Tesla Motors (ticker: TSLA) has experienced backlash since news broke of its self-driving car fatality back in May. CEO Elon Musk is now saying that its newest update to its Autopilot program might have been able to avert that death entirely, reports Reuters.
Drivers will have access to the update, announced Sunday, in the next week or so and it will arrive in an “over-the-air” software update.
The critical part of the update — for both consumers, and therefore investors — is in its new safety features that offer more protections to the driver. Now, Autopilot can block drivers’ access to it if the driver fails to gain control of the car following audible warnings to do so — as in turning itself off and only accessible again when parked. This will happen following three ignored warnings within an hour.
The update pins radar as the most important tool that could help a car break appropriately and be more aware of its surroundings.
Since June (soon after the death of the Tesla Model S operator, Joshua Brown), Tesla’s Autopilot system has been under investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The company backed up its Autopilot system following Brown’s death.
While Musk touted the “very likely” scenario that the updated Autopilot could have stopped Brown’s death, he also made it clear that safety isn’t guaranteed.
“There won’t ever be zero fatalities, there won’t ever be zero injuries,” he said.
TSLA‘s stock is down nearly 19 percent on the year, but was 1.3 percent higher on Monday.
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New Autopilot May Have Prevented Fatal Crash, Tesla Motors Inc CEO Says (TSLA) originally appeared on usnews.com
