Tesla speeds up on self-driving option

Tesla is making another leap forward in the race to build self-driving cars.

The company said this week that every new Tesla rolling off the factory floor will now come with the hardware necessary to support full autonomous driving mode. Some of the company’s existing Model S and Model X vehicles already have the technology, according to the company.

To make the system work, Tesla is equipping every new car with eight cameras to pull in visual data from around the car in 360 degrees. An additional dozen ultrasonic sensors will help detect obstacles. And crunching all the incoming data will be a sophisticated computer powered by a top-of-theline graphics processor.

Unlike self-driving cars built by rivals Google and Uber — which have large, bulky cameras and sensor systems mounted on the roof — Tesla’s hardware will be integrated seamlessly into the body of the car, CEO Elon Musk said.

But just because the autonomy package comes installed does not mean that customers will be able to enable self-driving on day one. Musk said that further testing will be necessary before the feature can be switched on. The company plans to conduct self-driving tests on a closed track before opening it up to a select number of early users, a group that will include Musk himself.

Ultimately, it may take a year or more for members of the public to see the feature in action.

Tesla’s announcement comes after a summer of heightened scrutiny over its Autopilot feature.

Autopilot is not a selfdriving technology; it is designed as a driver-assist application similar to adaptive cruise control, but it has nevertheless raised safety concerns among skeptics, including lawmakers.

In May, a Florida driver died as a result of Autopilot’s failure to brake for a turning truck.

Musk took aim Wednesday at the spate of critical media reports on Autopilot, saying that every negative story about the feature distracted from the thousands of people who are killed on roads today because of human error.

Every time the media reports on Autopilot’s flaws, “you dissuade people from using autonomous vehicles. You’re killing people,” Musk said.