Read the firmware 6.2 release notes.[1] "Automatic Emergency Braking - a new Collision Avoidance Assist feature — is designed to automatically engage the brakes to reduce the impact of an unavoidable frontal collision. Automatic Emergency Braking will stop applying the brakes when you press the accelerator pedal, press the brake pedal, or sharply turn the steering wheel"
In "autopilot" mode, the automatic cruise control prevents you from hitting the car ahead at all. Touch the brake, and you've disabled both Autopilot and Automatic Emergency Braking. Yesterday, that caused another accident.[2]
If you drive a Tesla, failure to carefully read firmware release notes can kill you.
OK, but that's not the same thing as AEB "not working without Autopilot". AEB will still activate in manual driving, it's just that you can, apparently, override it by pressing the brake pedal.
(I'm not sure why Tesla would design it that way. While there's certainly an argument for autopilot's steering and acceleration to always be overridable, I don't see a reason why emergency braking shouldn't always be active if it means the car will avoid a collision - even if the driver is fighting against it!)
