Here's how Tesla's self-driving cars see the world (TSLA)

Tesla

Tesla is inching closer to having a fully self-driving car.

CEO Elon Musk made a huge announcement in October when he said cars currently in production — which includes the Model S, Model X, and future Model 3 — are being built with new hardware that will enable them to be fully autonomous. The one caveat is that the feature won't kick in without further software validation and regulatory approval, the last one probably being the biggest thorn in Tesla's side.

But Tesla has been rolling out videos showing Tesla cars' self-driving capabilities, the most recent of which shows how they are able to "see" the world. Scroll down for a closer look:

Here's a general view showing how Tesla's self-driving car breaks down the world around it with eight subcategories, from motion flow to road signs.

Tesla

The self-driving cars are being built with eight cameras that provide 360-degree visibility and 250 meters (820 feet) of range. They come with one radar sensor, 12 ultrasonic sensors, and Nvidia's Titan GPU onboard computing system to process all the information.

All of these additions also improve Tesla cars' Autopilot capabilities, renaming the system Enhanced Autopilot. You can get a better breakdown of the hardware changes being made to the cars here.

Let's start with the basics. Like before, the car comes with a virtual driver's instrument that shows where the car is in relation to its lane. The car also comes with a massive 17-inch display that shows a map of where the car is in relation to its surroundings.

Tesla

The car can also see lane markings to prevent drift. That black box you see behind the rearview mirror is the Nvidia computing system, which comes with 40 times the computer power than the previous system Tesla used for its first generation Autopilot.

Tesla

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