There are so many great features we are getting from Tesla cars, and one of the best is the software update possibility that happens “over the air” without the need to go to the dealership. Latest one brought V8.0 firmware that comes with changes to radar usage and temperature control even when the car is parked.
It is devastating fact that 31 children died since the beginning of the year because they were forgotten or left in a car on a hot day. Sometimes parents or caregiver forget about kids and due to immense heat they can even die. Another problem is that people really do not realize how fast temperature in parked car can rise and leave kinds intentionally not thinking that only a few minutes is enough for the temperature to rise and cause huge problems on a sunny day.
The software update that comes with V8.0 firmware will control temperature automatically up to 12 hours after the driver leaves the car. Both max and min temperatures will be adjustable in the future updates, but for now, the vehicle will react if the temperature goes over 105 Fahrenheit, that is about 40 Celsius. It can either open the vents and start mixing the air to lower the temperature but in extreme conditions, it switches air conditioning on. This will protect all passengers but also pets that might be trapped in the car. One more thing to add; even if the air conditioning would work at max for a far longer period it wouldn’t seriously affect range.
The Autopilot feature is in the development and should be used under the constant supervision we could hear that Autopilot equipped cars crashed when the function was activated in few cases. According to reports, we could hear from Tesla Motors it was because of the camera that didn’t manage to detect truck on a bright day. With the latest upgrade, the entire system will rely on radar detection far more than on the camera. This should result in better detection possibilities and prevent future problems or at least reduce them significantly.
Just a few days ago another big news came about security flaws of Tesla vehicles. According to that story, a group of Chinese hackers managed to take over control over Model S by using its wireless access. Soon after that, we could hear that this happens only in case if your car is connected to malicious hotspot and browser is used.
image source: thecountrycaller.comSince through this exploit it was possible to control brakes, door locks, mirrors, etc., the company immediately decided to fix it and send the update. In the short description of this problem, it was stated that this is only possible if you use browser through malicious hotspot which is a rare case, but still, we are glad to see that they took care of it.
