After unveiling version 8 of the Tesla software with countless Autopilot improvements over the weekend, Tesla CEO Elon Musk now says the company is “hoping” to begin the worldwide rollout of the update next Wednesday.
Autopilot has been mired in controversy ever since it launched last year, but after a recent string of incidents involving Tesla Motors vehicles, the company had no choice but to make a change.
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“Hoping to start WW rollout of 8.0 on Wednesday if no last minute issues discovered,” Musk said on Twitter last night in response to a question.
According to the blog post published on Tesla’s website this weekend, the new version of Autopilot will rely much more heavily on the radar than it has in the past. Initially, the radar was meant to be nothing more than a supplementary component to the camera, but by making several notable improvements to the radar in the update, it will become the “primary control sensor” for Autopilot.
One of the most widely covered Autopilot incidents involved a Tesla identifying a truck as an overhead road sign. Musk said in a conference call last week that he believes the new system wouldn’t make the same error.
Providing Tesla doesn’t run into any issues between now and next week, Tesla owners with eligible vehicles will receive the update over the air on Wednesday.
