Tesla Autopilot – The Ultimate Guide

Autopilot uses a variety of front/side cameras, as well as proximity sensors in order to understand the vehicle’s position in a lane relative to the lane lines and what it perceives to be drivable space. In the earlier versions of Autopilot, this was mostly done by visually reading the painted lane lines and processing that information. As Autopilot has become more advanced (more on this later), it’s gained the ability to understand (to an extent) what is drivable space, and what is not—relying less on clearly-defined lane lines.

In order to help avoid collisions, both from the front and the side, Tesla Autopilot uses cameras and proximity sensors to map the car’s environment in real time—differentiating between obstacles, other vehicles, and pedestrians. In the event that the vehicle senses a collision (depending upon the Autopilot software/hardware version, of course) it will make evasive maneuvers such as applying the brakes or steering the car away from a collision. In minor instances, it may simply shake the steering wheel slightly or chime to alert the driver that it senses imminent danger.

While many vehicles have traffic-aware cruise control, Tesla’s Autopilot is among the most sophisticated. It ties in data/inputs from the entire Autopilot system in order to make determinations about vehicle spacing.

At its core, TACC is cruise control software that maintains a set distance between your vehicle and the vehicle in front of you (which is an awesome feature on road trips). However, as a part of the Autopilot program, Tesla’s TACC can actually do much more than just keep the distance—it can steer, brake, accelerate, keep the lane, and navigate.

Just like they sound, these features allow the vehicle to steer, accelerate/decelerate, and brake by itself (with driver monitoring, of course).

The earlier iterations of Tesla Autopilot in the Model S had somewhat “robotic feeling” steering/braking, where the vehicle would slow unnecessarily, or steer in an unnatural-feeling way. Thankfully, the software has improved in performance in recent years, beginning with the introduction of hardware version 2 (HW2) and continuing through hardware 2.5 (HW2.5) and hardware 3 (HW3). At present, with many vehicles equipped with the newest Autopilot hardware (HW4) these features operate much more smoothly, almost like an experienced human driver is behind the wheel.

In recent versions of Autopilot hardware/software, Tesla vehicles are able to change lanes automatically (even sometimes without confirmation by the driver). This is a part of Autopilot that has evolved considerably over time, with the earlier versions being able to change a lane at a time with direct user input, to now—where the vehicle can actually change multiple lanes and overtake other vehicles on the highway. Most of the advanced auto lane changing features are part of Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) package now, although some are included in the Enhanced Autopilot (EAP) package.

Summon is an Autopilot feature that allows the vehicle to back out of a parking space while being “summoned” to the owner either forward or backward via the Tesla app (Model S and X owners can actually access this feature via their key fob).

Smart Summon allows the vehicles to back out of a space and drive across a parking lot to the owner or to a specified location nearby (for instance, if you want your Tesla to park itself after you get out). You have to be within 200 ft of your car to use the feature, and it’s still not a feature that should be used outside of a private parking space or out of your line of sight. While we’re pretty sure a Tesla would notice your dog or a person crossing your driveway, you would be risking too much, morally and legally, to count on it.

Teslas have long had the ability to parallel park, and park in other spots with the tap of a button. While some people say this is a novelty feature, it can be quite helpful to those drivers who are bad at parallel parking or have trouble backing into parking spaces, as it is incredibly precise and effortless. This feature is available on vehicles with Enhanced Autopilot (EAP) and Full Self-Driving (FSD). If you’re someone who wants a little extra help with parking, it might be a worthwhile feature to look for when you’re shopping for a used Tesla.

Navigate on Autopilot is a feature for HW2+ vehicles that allows owners to set a destination and the Tesla will follow the course (similar to the driving directions on a smartphone). The software can make automatic lane changes and overtake vehicles on the road in order to keep pace with the set speed. It can direct your Tesla to enter/exit freeways and navigate freeway directional changes. While some users have found parts of this software lacking, the responses to NoA have actually been overwhelmingly positive. If you’re in the market for a used Tesla, you may want to keep an eye out for vehicles equipped with NoA.

