Self-Driving Cars: They're Here NOW!

          Previously, I talked about the thrill of self-driving cars. Self-driving cars create several benefits: they increase fuel economy, decrease the amount of focus the driver needs to attend to driving, and most importantly, increase the safety of our roads. As I stated previously on my blog, car crashes account for more deaths each year than all the homicides combined, so self driving cars would greatly decrease this number to as near as zero as possible.Here and there, manufacturers such as Chevrolet have cars that have auto-stop technology for objects that jump out or auto-parallel parking buttons.  However, while full self-driving cars are currently being tested by BMW, Google, and Apple, the technology hasn't been widely available to the public. That is, until just a week ago, when Tesla released the first self-driving car. To be more specific, Tesla did not release a new car, nor is the car fully self-driving. What they release then, one might ask? Simply a software update.
          How is this possible, and how does it work? Well, since October of 2014, Tesla has included multiple camera and detection sensors in its Tesla Model S car, but the sensors have layed dormant for a year. Telsa wasn't quite prepared for a self driving car, but added these sensors in preparation. Thus, with another year of software development, Tesla's engineers were confident enough to release TeslaOS 7.0, with a beta feature added in to the built in cruise control mode. Once the car has been wirelessly updated (props to Tesla for no need to go to the a dealership for the update), most things will seem the same in the car. But one feature has been updated, and has needed an update in a long time: the cruise control button. Under normal circumstances, everyone knows the cruise control button does not equal auto pilot, and the driver must still stay alert. However, starting with TeslaOS 7.9, once the user is, say, driving down a road at 55mph, the user can click the "Cruise" control button and take their hands completely off of the wheel. The car will stay in its current lane and continue the same speed at the same time. If a deer pops out infront of the driver, the car will auto-brake, and if a car is driving slowly upfront, the car will adjust its speed. It takes cruise control to a whole new automated level. If on the interstate, and the driver turns on the left turn signal, the car will automatically switch lanes to the left when deemed safe, and then continue in that lane at that speed while the driver relaxes, sipping away at their coffee and chatting on the phone as if their car driving itself was no big deal.
         However, there is a caveat to the whole experience. While Telsa's engineers have spend years on this project, there are still certain risks, and since self-driving is still, Tesla's CEO Elon Musk pulled a smart liability claim by making the statement that,"We’re advising drivers to keep their hands on the wheel. The software — it’s very new,” he said. But he added: “In the long term, people won’t need hands on the wheel. And eventually there won’t be wheels.” While Musk holds high expectations for the future, there is one thing for certain: Self-driving cars are coming, and Musk has set foot to make Tesla the first to bring it to market.

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