Autopilot is one of the best-known driver assistance systems and has been available for use in Tesla cars since late 2015. Both the hardware and software that used to run Autopilot have been upgraded over the years, and the system is now quite capable of performing a wide variety of semi-autonomous functions, allowing the car, and not you, to take the strain.
These aforementioned functions include traffic-aware cruise control, automated steering, an automatic parking system, driverless lane changes, and even a unique function called Smart Summon, wherein a Tesla can navigate its way across a car park to wherever you happen to be standing.
That being said, the system is not completely foolproof, and you are still entirely responsible for your car at all times when driving.
The process of enabling the Autopilot will depend on what type of Tesla you have. If you have the Model S and Model X, cruise control can be switched on by pulling down once on the cruise control stalk. If you have either the Model 3 and Model Y, Autopilot can be enabled by pulling down once on the gear selector stalk.
If you want to enable Autosteer instead, pull on the aforementioned stalks twice instead of once. A grey steering wheel icon appears next to the speedometer in order to help you know when Autosteer is available. This icon will turn blue when Autosteer is engaged with two pulls of either the gear selector or cruise control stalk.
Many of the more advanced Autopilot functions first need to be enabled in the settings menu before they can be activated with two pulls of the stalk. For example, Navigate on Autopilot is enabled by navigating to Controls > Autopilot > Autosteer.
After this, camera calibration is needed and the most recent version of Navigation maps must be downloaded through Wi-Fi. Once you have done all of this and have acquired all of the prerequisites, there will be an option to navigate using Autopilot the next time you type in a destination into the navigation system.
