Autopilot for Tesla HW2 vehicles rolling out now to all compatible cars

Tesla has begun deploying the Autopilot update for HW2 vehicles (those with updated sensor and computing hardware designed to eventually provide full self-driving capabilities). All Tesla cars with the HW2 kit, including Model S and Model X vehicles, are now receiving the over-the-air software update that includes the updated Autopilot features, but Tesla CEO Elon Musk notes that it’ll be present only in “non-actuating” mode for the time being, with activation of the software coming as early as the end of this week.

The update for HW2 models has been in testing with a small subset of cars since New Year’s Eve, with a group of 1,000 vehicles receiving the update early for verification purposes ahead of a rollout to the entire fleet. Last week, Musk also said that a new HW2 update revision was being pushed out to those testers, as well as the broader population in shadow mode, meaning the Tesla team has probably quashed a few bugs since its initial deployment.

Features including auto-steer and intelligent speed maintenance have not been available to Tesla owners with HW2 sensors and computing hardware, because Tesla redesigned its approach to the semi-autonomous driving features to suit the new capabilities.