6 self-driving features in Tesla's new and improved Autopilot (TSLA)

By: Business Insider

October 20, 2016 at 17:06 PM EDT

Benjamin Zhang/Business Insider

The new and improved Tesla Autopilot is coming.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced that, as of Wednesday, people can buy Tesla cars that come with a suite of new hardware that improves Autopilot's capabilities like never before. The new version of Autopilot, aptly named Enhanced Autopilot, will be made available via over-the-air updates in December, pending regulatory approval. It will cost $5,000.

Musk also said the hardware will allow Tesla cars to be fully driverless further down the line.

Here's a breakdown of Enhanced Autopilot's capabilities:

First generation Autopilot provides Tesla with a host of semi-autonomous capabilities, especially following its software upgrade, Version 8, in September. Since that time, Tesla cars with Autopilot have been able to auto steer, change lanes with the tap of a signal, look for parking spots, park perpendicularly, and self-parallel park.Tesla

The first-generation system also comes with active cruise control, the ability to exit off ramps when the signal is on, and be summoned remotely from your garage.Vimeo/Tesla

But Enhanced Autopilot adds to those pre-existing capabilities. The new system relies on four cameras, a radar sensor, 12 ultrasonic sensors, and a new onboard computer system to work.Tesla

You can get a more thorough breakdown of the hardware and how it differs from what was used for first generation Autopilot here.

1. Thanks to Enhanced Autopilot, Tesla cars will be able to match their speed to traffic conditions. That means the cars will be able to drive themselves in heavy traffic.Tesla

2. But it also means the cars can move to a faster lane when stuck behind slower traffic. That means the cars can now change lanes without requiring input like before.

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