Tesla to push new ‘Enhanced Autopilot’ update to first 1,000, aims for whole fleet by end of the week, and ‘Ludicrous+’

Last week, Tesla pushed the first phase of ‘Enhanced Autopilot’ to the first 1,000 vehicles and in shadow mode for the rest of the fleet. At the time, Tesla hoped to switch the rest of the fleet to active mode by the end of the week, but the company decided to push a new version of the update before going ahead.

CEO Elon Musk confirmed today that the new version will roll out tomorrow in active mode for the first 1,000 vehicles and in shadow mode for the rest of the fleet again. They are again aiming to switch the fleet to active mode by the end of the week.

Good news for Tesla owners with the first generation Autopilot hardware though, Musk said that the new update will also improve Autopilot on their cars:

New rev for Autopilot HW2 rolling out Mon to first 1000 & to rest of fleet in shadow mode. Also improves HW1 and enables Ludicrous+.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 8, 2017

Also good news for Tesla owners of Model S P100Ds with Ludicrous mode. The new update will also apparently include the Easter Egg to unleash more power in the Tesla P100D Ludicrous and bring the 0-60 time down to 2.4 seconds, which could now be called ‘Ludicrous+’, like Autosteer in the Enhanced Autopilot being called ‘Autosteer+’.

Speaking of Autosteer, Musk disclosed that the current low-speed restrictions of Autosteer on the new Autopilot will be partly lifted with the new update, but they will also partly remain until Tesla gets more data from the whole fleet when they get off of shadow mode:

Longitudinal control will, but lateral (steering) control will cap at 35 mph for a bit longer. Will raise after full fleet data rolls in.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 8, 2017

It looks like the new Autopilot program is moving forward albeit a little bit slower than first guided by Tesla.

As previously reported, Tesla is expected to soon bring the new Autopilot with new sensor suite and ‘Tesla Vision’ to parity with the previous version and then improve those features and introduce new ones every few months with the end goal still being the release of ‘fully self-driving capability’ around the end of the year, according to CEO Elon Musk.

It will depend on validation and regulations. We published a comprehensive look at Tesla’s software timeline for ‘Enhanced Autopilot’ transition and  ‘Full Self-Driving Capability’.