Tesla’s latest software update includes a feature that could prevent a lot of underbody damage. Vehicles can scan the road for potholes, and adjust the suspension to account for rough roads.
It’s an update that could be useful for cars, but also for Tesla trucks, which can now be pre-ordered. It would thus seem that the choice of the CEO of the company, Elon Musk, to eliminate teleworking within SpaceX and Tesla has paid off. Indeed, Tesla vehicles can now anticipate the arrival of a pothole. Next, software automatically calculates a suspension settings to cushion the shock.
Tesla owners can enable the new feature by selecting “Comfort” in the adaptive suspension damping settings. In contrast, this feature is currently limited to certain locations, which Tesla was able to analyze beforehand. The manufacturer states as follows:This adjustment may occur in various places, subject to availability, when the vehicle downloads the raw road map data generated by Tesla cars“.
Tesla must continue to map road conditions
Furthermore, this feature is reserved for manual driving. Indeed, it cannot interfere with the autonomous driving software dear to Tesla. The company adds:Notably, the software update is not applicable to autopilot or fully autonomous driving.“.
Elon Musk said Tesla is working on a system to create maps listing potholes. But, apparently, this feature is still under development. However the system, although for the moment limited, should prevent a lot of damage to the bodywork of the vehicle.
The update also includes a fire alarm green to help combat driver distraction. When the light turns green, an alarm warns the driver, which can avoid being honked in case of inattention. According to Electrek, the functionality of will only be active on board vehicles equipped with computer hardware 3.0also known as the Autonomous Driving Computer.
Source: theverge