Tesla’s model S isn’t the world’s first autonomous system, but its super-advanced cruise control system, called Autopilot, brings it close.
As Michael Ballaban, who reviewed the system for the Jalopnik.com website writes:
Autopilot, if it isn’t a full autonomous system, is simple enough in execution. It won’t drive you to your ultimate destination, it won’t make navigational turns without your input, and it doesn’t know what the traffic light or the sign in front of you says. So think of it less like an autonomous system, and rather more like the ultimate execution of cruise control. It uses a forward-looking radar, a front-facing camera, 12 ultrasonic sensors, and GPS to make sure everything stays on the road, and it seems to work well enough using those.