Free Tesla OTA Update Will Allow Vehicles To Respond To Emergency Vehicles On Roadside

Recently, the NHTSA requested data from potentially hundreds of thousands of Tesla Inc TSLA vehicles in a bid to find out why the company's Autopilot system may be crashing into emergency vehicles. The NHTSA then expanded its search to several other automakers. 

It appears Tesla may be working toward a fix to the problem, according to an update shared by InsideEVs. 

According the the article, a new over-the-air software update, 2021.24.12, will add the ability to detect emergency vehicles parked on the side of the road at night and warn the driver to take action to avoid the first responder's vehicle. 

The updated owner's manual states: "If Model3/ModelY detects lights from an emergency vehicle when using Autosteer at night on a high speed road, the driving speed is automatically reduced and the touchscreen displays a message informing you of the slowdown. You will also hear a chime and see a reminder to keep your hands on the steering wheel. When the light detections pass by or cease to appear, Autopilot resumes your cruising speed. Alternatively, you may tap the accelerator to resume your cruising speed."

This will be a welcomed safety improvement, especially as investigations are underway. How any of the other 12 automakers invovled in the investigation will respond is unknown, as their vehicles are not capable of receiving OTA software updates in the same way that Tesla is able to pull off. 

In future updates, Tesla may even be able to update the software not only to warn the driver of the emergency vehicle, but also to change lanes away from them. Tesla's FSD software is currently capable of changing lanes away from traffic cones when it sees them on or near the road. 

Photo courtesy of Tesla.