Tesla releases new update to enable full speed automatic emergency braking for Autopilot 2.5, and more

Well, that was quick. Earlier this month, we reported that Tesla is adding automatic emergency braking to ‘Autopilot 2.5’ cars with a new update, but it was capped to 50 mph.

Tesla now started releasing a new software update to enable full speed automatic emergency braking for Autopilot 2.5 cars – along with other improvements.

The release notes of the new 2017.42 update read:

“The maximum speed at which Automatic Emergency Braking is available has increased from 50 mph to 90 mph.”

Tesla had a similar rollout for vehicles equipped with Autopilot 2.0 cars, but it was actually limited to 28 mph first and it took about two months before they enabled full speed.

Therefore, it looks like Tesla has a better handle on the feature now since it took less than 2 weeks this time.

Automatic emergency braking has a lot of potential for safety, but it can also be extremely dangerous if poorly implemented due to the potential for a false positive activation of the feature – meaning applying the brakes when it’s not needed.

It’s why Tesla puts the feature through a thorough validation process before activating it in its vehicles and again before activating it at full speed.

The new 2017.42 software update also comes with an updated feature for folding the side mirrors:

“For ample clearance when driving through narrow streets, if you’ve folded your vehicle’s mirrors, they will stay folded while you’re driving at low speeds (up to 30 mph).”

We hear that the update might also include further improvements to the Autopilot’s Autosteer feature so if you get the update and see any difference let us know.

As usual, keep in mind that Tesla gradually pushes software updates to its fleet and therefore, it can take a while for every car to receive the update over-the-air.

Tesla is still slowly working toward Enhanced Autopilot features for the vehicles equipped with Autopilot 2.0 (and now also 2.5). Last week, Tesla’s President of Sales and Service, Jon McNeill, said that a more significant Autopilot software update would come this quarter.