During an earnings call today, Elon Musk, Tesla CEO said that the company will be changing the AutoPilot feature in the future to be less dangerous. The company will also offer it as an Over-the-Air in-app style purchase to Tesla owners who didn’t buy it, previously.
Tesla drivers using AutoPilot have been taking their hands off the wheels in dangerous situations such as curvy roads and other risky behavior then posting it on videos on YouTube.
Musk stated that the “crazy stuff” on YouTube “is not good.”
He explained that Tesla would be placing “additional constraints on when Autopilot can be activated.”
In the future the Autopilot feature will be modified, refined and improved over time, reported Musk
AutoPilot has also been doing some crazy stuff, a user in a forum sated that ” “going down the highway at around 65 MPH, the AutoPilot wanted to exit at every potential exit, when driving in the right lane. Sometimes such as in the video below AutoPilot took a highway exit when it wasn’t supposed to.
Tesla issued this statement:
“The latest Autopilot release is a hands-on experience to give drivers more confidence behind the wheel, increase their safety on the road and make motorway driving more enjoyable. The driver cannot abdicate responsibility for driving the vehicle.
Musk previously stated, “The driver cannot abdicate responsibility.”
Tesla owners who still want to buy AutoPilot can get the feature with a $3,000 payment, Musk told investors. Tesla be allowing people to upgrade in the coming months through something like an in-app purchase.
So newbies can unlock AutoPilot while danger seekers will be locked out of some features?
We’ll see what kind of software hocus-pocus Tesla and Musk will conjure up, soon.
There is also a video on YouTube that says Telsa AutoPilot saved the life of an Uber Select driver, when in fact it was auto-braking. The driver is happy and safe nonetheless. After getting 1.5 million views on YouTube that shows his phone number, we’re sure he’s not worried about making his Tesla payments, yet.
Meanwhile Tesla has poached a Google employee. Tesla announced that Jason Wheeler will be Tesla’s next Chief Financial Officer and Jon McNeill has joined as President of Global Sales and Service.
Jason joins Tesla after 13 years at Google Inc. where he was Vice President of Finance and led Google’s global finance function. Jason has an MBA from Harvard Business School and a bachelor’s degree in finance from Colorado State University, where he graduated summa cum laude.
Jon McNeill is the former CEO of Enservio. In 2013 he was named “Most Admired CEO” in the small/midsize company category from the Boston Business Journal. Before Enservio, Jon co-founded Sterling Collision Centers. At Sterling, Jon’s team reduced industry repair times by 90% (from 18 days to less than 2 days) while simultaneously growing the business at more than 40% per year. In 1993, Jon founded First Notice Systems. He is a graduate of Northwestern University.