Tesla is bringing its Green Light Chime feature, which previously was just for individuals with the Full Self-Driving (FSD) Beta to most of its cars, helping cut down on road rage at traffic lights.
When Tesla began to bring traffic light controls to its vehicles equipped with its Full Self-Driving (FSD) Capability package, the automaker introduced a feature that may recognize when a traffic light turns green and emit a chime to let the driving force know.
With the brand new software update 2022.20, Tesla has expanded the feature to all cars with Autopilot when “Traffic Light and Stop Sign Control” is activated:
A chime will play when the traffic light you’re waiting for turns green. If you happen to are waiting behind one other automobile, the chime will play once the automobile advances unless Traffic-Aware Cruise Control or Autosteer is energetic. When Traffic Light and Stop Sign Control is activated, a chime will play when you possibly can confirm to proceed through a green traffic light.
While the feature was expanded, it appears like it might only work with vehicles with the hardware 3.0 computer – also referred to as the self-driving computer – however it doesn’t sound like drivers have to purchase the expensive self-driving package to activate the feature.
Tesla writes about how you can activate the feature:
To enable, tap Controls > Autopilot > Green Traffic Light Chime.
In the discharge notes, the automaker notes that the chime is “only designed as a notification,” and it remains to be “the driving force’s responsibility to watch their environment and make decisions accordingly.”
Electrek’s Take
I had this feature for some time now, and I find it useful. After I’m arguing with my girlfriend at a red light, sometimes I don’t see when it turn green, and the chime proves useful.
Hopefully, it could help reduce some road raging because some persons are quick to get upset when people don’t speed up instantly when it turns green.
The subsequent step could be to have a green light count down – something Audi has it in a few of its newest vehicles. I experienced it within the e-tron in Sacramento, and it’s pretty cool. It only works in cities where their traffic light system supports the mixing, but there may be a growing variety of those cities. When stopping at a red light, a countdown appears on the instrument cluster telling you when the sunshine goes to show green.
Perhaps Tesla could add that in a future software update.