Tesla Motors Inc. (TSLA) Chief Executive Elon Musk said in an early morning tweet Friday that his company’s evolving autopilot technology is close to getting a key update that would make its cars go driverless on highways and parallel-park themselves.
“almost ready to release highway autosteer and parallel autopark software update,” Musk said in his tweet.
Musk however, noted that the much-awaited over-the-air autosteer upgrade, a feature that lets drivers travel distances on highways without touching any controls at all, has one more thing to sort out:
“Final corner case is dealing with low contrast lane markings (faded white on grey concrete) while driving into the sun at dusk“.
It is unclear what Musk means by the ‘almost’ ready in his tweet given the fact Tesla for months has been testing its driverless software prototypes on highways between San Francisco and Seattle. Is he suggesting his company’s flagship Model S driverless cars are going to be on the market next week? Next month? Whatever Musk’s cautious optimism suggests, one thing seems sure, it will happen sooner rather than later.
TSLA closed $266.15 on the closing bell on Friday. The name, which has gained 20% so far this year and 18% in just the past three months, is scheduled to report Q2’15 earnings on Wednesday after the bell.
Disclaimer: This page contains affiliate links. If you choose to make a purchase after clicking a link, we may receive a commission at no additional cost to you. Thank you for your support!
He’s suggesting nothing of the sort. The cars have been on the market since last September. (Technically people who ordered as early as last June may have gotten it even though it wasn’t an option when they ordered the car.) What he is talking about is a free automatic OTA software upgrade that will add these capabilities to vehicles made since last September. There is no reason to wait for this to be released before buying the car.