Fully Autonomous Cars With Advanced Autopilot: Tesla Motors To Install Enhanced Self Driving Car Hardware Worth $8,000 In Upcoming Models

Tesla has been under huge criticism for its so-called misleading 'Autopilot' System. After recent complaints from the Consumer Reports regarding the self-driving cars, last week Tesla Motors have decided to include the hardware required to make the cars, fully autonomous. The auto manufacturer wants all its current models to be able to self-drive when the Advanced Autopilot software is all ready in 5-10 years.

Tesla's Chief Executive Elon Musk said earlier on Wednesday that all upcoming models will come with hardware enabling the cars to fully self-drive. The Silicon Valley-based electric car company is still in a race with its many rivals to get its autonomous vehicles first on the road.

What's The Hardware Like?

The advanced self-driving hardware includes eight cameras, 12 enhanced sensors, and a new radar with faster processing.Tesla has started installing the enhanced hardware in all the upcoming cars totally free of charge. Though if you actually want to use it it'll cost you about $8,000 up front or if you wish to unlock it later, about $10,000. Elon Musk also announced that the company has already started producing its Model S and Model X electric cars with the new hardware.

All Tesla cars built from today on have all hardware needed for full self-driving https://t.co/hs5fFuJrXO

— TechCrunch (@TechCrunch) October 21, 2016

The Eight surrounding cameras provide a 360-degree visibility around the car for up to 250 meters of range. The Twelve enhanced ultrasonic sensors allow detection of objects located nearly twice the distance of the range of the prior system. The radar, which faces forward, has enhanced processing so as to provide data on a redundant wavelength. The new system will be capable of seeing even through heavy rain, fog, and dust.

What Do The Rivals Have To Say?

Many companies, which are developing autonomous technology, are more likely to settle on partially self-driving cars that hand the controls over to humans when the computer finds difficulty. Basically, just like Tesla's Autopilot. Uber's AutoPilot System  undergoing testing in Pittsburgh has also been reported doing the same. At present all the companies are still at Level 2 or 3 cars automation and there's still a long way to reach Level 5.

The advanced autopilot software to enable a fully autonomous operation for the cars is still being tested and will be available by 2020. The Auto-manufacturer expects that with the new hardware, a Tesla Car should be able to self-drive from Los Angeles to New York by the end of 2017.

Although Musk has set ambitious deadlines for Tesla many times before also, there's usually a timetables slip in what the company says and does. Rival automakers, however, believe that they'd be able to develop fully autonomous self-driving capability by the end of 2019 or 2021.

Older Tesla vehicles will not be able to drive autonomously without the hardware, but the Autopilot software is still being improved. Musk also said the software system will run on a Nvidia Corp Titan chip and is being built in-house.