Tesla Autopilot Gains Lane-Changing, Nav Capabilities

Tesla Inc. is updating its semiautonomous Autopilot system to include lane-changing and highway guidance capabilities.

The new Navigate feature is available only on vehicles equipped with Tesla's Enhanced Autopilot setup, which uses ultrasonic sensors, radar, cameras and machine learning. Tesla began offering the over-the-air software update on Friday.

Tesla says the system, based on pre-selected destinations, will be able to guide a car from a highway’s on-ramp to the off-ramp. This includes navigating interchanges between highways, taking exits and changing lanes.

The enhancement will enable an equipped car to recommend lane changes to move around slower traffic. Drivers can choose among mild, normal and aggressive (“Mad Max”) settings to determine when lane changes are prompted—ranging from significantly slower to slightly slower preceding traffic.

Initially, the system won’t take lane-changing action until the driver approves the move by activating the proper turn signal. But Tesla expects future versions of the system will automatically initiate and complete such maneuvers. Some competitors already offer this level of autonomy.

Navigate is part of the Version 9 update to Autopilot that Tesla launched earlier this month. Other features include more detailed turn-by-turn navigation directions, electronic games that can be played on the infotainment display when the car is parked, and a “dash cam” mode that allows users to record and store 10-minute videos from their car’s forward-facing camera.

Tesla says it has accumulated more than 1 billion miles of real-world data since launching Autopilot in 2015. A video demonstration of the Navigate feature can be viewed on Tesla’s blog.