Tesla Autopilot Prevents Accidents With New, Ever-Present Features

Tesla’s new update to its Autopilot has two new features that help prevent accidents caused by sudden lane changes. These features are also reliable even when the owner forgets to activate them. Here’s what we know about these new features.

According to The Verge, Tesla’s new Autopilot system allows users to have two more safety nets to prevent lane switching accidents. The new Lane Departure Avoidance feature will notify the owners if they’re switching lanes when their hands are off the steering wheel while in Autopilot mode.

The system will also adapt depending on the owner’s situation. If the car needs to switch lanes often, the Lane Departure Avoidance feature will automatically turn on the hazard lights for the driver. While lane switching, the Tesla car feature would also adjust its speed according to the limit too. While in autopilot the lane switching speed limit is around 15 to 90 mph depending on the area’s limits. The feature can also be disabled and have its speed limits manually programmed.

More than the new feature, an Emergency Lane Departure Avoidance feature is also included in the update. Similar to the previous feature, it helps the vehicle think for itself when it notices it’s slowly going off-road or almost crashing. This feature is helpful when planning to let the car do long drives. This feature can also be disabled but the car automatically re-enables it each time you start it up.

Overall, the new Tesla features are great for the company as they can push the autopilot system further. Last month, the company has started to make the regular Autopilot feature available for its car releases which needs this feature’s assistance further.

While Tesla’s autopilot feature is helpful, the whole system is still young and unproven in its reliability. Safety features like these two help introduce the Autopilot system easier to new adpoters of Tesla vehicles.

For now, Tesla is planning to release the Model Y crossover SUV Long Range variants later this year and its Standard Battery variants early next year. Potentially, this new car might receive the best iteration of this new feature soon.