Traffic and Stop Sign Control allows for city driving that reacts automatically to stop signs and traffic lights. This feature is part of Tesla’s Full Self-Driving package and is not available in EAP or earlier versions of Autopilot software/hardware. While the driver must use the turn signal level or press the accelerator pedal to confirm to Autopilot that it can proceed through a light, Traffic and Stop Sign Control allows the vehicle to recognize stop signs and traffic signals to come to a complete stop. As time goes on, this feature becomes an even more integral part of Tesla’s Full Self-Driving capabilities.

Currently, Full Self-Driving (FSD) is the top tier software package that Tesla sells for Autopilot, and it carries a $15,000 price tag (which continues to rise as features are added). The FSD package includes Navigate on Autopilot (NoA), Smart Summon, auto parking, and city street driving. In most cases, when purchasing a used Tesla, this package will transfer along with the vehicle (much more on this below).

For those who aren’t enthusiastic about FSD’s $15,000 price tag, FSD is now available as a subscription service. For $199 per month, you can have access to the full suite of FSD features, or for $99 per month, you can get access to features included in the Enhanced Autopilot suite of features (those include everything except Traffic and Stop Sign Control and Autosteer on City Streets).

This was the very first Autopilot package for AP1 vehicles that included front collision avoidance, lane departure warnings, TACC, and autosteering/braking/accelerating. It also had the ability to auto park, read speed signs, and a rudimentary form of Summon where it could slowly drive forward and backward.

This package originally cost $2,500 from Tesla and was groundbreaking at the time.

Enhanced Autopilot was available on the Model S/X from October 2016 forward, and on the Model 3/Y since its inception. It includes Smart Summon, Navigate on Autopilot, and auto lane changes. It doesn’t include the Traffic Light and Stop Sign Control and Autosteer on City Streets (which is coming soon to FSD).

The price of this has varied over the years from $4,000 to $6,000, depending upon whether or not it was purchased with the vehicle originally or offered as an upgrade (Tesla occasionally does this, commonly at the end of financial quarters in a revenue push).

As of April 2019, Tesla made “base Autopilot” standard on all vehicles. This includes TACC and autosteer/braking/acceleration. While it doesn’t include any of the other bells and whistles that the EAP and FSD packages have, it is really nice to know that Tesla is raising the bar for all vehicle manufacturers to include some form of autonomy.

The only downside to this is if you purchased your Tesla before this happened, you paid extra for some features that are now standard.

Full Self-Driving is really the mother of all Autopilot packages, and it includes everything in EAP plus the Traffic Light and Stop Sign Control, as well as Autosteer on City Streets (rumored to be released sometime in 2020).

The FSD package carries a somewhat hefty price tag (currently at $8,000) and we believe that the price will likely increase again in the future as features are added (Elon has stated this on multiple occasions).

Now that you’ve seen the different variations among Autopilot packages, how do EAP and FSD compare to each other?

Well, the difference in price is currently pegged at $4,000. And if you buy EAP, it’s another $5,000 currently to upgrade to FSD—so Tesla tacks on another $1,000 should you decide to upgrade in the future (which provides some incentive to buy FSD in the beginning).

That said—which package is the most worth it? It really depends, in our opinion, on the features that Tesla releases in the future and also on your individual budget. As the price increases over time, FSD is always going to represent the best value overall, but $8,000 is also a big chunk of money to most people.

With FSD—you’re currently getting some level of city autonomy for an extra $4,000—this is essentially what it boils down to in its current form. So the question really is—do you do enough city driving to make that $4,000 upgrade worth it? And, will the features they add in the future be worth the initial FSD investment? Elon claims that this package is going to get so good that Tesla vehicles will be “appreciating assets,” but we aren’t convinced of this just yet (even though we’re hopeful). So, is FSD worth it?

