Tesla introduced Autopilot hardware in 2014.
The first system, commonly called Hardware 1 or HW1, began appearing in Model S vehicles manufactured after September 2014. Tesla announced the feature in October, offering customers the option to pre-purchase an advanced driver-assistance package. The hardware was supplied initially through a partnership with Mobileye.
HW1 combined a forward-facing camera, radar, ultrasonic sensors and a Mobileye EyeQ3 computer. It was designed to support features such as adaptive cruise control, lane keeping, automatic lane changes, collision warnings and automatic emergency braking. However, the software arrived later: Tesla’s first major Autopilot software release came in October 2015 with software version 7.0.
A common mix-up is treating the 2014 hardware introduction and the 2015 feature launch as the same event. The cars gained the necessary sensors and computer in 2014, while Tesla activated and expanded the driving functions through later over-the-air updates. Tesla subsequently replaced HW1 with Hardware 2 in October 2016, adding more cameras and a more powerful Nvidia computer.