Tesla learns how not to crash into emergency service vehicles, hopefully

Tesla cars will soon be able to automatically slow down upon noticing flashing lights of police and ambulance cars in the dark, rather than colliding with them head-on like they often did before. The feature will be added in the 2021.24.12 update for the Model 3 and Model Y.

When Autosteer is enabled and an emergency service vehicle is detected ahead, the Tesla car will now decelerate and display the corresponding message on the screen to alert the driver. As soon as the obstacle disappears from view or the driver overrides the slowing down by accelerating, the Tesla autopilot will revert to its normal speed. At first, this feature will only be active at night.

The company stresses that drivers must always pay attention to the road and be ready to intercept the controls from the electronics at any given moment, because no self-driving system is perfect. This includes having to keep your hands on the steering wheel at all times.

The new feature was announced shortly after NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) launched an investigation into 11 crashes involving Tesla EVs and various emergency transports.