Tesla CEO Elon Musk answered frustrated Tesla owners when semi-autonomous Autopilot 8.1 update is to be released. The good news is, they will not have to wait that long.
Musk responded to queries from Tesla owners that the Autopilot 8.1 update will start rolling out in about three weeks, however, the updates will be done incrementally in monthly releases, according to Inverse. The updates, Tesla hopes will all be completed by the end of 2017 at the latest.
href="https://twitter.com/edwardsanchez">@edwardsanchez about three weeks and it will get
rolled out incrementally in monthly releases
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This is good news for those frustrated by what the updates can actually do. The update will be rolled out over-the-air, which would take advantage of the Model S and Model X's integrated connectivity. According to Slash Gear, not every Tesla vehicle owner necessarily get the upgrade straight away.
Tesla's reasoning for the incremental upgrades is to give the company the reaction time regarding unforeseen issues with testing the system in the real-world. Musk had previously disclosed that he personally tests out any new Tesla software on the road before he distributes it to actual owners.
Back in October, Musk surprised the public by announcing that all future Tesla cars will be equipped with a full set of self-driving hardware. However, these capabilities in the new cars were disabled until the software used to run the features are ready for it to be fully exploited in the new line of self-drive capable Tesla models.
Fully autonomous driving is still unlikely to be dropped in one swoop. As announced, Tesla will deliver progressive updates to Autopilot 8.1 using time in between updates to improve the system better. Ultimately, Musk plans for an option to turn privately owned electric vehicles into one big ridesharing fleet.
It is unclear at this point which of the disabled features will be enabled in Autopilot 8.1. Likewise, it is unclear if first gen Tesla's will have new functionalities with the coming upgrade too.
