While the research and development for a suitable vehicle automation technology is still on, Tesla continues to make speedy progress in this crowded space.
From nuking Mars and colonising it, to designing Neuralink which connects the human brain to a computer, Elon Musk has always been in the spotlight for his innovative ideas and creations. Hence, the renowned entrepreneur and tech genius could not keep himself away when vehicle automation became a hot topic in the automobile industry.
Hereafter, Tesla- the electric vehicle developing company of Musk began working separately on automation of the electric vehicles it was producing. While renowned automobile giants were struggling to bring new lucrative and convincing automated technology to the table, Tesla came up with ADAS- Advanced Driver Assistance System.
What’s ADAS?
Tesla’s ADAS is an autopilot feature which is capable of handling a number of operations in cars such as automatic lane changing, automatic steer and traffic-aware cruise control (TACC). The autopilot feature works with the help of sensors, radars and cameras installed on a vehicle.
How was ADAS developed?
ADAS came into existence after neural networks were trained to detect images that could successfully perform molecular depth estimation and semantic segmentation. The system also collected numerous vehicle’s data over time to generate different algorithms through which the vehicles were further trained to handle complicated traffic and road scenarios in a simulated environment.
TACC’s function
Tesla’s ADAS consist of TACC, which helps the vehicle to travel at a particular speed by analysing the surrounding through installed cameras and sensors. In short, it analyses if there are any other vehicles nearby or not. Depending on the data, the vehicle automatically speeds up or slows down.
Furthermore, if the TACC system detects a vehicle in the front, which is too close, it automatically applies brakes and creates a safe distance between the vehicles. Thus, tail-gating and possible collisions are prevented successfully.
How does automatic steer work?
Tesla’s autosteer function has been designed to work with TACC. Hence, autosteer cannot be initiated if the TACC system is offline. The automatic steer function helps the vehicle to maintain a particular lane through the usage of ultrasonic sensors and radars that marks a lane.
Is ADAS fully automatic?
As the name suggests, the ADAS is a driver assistance system, and hence, it is not fully automatic. Even when the ADAS is online, Tesla suggests that a driver is expected to be fully aware and conscious of his or her surroundings. Last but not least, the driver must place his or her hands on the steering and foot on brake pedals since the ADAS is not developed enough to make decisions in split-seconds.
