Tesla News: Company Claims Vehicles Can Now Stop At Traffic Lights And Signs

Tesla is touting a major feature that will soon be added to its self-driving vehicles. According to the Associated Press, the company will be adding the ability for its electric cars to detect traffic lights and stop signs and react accordingly. This is the next step in CEO Elon Musk’s pledge to make Tesla’s cars fully self-drivable by the end of 2020.

A note sent to select Tesla owners chosen to test the feature was obtained by the AP and provides details about how the detail works. It is officially known as “Traffic Light and Stop Sign Control.”

Used in conjunction with the company’s Traffic Aware Cruise Control and Autosteer features, this new system is capable of detecting traffic signals —like lights and signs —and reacting accordingly. The vehicle alerts the driver of its intention to slow down or come to a full stop, and the driver is able to tell the system that it is safe to proceed without slowing down.

The note also claims that this feature will improve as it continues to be implemented in Tesla’s fleet of electric vehicles. It will reportedly be added to more vehicles through a downloadable software update. Only models with the most up-to-date Hardware 3 package and fully-optioned Autopilot package will be capable of running this feature.

Musk’s company claims to be adding the feature following successful test runs on public roads. It has face pushback against its plans for fully self-drivable vehicles from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board. In at least three fatal crashes, vehicles using Tesla Autopilot failed to notice and react to certain hazards, prompting the board’s concern.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has said that it will be “closely monitoring” how well this new feature functions going. It advises that drivers remain attentive to what their vehicle is doing so that they can react and take control in certain situations.

Law enforcement will still hold drivers accountable for mistakes made by the self-driving system.