Tesla's Autopilot System: A Step Towards Self-Driving Cars, But with Safety Concerns

Tesla's autopilot system is a big step on the road towards self-driving cars, but its original implementation raised multiple safety concerns highlighted by some heavily publicized crashes. We at Consumer Reports identified a number of issues with autopilot, including the fact that it could give drivers a sense that the car is more capable of driving itself than it really is.

Tesla has always told drivers that they have to keep their hands on the wheel at all times, but prior to the update, you could take your hands off the wheel for more than 3 minutes before the car sounded an alert. The electric car maker now has rolled out a new version of autopilot that addresses some of these concerns.

We've run the updated version through a series of evaluations on our model S test car. While the system still allows you to remove your hands from the wheel, alerts to put your hands back on come much more frequently. The timing of these alerts depend on your speed, how many lanes or curves the road has, and if you're following another car on a two-lane road.

The alerts now generally come within about a minute of handsfree driving if the car detects your hands aren't on the wheel. It displays a message "Miss that" and flashes the edges of the instrument display. If you still don't respond, an audible warning sounds three beeps in your ear. Tesla disables autopilot for the rest of your drive; you need to turn off and restart the car to get autopilot back.

The last version of autopilot would limit you to only 5 mph over the speed limit on certain roads. Now it has added that restriction on more roads than before, and if it can't handle a road because the lines disappear or if it's too twisty, it tells the driver to take over quicker than before.

No question, autopilot is improved, but there are still things that concern us in some situations such as highway driving or stop-and-go traffic. It could still allow handsfree driving for well over a minute before checking that you're paying attention, which is a long time. The name autopilot is still misleading; it could give drivers the impression that it's more capable than it really is.

The bottom line is that we still have lingering issues with autopilot, however, we think this update is a step in the right direction and it has the potential to improve safety for drivers. For more on the future of self-driving cars, check out consumerreports.org.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enTesla's autopilot system is a big step on the road towards self-driving cars but its original implementation raised multiple safety concerns highlighted by some heavily publicized crashes we at Consumer Reports identified a number of issues with autopilot including the fact that it could give drivers a sense that the car is more capable of driving itself than it really is Tesla has always told drivers that they have to keep their hands on the wheel at all times but prior to the update you could take your hands off the wheel for more than 3 minutes before the car sounded an alert the electric car maker now has rolled out a new version of autopilot that addresses some of these concerns and we've run the updated version through a series of evaluations on our model S test car while the system still allows you to remove your hands from the wheel the alerts to put your hands back on come much more frequently the timing of these alerts depend on your speed how many lanes or Curves the road has and if you're following another car on a two-lane road the alerts now generally come within about a minute of handsfree driving if the car detects your hands aren't on the wheel it displays a message miss that and it flashes the edges of the instrument display if you still don't respond an audible warning sounds three beeps in your out Tesla disables autopilot for the rest of your drive you need to turn off and restart the car to get autopilot back the last version of autopilot would limit you to only 5 mph over the speed limit on certain roads now it has added that restriction on more roads than before and if it can't handle a road because the lines disappear or if it's too twisty it tells the driver to take over quicker than before no question autopilot is improved but there are still things that concern Us in some situations such as highway driving or sto Ando traffic it could still allow hands-free driving for well over a minute before checking that you're paying attention that's a long time and the name autopilot is still misleading it could give drivers the impression that it's more capable than it really is the bottom line is that we still have lingering issues with autopilot however we think this update is a step in the right direction and it has the potential to improve safety for drivers for more on the future of self-driving cars check out consumerreports.orgTesla's autopilot system is a big step on the road towards self-driving cars but its original implementation raised multiple safety concerns highlighted by some heavily publicized crashes we at Consumer Reports identified a number of issues with autopilot including the fact that it could give drivers a sense that the car is more capable of driving itself than it really is Tesla has always told drivers that they have to keep their hands on the wheel at all times but prior to the update you could take your hands off the wheel for more than 3 minutes before the car sounded an alert the electric car maker now has rolled out a new version of autopilot that addresses some of these concerns and we've run the updated version through a series of evaluations on our model S test car while the system still allows you to remove your hands from the wheel the alerts to put your hands back on come much more frequently the timing of these alerts depend on your speed how many lanes or Curves the road has and if you're following another car on a two-lane road the alerts now generally come within about a minute of handsfree driving if the car detects your hands aren't on the wheel it displays a message miss that and it flashes the edges of the instrument display if you still don't respond an audible warning sounds three beeps in your out Tesla disables autopilot for the rest of your drive you need to turn off and restart the car to get autopilot back the last version of autopilot would limit you to only 5 mph over the speed limit on certain roads now it has added that restriction on more roads than before and if it can't handle a road because the lines disappear or if it's too twisty it tells the driver to take over quicker than before no question autopilot is improved but there are still things that concern Us in some situations such as highway driving or sto Ando traffic it could still allow hands-free driving for well over a minute before checking that you're paying attention that's a long time and the name autopilot is still misleading it could give drivers the impression that it's more capable than it really is the bottom line is that we still have lingering issues with autopilot however we think this update is a step in the right direction and it has the potential to improve safety for drivers for more on the future of self-driving cars check out consumerreports.org\n"