L5 is coming? Tesla's autonomous driving will usher in a major update

Although autonomous driving has become a field that major OEMs have been vigorously developing, due to the maturity of technology and imperfect legislation in various countries, L3 autonomous driving has become a gap that car companies cannot cross at this stage, but Tesla does not seem to be limited. Recently, Tesla CEO Musk said that the company's autonomous driving system AutoPilot has achieved a "quantum leap" improvement. If the test results are ideal, the company will push OTA upgrades to American car owners in mid-December.

Model 3

It is reported that the secret test of the AutoPilot system will be carried out within 2-4 weeks, and will be pushed to early users' cars within one month after the secret test. If the test results of the above two links are in line with expectations, all American car owners will get the advanced AutoPilot system. In July this year, Musk said, "I think we are very close to L5 autonomous driving. I am confident that we will complete the development of the basic functions of L5 autonomous driving this year." Based on the above information, the so-called "quantum leap" improvement may be related to L5 autonomous driving.

However, Musk's words are worth pondering. Achieving the basic functions of L5 autonomous driving is not the same as achieving L5 autonomous driving. According to the standards published by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SEA), autonomous driving is divided into five levels, among which L5 autonomous driving means that the vehicle can be driven under any conditions without the need for passengers to drive the car or take over the functions in the car. Obviously, Tesla's AutoPilot is still some distance away from the above standards.

In fact, Tesla is not the only company committed to L5 autonomous driving. Audi released the Aicon concept car that can achieve L5 autonomous driving as early as 2014. Some time ago, Audi established an autonomous driving electric vehicle project called Artemis. One of the major topics of this project is to study how to move L5 autonomous driving technology to mass-produced cars. According to current plans, the brand will complete the above challenge in 2024.

Editor's comments:

In fact, Tesla has always been controversial in the field of autonomous driving. In June this year, a Model 3 with the AutoPilot system turned on hit a rolled-over truck at a speed of 110km/h. Facing such an obvious obstacle, the Model 3 did not even slow down. What are the basic functions of the so-called L5 autonomous driving of Musk? How big is the "quantum leap" improvement he mentioned? Will it be accepted by consumers? Maybe we will know the answer by the end of this year.