On October 14, Tesla provided a software update for Model S and with that the car got self-driving capabilities.
On October 14, Tesla provided a software update for Model S and with that the car got self-driving capabilities. The car has achieved this with help of radar, cameras, GPS, and ultrasonic sensors to keep the car within its lane, maintain a safe following distance, and change lanes at the command of the human.
Elon Mosk, the CEO of Tesla has asked for restraint while using the autopilot mode, but people being people, always want to test limit of things!! The coast to coast journey could have been an ultimate test and in just four days time, Alex Roy, Carl Reese and Deena Mastracci set off from Los Angeles with the destination being set as New York, which is 4,846 kilometers away in a Tesla Model S. To give you an idea, Srinagar to Kanyakumari distance is 3613 kilometers. From Redondo Beach, California to Red Ball Garage in New York, the trio set off from point A at 9:15 p.m. on Oct. 18, Sunday and arrived at point B at 10:03 a.m. EST on Oct. 21.
The trio reached New York in record time of 57 hours and 48 minutes which included as the stoppages, even the time spent charging the vehicle. The three are veterans of record-setting transcontinental runs: In April, Reese and Mastracci set a record for the least time spent charging an EV while driving across the country. And Roy, a rally driver, set an unofficial “Cannonball Run” record in 2006, driving from New York to LA in just 31 hours and 4 minutes.
Roy said, “There were probably three or four moments where we were on autonomous mode at 145 km/h and hands off the wheel, if I hadn’t had my hands there, ready to take over, the car would have gone off the road and killed us. That’s my fault for setting a speed faster than the system’s capable of compensating,” stating that he didn’t think the system failed.
Reese said the car was on autopilot for 96 percent of the times mostly programmed to run at speeds of 140km/h. The overall average speed was approximately 84km/h. “Deena and I have been planning this autonomous record for over 11 months. We knew we wanted to be the first group to make the cross-country attempt using the autonomous technology,” Reese said in a news release.