Tesla gives 30-day free trial of Enhanced Autopilot as a Christmas present

Tesla is getting into the holiday spirit and is giving its customers a 30-day trial of its Enhanced Autopilot as a present. Reports confirm its availability in Australia and New Zealand, but it will likely be rolled to other supported markets.

The message reads "Happy Holidays!" and informs the recipient that they have been granted access to a free trial of Enhanced Autopilot for the next month. It then provides instructions on how to activate different Autopilot functions, which must be done when the car is parked before the first time each unique driver profile attempts to use the system.

Ok this is pretty cool, users are reporting free trials of Enhanced Autopilot for 30 days. I already have it on the Model Y and FSD on the Model 3, but neat they are offering this. Auto Lane Change is definitely the most useful feature. pic.twitter.com/GSVhAj0Nti

— techAU (@techAU) December 23, 2022

The Tesla driver-assist system is called Autopilot, and it comes standard on all Tesla vehicles. The basic level of Autopilot includes traffic-aware cruise control, which maintains the vehicle in the same lane as the car in front of it, and autosteer, which keeps the vehicle in its lane on highways.

Enhanced Autopilot is an additional package that offers additional features beyond the basic Autopilot system. Tesla has offered it as a separate package at various times, and reintroduced it in June at a cost of $6,000 (or $5,100 AUD/$5,700 NZD in Australia and New Zealand, where this giveaway has been reported).

In addition to the features included in basic Autopilot, Enhanced Autopilot offers the following capabilities:

Auto Lane Change: When the driver activates the turn signal, the vehicle automatically changes lanes to the next available one.

Navigate on Autopilot (Beta): This feature actively assists with Auto Lane Change by guiding the driver through highway on-ramps and off-ramps, including recommending lane changes and negotiating interchanges.

Autopark: With one touch operation, this feature helps you park your vehicle parallel or perpendicular to a line.

Summon: Using the smartphone app, you can maneuver your vehicle into and out of crowded areas.

Tesla's "Full Self-Driving Capability" is the level beyond Enhanced Autopilot. It includes all of the features of Enhanced Autopilot, as well as the ability to start and stop the car at traffic lights and stop signs. It also grants access to Tesla's "FSD Beta," which allows for Autosteer on city streets. "Advanced Autopilot" is Tesla's most advanced semi-autonomous driving technology.

All of these features still require active participation from the driver and are considered "Level 2" autonomous driving systems. In Level 2 systems, the driver is still responsible for monitoring the driving environment. Therefore, they are not yet fully self-driving, despite Tesla's claims that vehicles with Full Self-Driving Capability will eventually be able to drive completely independently without human intervention.

Tesla owners can "test" Full Self-Driving Capability by purchasing an FSD membership for $199 per month, provided they have HW3.0 hardware. If they do not have HW3.0, Tesla will charge them $1,000 for a hardware upgrade before agreeing to charge them the monthly fee. Enhanced Autopilot does not have a subscription option, only a one-time payment option.

However, the timing of this trial may be inconvenient for some. In October, Tesla unexpectedly removed ultrasonic sensors from new vehicles, claiming that they were redundant to the company's all-vision sensing system. As a result, new Tesla customers are currently receiving vehicles without ultrasonic sensors installed.

As a result of this change, Autopark, Summon, and Smart Summon are currently not available on these brand-new Tesla vehicles unless the company's software is updated to use visual sensors instead of the ultrasonics that were previously used. Unless Tesla releases a vision upgrade within the next 30 days, this means that new vehicles will not be able to use three out of the five Enhanced Autopilot functions during the trial period.

Via