Tesla Officially Debuts Autopilot Driving

What Happened
Earlier today, Tesla released the much anticipated version 7.0 of its Model S software, an update that enables the car’s first self-driving features, first announced in October last year. The 7.0 release starts rolling out in the US tomorrow, and will proceed to Europe and Asia in the coming weeks. Although technically not a fully autonomous vehicle yet, the Tesla cars updated with the newest software will gain new features such as Autosteer, Auto Lane Change, and Autopark, all designed to assist drivers.  

What Brands Need To Do
Autonomous cars have been developing at a rapid pace this year. We saw some major car manufacturers showcase prototypes of driverless cars at CES in January. But what Tesla showcased today is definitely more ready for the consumer market. Given this quick development, it probably won’t be long before autopilot driving can free drivers from steering wheels, at least partially. Brands should consider getting onto the in-car media platforms in order to capture this newly-gained idle attention of the drivers.

 


Source: Mashable

Lexus At CES: The Autonomous Driver

Lexus demonstrated some autonomous vehicle features including laser tracking, gyroscopes, and forward and side-facing radars all geared toward scanning road environments and reacting to any danger. Lexus says most of this technology is in R&D and will not be available for quite sometime. Mark Templin, VP General Manager also explained that they’re aiming for the car not to be driverless but rather act as an attentive copilot whose skills can assist driving. Sounds pretty great to us. Stayed tuned for updates this afternoon on car infotainment systems.