Delays on Tesla’s Driverless Technologies Spark Controversy

In January, Tesla announced that all Model S and Model X vehicles would be sold with eight cameras, a radar system, 12 ultrasonic sensors and a high-power computer, allowing them to drive autonomously.

That same month, Tesla CEO Elon Musk was asked on Twitter how long it would be before the Full Self Driving feature enabled by the myriad of sensors and cameras would be noticeably improved upon over its partially self-driving Enhanced Autopilot. Musk replied, “3 months maybe, 6 months definitely.” It’s now been nine months, and those owners who paid for the Full Self Driving feature are still very much driving themselves.

In April, a group of Model S and Model X owners filed a class action lawsuit against the automaker claiming its Enhanced Autopilot system was “essentially unusable and demonstrably dangerous.” Those owners also claim they were misled as Tesla promised over-the-air updates to Autopilot that would improve its capabilities. Updates came frequently in the beginning of the year, but it’s now been five months since there was an update to the system. Not only is Tesla’s Full Self Driving feature not yet active, its much less advanced Enhanced Autopilot doesn’t perform as well as the previous version of the system.

SEE ALSO: Tesla Autopilot is Far From Perfect: The Skinny with Craig Cole

Tesla’s split with Mobileye about a year ago is likely part of the reason for its self-driving woes. Mobileye was its partner on the original Autopilot system (the one the suit claims worked better than Enhanced Autopilot), but the two companies parted ways after Mobileye expressed “safety concerns regarding the use of Autopilot hands-free.” Mobileye felt Tesla was misleading customers as to Autopilot ‘s functionalities, which requires the driver keep their hands on the steering wheel at all times.

“Long term this is going to hurt the interests of the company and hurt the interests of an entire industry, if a company of our reputation will continue to be associated with this type of pushing the envelope in terms of safety,” Mobileye’s chairman, Amnon Shashua, said at the time.

[Source: The Detroit News]