Topic: Tesla updates software to roll out driverless cars in three months - page 2. (Read 1838 times)

I see were you come from but it is the way the market will move in the future. It will be a while until most of the cars on the road are electric like 10-20 years because of how long they last so at least for you there is a bright side. Oil will still be used in lots of things like plastics so it will not be completely useless once gas cars are gone.

Boo to electric!  (Posted selfishly by someone who has had their income affected by the low price of oil)   

Actually I think that I probably won't own a car until most cars are driverless and electric, so it is good to see the tech coming to market so soon (so it will be really good when it is time for me to buy)

I will never buy a self-driving car, because I like the act of driving too much. I don't understand the appeal to a car that drives itself. It takes all the joy out of cars.

Seeing a Tesla is about to get a lot more wild, as the company is preparing to install its self-driving software in the Model S fleet. The autopilot feature will only work on highways... as the technology may not yet be legal in the US.

Tesla will roll out an auto-steering software update for the Model S in the next three or four months, and owners won’t even have to go into a Tesla store for the upgrade, founder Elon Musk said at a Thursday press conference.

READ MORE: ‘Personal roller coaster’: Tesla Motors unveils electric Model S that drives itself

Drivers will only be able to engage the autonomous system while on highways, despite having the technical ability to do a lot more.

"It is technically capable of going from parking lot to parking lot," Musk said. "But we won't be enabling that for users with this hardware suite, because we don't think it's likely to be safe in suburban neighborhoods," he continued, noting that such streets often lack posted speed limit signs and pose obstacles like children playing in the street.

“There’s certainly an expectation that when autopilot on the Model S is enabled, that you’re paying attention. But it should also take care of you if you have moments of distraction," the Tesla founder added.

The company has been testing the software mainly between San Francisco and Seattle.

“We’re pretty excited about the progress we’re making there,” Musk said. “We’re now almost able to travel all the way from San Francisco to Seattle without the driver touching any controls at all.”

The driverless car technology also raises the question of liability in an accident, which may need to be decided by the courts, rather than by legislation.

“If it’s fully autonomous, who’s responsible if there’s a mistake? The driver or the company who made it?” Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond, told the Times. “I don’t see how Tesla’s going to clear the hurdles. They may have to go to each state legislative body and convince them, and that takes time.”