Tesla has announced that it has begun the rollout of Navigate on Autopilot for those customers with Enhanced Autopilot of Full Self-Driving Capability. The new feature will give drivers “active guidance” while they’re on the highway, while the car will do a lot of the work for the driver, they will still have to interact with the controls to show they"re paying attention to the road. For better or for worse, the firm will allow drivers to switch off these confirmation cues in future versions of the software.
While they"re on the highway, drivers will get lane change suggestions, they’ll be advised on navigating highway interchanges and will be alerted when they should take an exit. Tesla said that the instructions given to drivers would be the most efficient but also safe thanks to the car’s eight external cameras, radar, and ultrasonic sensors.
Navigate on Autopilot has different preference levels, in the announcement, the Tesla team detailed what settings are available:
Navigate on Autopilot can be customized to a driver’s preferences, including four settings for speed-based lane changes (Disabled, Mild, Average, or Mad Max). When enabled, Navigate on Autopilot’s speed-based lane changes will suggest transitions into adjacent lanes that are moving faster, in the event that your vehicle is traveling slower than the set cruise speed (for instance, if you approach a slow-moving car or truck ahead). The Mild setting suggests lane changes when you’re traveling significantly slower than your set speed, whereas Mad Max will suggest lane changes when traveling just below your set speed.
In order to use the feature, drivers must first enable Navigate on Autopilot and Autosteer in the Autopilot settings menu. Navigate on Autopilot can then be enabled by pressing the dedicated button in the turn-by-turn navigation list if the option is available for that route. You will then be presented with two choices: you can either stick to the route no matter what the traffic conditions are like or you can choose to have the car keep you near your desired speed, although this may incur deviations from the route.
If you don’t see the feature yet, be patient as it will roll out gradually over the coming week. It will arrive in other markets in the future “pending validation and regulatory approval.”