Teslas Receive Major Safety Upgrades with V8.0

Tesla CEO Elon Musk took to twitter to announce that its electric car customers will get enhanced radar and other features in an over-the-air software update that starting Wednesday night. Version 8.0 is the first update to the system software since a fatal crash in May, 2016 during which a Tesla camera failed to detect a tractor-trailer.

The notable enhancement is to make the Model S sedan and Model X SUV rely more on radar than cameras when in Tesla’s semi-autonomous autopilot mode.  Musk says this will help to avoid incidents like the fatal Florida crash last Spring. This will only affect the cars with radar which are those made after October 2014.

In addition to improved radar-vision, the update will also allow customers to set a maximum temperature, helping keep kids and pets safe when left in the car, When the car gets too hot the air-conditioning automatically kicks-in.

V8.0 release was expected nearly one month ago but was delayed by the explosion of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket on September 1st.

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