Tesla’s self-driving technology has arrived in New Zealand and Australia today – marking the first time a right-hand version has launched anywhere across the globe.
Overseas, self-driving cars have been on roads for some time now. While some found in other countries are fully autonomous – meaning they have no actual driver behind the wheel – Tesla has stated this is not the kind of system it has launched in New Zealand.
Instead, Tesla has labelled this technology “full self-driving (supervised)” and clearly stated it “does not make the car autonomous” and "is intended to be used only with a fully attentive driver".
“The driver is always responsible, and the liability still sits with the driver,” the automotive company said.
“The system is designed to make driving easier, less stressful, and safer – like cruise control but on steroids.”
So, how does it work?
Tesla said it will use "billions of miles of anonymous real-world driving data" to train the technology, to "take care of the most stressful parts of daily driving while helping make the roads safer for vehicle owners and others".
It will be available through a $159 per month subscription for both Model 3 and Model Y vehicles.
When the supervised full-self drive is activated, cameras with 360-degree visibility will check blind spots and manoeuvre the vehicle into neighbouring lanes while maintaining speeds and avoiding bikes, motorcycles and other cars.
The technology will also attempt to drive to destinations by following curves in the road; stopping at and negotiating intersections; making left and right turns; navigating roundabouts; and entering and exiting highways.
It will also maintain following distance from a vehicle ahead; slow down or stop at traffic lights and stop signs as necessary; and react to pedestrians, cyclists, and other vehicles.
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Driver attentiveness monitored
If the supervised self-drive is activated, the vehicle will monitor the driver's attentiveness with cabin cameras. Tesla said the monitoring system cannot be turned off.
The company added that if the cabin camera does not have clear visibility of the driver's hand and arm locations, the touchscreen will periodically display a message reminding the driver to apply sight to the steering wheel. It said the system also works when someone is wearing glasses.
If the driver continues to not pay attention, ignore prompts or apply slight force to the steering wheel, a series of "escalated warnings" will be displayed.
If the warnings are ignored, Tesla said supervised self-drive will be disabled. An alert message will also appear, telling the driver that FSD (Supervised) is unavailable for the current drive.
"If the driver does not resume manual steering, the vehicle sounds a continuous chime, turns on the warning flashers, and slows to a complete stop."
This will give the driver one "strikeout". If a driver receives five strikeouts, use of the supervised self-drive system will be suspended for improper usage.
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