Next Update of Tesla Autopilot Could Make Models Fully Autonomous

The next-generation Tesla Autopilot will receive upgrades in the hardware department.

According to a report from Electrek, Tesla Autopilot 2.0 will feature new hardware that includes a new sensor suite to enable level 3 autonomous driving, and potentially level 4 fully autonomous driving. The new suite will retain the current front-facing radar but will add more around the car, likely one in each corner. It will also add a new front-facing triple camera system, and it is believed that Tesla already started installing new housing to support the camera in production Model S sedans this week.

The American automaker has reportedly already written the software to run the currently available features on Autopilot on the new hardware and is now focusing on building on those features and data gathered from the Autopilot 1.0 program. The goal, of course, is to release more advanced autonomous and safety features to Tesla’s lineup of vehicles.

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Electrek believes the technology will arrive sooner rather than later, since several components believed to be associated with Tesla Autopilot 2.0 are already being applied to production cars, such as wiring harnesses and the housing for the triple camera system on the rearview mirror cutout. There are, however, other essential components that need to be implemented like a new dedicated computing channel since the current Media Control Unit (MCU) being used for Autopilot 1.0 won’t suffice for the next-generation technology.

Last week, Tesla CEO Elon Musk made comments saying that the company’s self-driving technology “will blow people’s minds,” and was likely alluding to what he’s seen from internal testing of the next-generation Autopilot system.

[Source: Electrek]

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