Tesla employees shall test autonomous driving

Author: Mario Schmidtgen
Date: 04.10.2018

Autopilot and new software shall be promoted

Tesla wants to promote autonomous driving in vehicles and wants to involve their employees in this process now. CEO Elon Musk has sent an e-mail to his employees asking them to take part in the autonomous driving tests.

Incentives for participation

The company is looking for around 100 to 200 employees who are willing to extend their private Tesla vehicles with the “Enhanced Autopilot” and “Full Self-Driving Capability” software packages. The packages, which would normally cost between 5,000 and 10,000 US dollars, are free of charge for employees. In addition, employees who order a vehicle that includes both packages will receive a free premium interior in addition. In return, the testers have to provide Tesla with hundreds of hours of travel data.

Tesla has already been working on an autopilot for autonomous driving for several years. However, the development is behind schedule. In order to advance progress, the employees are now increasingly integrated into the tests. Some time ago, employees and customers were offered the opportunity to test the functions of the new software before it was released. Now the program for the employees will be supplemented to increase the number of testers.

Presentation of the new firmware

The new firmware of version 9 will be offered to customers over-the-air via the internet. The software offers several advanced driving assistance functions, such as a ramp-to-off-ramp function, where an autopilot can optimally take a motorway exit. In addition, the vehicle can select the best lane in order to adapt optimally to the traffic. The new update brings the vehicle a step closer to autonomous driving. According to Elon Musk, autonomous driving should be possible by the end of 2019.