It was not the self-driving car some had been hoping for, but Thursday night Tesla introduced a new model of its electric S with some pretty amazing capabilities.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk teased an upcoming Tesla reveal Oct. 1 on twitter:
About time to unveil the D and something else pic.twitter.com/qp23yi59i6
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 2, 2014
OC Register auto critic Susan Carpenter was at the unveiling.
Tesla's "D” stands for a dual motor Model S that can accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in as little as 3.2 seconds, while simultaneously improving handling with a digital all-wheel drive system, Carpenter reports.
RELATED: Slideshow: Tesla's 'D' adds all-wheel drive, safety features
"It's like taking off from a carrier deck, it's just bananas," Musk told the crowd at the unveiling. "It's like having your own personal roller coaster that you can use at anytime."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZ6lZJWL_Xk
The addition of auto pilot enables the new S to self-park in a garage, plug itself into a charger, keep a car in a lane, emergency stop and be summoned by its driver.
Four parts comprise the auto pilot feature, Musk explained: A forward looking radar; camera with image recognition that can detect traffic lights and pedestrians; long-range ultrasonic sonar; and a combination navigation, GPS and real-time traffic.
Musk pointed out that auto pilot has limitations, however, Carpenter reported:
At this stage, [it is] auto pilot as opposed to autonomous. It’s capable of sort of being autonomous, but the level of safety and redundancy isn’t there. You can’t fall asleep and safely arrive at your destination.
The new Tesla S also has three driving modes: normal, sport and insane.