This answer to this question will be different for everyone, but it’s nice to know that Tesla provides owners with different tiers of accessibility to Autopilot depending upon their budgets. And of course—there are rumors that FSD may be offered as a subscription service in 2020/2021 (we’d guess for $100+ per month), so that may be another option worth waiting for if you’re interested in FSD but can’t shell $8k up front.

The answer to this question depends on what’s meant by “older Teslas.”

Teslas that are manufactured before September 2014 do not have Autopilot and cannot be upgraded to any form of Autopilot (AP1 or AP2)

September 2014 to September 2016 Teslas generally have AP1 hardware and cannot be upgraded past that.

October 2016 and later Teslas have AP2 hardware and do not need an upgrade, but the MCU in S/X can be upgraded, and if FSD is purchased, Tesla will upgrade the computer to the FSD computer where applicable (such as in an earlier Model 3 or Model S/X).

No one knows for sure. Tesla says this will happen by the end of 2020 as mentioned above, but it’s not a linear curve jumping from one SAE autonomy level to the next—there are exponential amounts of progress in AI that need to be made in order for this to be possible and for computer vision to be on level that’s even close to humanlike, let alone beyond human capacity.

Tesla has talked about the robo taxi program as well, where they will not allow Model 3 lease holders to buy their cars back at the end of the lease, because Tesla wants to have a fleet of vehicles available and ready for autonomous robo taxis—doesn’t that sound like something straight out of science fiction? It does to us!

Our best guess in terms of when Tesla’s Autopilot will be close to level 5 autonomy is the end of 2022, possibly 2023, but as Elon has said—these improvements aren’t being made on a linear time scale, so hopefully they surprise us and it happens sooner!

There have been a lot of people asking about whether or not Tesla will offer Full Self-Driving (FSD) as a subscription service—and while we don’t know for sure (only Tesla knows this), we believe that this will happen sometimes in 2020 or 2021.

In a recent Reddit thread by u/Callump01, this user did some reverse engineering on the Tesla app and found a screenshot showing a “Subscribe” column in addition to the “Buy” column, which hints at the fact that Tesla may be getting ready to unveil this.

Given that the full subscription price is currently $8,000, we expect that the monthly subscription cost will be more than $100 per month if charged on a monthly basis (although no one knows for sure until Tesla releases this option).

One of the biggest questions that used Tesla buyers have on their mind when it comes to Autopilot is whether or not Autopilot will transfer in the event of a sale.

There are a lot of scenarios and different ways that someone can acquire a used Tesla (from a private party, from a dealer, etc.)—and we’re going to try and cover all of those in this section so you fully-understand the ways that Autopilot may (or may not) transfer depending upon how you’ve purchased your used Tesla.

Sound good? Alright, let’s dive into some specifics…

Before you even start thinking about whether or not Autopilot will transfer, you need to first verify that the car you’re thinking of purchasing actually has the features you want. For example, if the owner says that it has Enhanced Autopilot (EAP) or Full Self-Driving (FSD), you need to make sure that these features are present, paid for, and properly attributed to the car—and there are a few ways that you can do that.

Verifying Autopilot Status in the Upgrade Section of the Tesla App

You can have the current owner (via video or in person) navigate to the “Upgrade” section on their Tesla app.

If they’ve already purchased EAP or FSD for example, those upgrades will not be available in the app. And, some of the features that those upgrades provide (like Smart Summon) will be available in the app.

While this is one way to check, we really prefer the next way to be sure…

Verifying Autopilot Status Directly With Tesla

If you want to make sure that the vehicle you’re purchasing has a specific feature, you can reach out to Tesla and find out by giving them the VIN number. Just be sure that the VIN number is the correct one that is associated with the vehicle you’re considering purchasing.

Don’t trust anyone who simply gives you a VIN number in a screenshot or in another format—you need to be SURE when purchasing a used vehicle. (Note: this is also important if you’re selling a Tesla, as you want to be sure that you provide the correct information to the buyer)

With all that said—let’s take a look at the scenarios where Autopilot may (or may not) transfer.