Tesla Autopilot Version 9.0 Can Now Change Lanes and Exit a Highway

The software has begun rolling out in the U.S. this weekend, bringing the “most advanced Autopilot feature ever.”

Simply put, Tesla drivers will from now on have the chance of allowing their cars to drive themselves from a highway’s on-ramp to off-ramp, make lane changes, navigate highway interchanges, and taking exits.

For the time being, Navigate on Autopilot will only work under driver supervision. For lane changes, for instance, drivers will have to confirm the move by using the turn stalk. Future versions of the system, backed by the required legislation, will give drivers the possibility to opt out of having to confirm this.

Navigate will suggest two types of lane changes to the driver: route-based lane changes and speed-based lane changes. The former will keep the car on the navigation route and adapt speed accordingly, while the latter will keep it as close to the set speed as possible.

Tesla says Navigate on Autopilot can be customized with four speed-based lane changes setting - Disabled, Mild, Average, or Mad Max.

The system has been tested by drivers over “millions of miles” already, says Tesla, and it’s full implementation started last weekend.

Although meant to take Autopilot one step closer to the rank of fully autonomous, the Navigate suite is poised to raise even more eyebrows in the ranks of Tesla’s detractors, especially that they are now backed by research conducted by the Euro NCAP.

The European safety organization, although having found Autopilot to be one of the most advanced such technologies, criticizes it for making the driver over-reliant.

The car’s Autopilot is so good at its job that it can “create the potential for over-reliance,” Euro NCAP says. That means that drivers find the Autopilot driving mode so accurate, permissive and comfortable that at times they forget the system is there to assist, not drive itself.