by National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) earlier this year noted how Tesla's crash rates dropped by 40 percent after Autopilot 1.0 was installed. This was due in part, Electrek noted, to the old AEB feature.

At any rate, Tesla wants to raise the bar higher, promising to eliminate 90 percent of crashes. The new AEB is part of delivering this promise.