UPDATED 03:16 EST / JANUARY 23 2017

EMERGING TECH

Elon Musk says Tesla upgrades will happen every 12-18 months

Tesla Motors Inc. Chief Executive Elon Musk has announced that the company is committed to upgrading the hardware behind its vehicles every 12 to 18 months.

Musk made the announcement via Twitter in response to an owner who was complaining that older-model vehicles are not equipped with the latest sensors or hardware while suggesting that  Tesla should offer an upgrade option to existing owners.

“Tesla will never stop innovating,” Musk said in response. “People are buying the wrong car if they expect this. There will be major revs every 12 to 18 months.”

Traditional car makers usually have a roughly five-year cycle for bringing out radical changes in vehicles, meaning that owners are assured that the cars they buy are usually close to up-to-date for the same period, something clearly Tesla owners cannot expect.

According to Marketwatch, Musk tweeted Saturday that Autopilot for its cars using the HW2 technology, that is those manufactured after October last year, would be receiving upgraded software and that owners should be cautious as “some cars will require adjustment of camera pitch angle by service.”

Musk noted that retrofitting older cars with HW2 kit would be extremely complicated and involve replacing over 300 parts, something that the company could not conceivably do without impeding its ability to build new vehicles.

The new upgrades include a limitation on the auto steering feature in Autopilot mode to 45 miles per hour, part of a series of changes following the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration investigation into a fatal car crash of a driver who was using Autopilot at the time.

While the investigation cleared Tesla of any liability, the company has nonetheless endeavored to enhance its software so that such fatal accidents do not occur again.

Image credit: oninnovation/Flickr/CC by 2.0

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