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What is NotAutopilot?

An introduction to NotAutopilot — what it does, who built it, and what it is not.

Updated June 11, 2026

NotAutopilot (NAP) is experimental research software that adapts comma.ai's openpilot to the 2012–2014 pre-Autopilot Tesla Model S. These cars shipped with no forward-facing cameras, no radar, and no lane-keeping hardware whatsoever. NAP provides the vehicle integration that makes openpilot work on them, running on a comma 3, 3X, or 4 mounted behind the rear-view mirror.

The project is open source, community-maintained, and MIT licensed. It is not affiliated with Tesla, comma.ai, or the Tinkla project.

What it does

When engaged, NAP provides:

  • Automated lane centering (ALC) — steers the car to stay in the lane via the factory EPAS electric power steering unit
  • Adaptive cruise control (ACC) — follows a lead car and adjusts speed; requires the Comma Pedal, within the limits on Safety and limitations
  • Forward collision warning (FCW) — visual and audio alert when a collision risk is detected ahead
  • Lane departure warning (LDW) — alerts when the car drifts out of lane without a turn signal
  • Automatic lane change (ALC) — signals and initiates a lane change when you hold the turn signal stalk
  • Driver monitoring — uses the comma device's driver-facing camera to detect inattention

NAP adds a settings panel directly in the openpilot UI that covers pedal calibration, radar configuration, EPAS firmware management, and three driving profiles (Aggressive, Standard, Chill).

Two longitudinal control modes are available depending on your hardware: pedal mode (Comma Pedal installed, throttle directly intercepted, adaptive cruise down to walking speed) and no-pedal mode (NAP steers; the car's stock cruise holds a fixed set speed — plain cruise, not adaptive; NAP only engages and cancels it for you). See First drive and Engagement for the details.

Where it came from

The original work on pre-AP openpilot was done by boggyver — the Tinkla project, starting around 2018. Tinkla proved that you could run openpilot on a car that never had any driver-assistance hardware, reverse-engineer enough of the Tesla CAN bus to synthesize lane-keeping commands, and retrofit a Bosch radar to give it a real lead-car target. Active development on Tinkla has paused, but the CAN knowledge, radar emulation approach, and pedal architecture it produced form the foundation NAP builds on. See Tinkla project for the full history.

The lineage in code terms:

comma.ai/openpilot (mainline)
  └── NotAutopilot/openpilot   (pre-AP Model S, current)

boggyver/openpilot (Tinkla)
  └── radar emulation, pedal architecture, CAN knowledge → NotAutopilot

NAP is based directly on mainline comma.ai openpilot. What it adds is the pre-AP vehicle integration: the car port, a standalone panda safety mode (tesla_preap) built for a car with no harness relay and vacuum-assisted brakes, and the NAP settings panel. All driving-decision logic — perception, planning, the lateral and longitudinal models, driver monitoring — is comma's openpilot, unmodified.

xnor-tech's openpilot does the equivalent work for AP1 Model S. It's a sibling project — earlier NAP builds drew on it, but current NAP is not derived from it, and the two share knowledge rather than code lineage.

What it is not

NAP is not a Tesla product. It has no relationship with Tesla, Inc. Tesla does not support it, has not reviewed it, and would prefer you not run it. Your warranty situation is your own to assess.

NAP is not a comma.ai product. comma.ai's openpilot does not officially support pre-AP Tesla Model S. NAP uses comma hardware and builds on the openpilot codebase, but comma.ai does not support this fork.

NAP is not FSD, Autopilot, or anything resembling them. It is a lane-centering and adaptive-cruise system. It does not navigate intersections, handle traffic lights or stop signs, recognize pedestrians, perform summon, or operate in parking lots. It keeps the car in a lane on a road where lanes are visible — nothing more.

NAP is experimental research software, for academic or research use only. It is not a self-driving system and is not certified or approved for use on public roads. You are always the driver and the sole safety authority: hands ready, foot near the brake, and if the system fails or disengages without warning, recovery is your job. Read the NotAutopilot safety page before you get started — it is required reading.

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