Articles tagged Tesla

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Tesla’s FSD Can Now Take the Wheel While You’re the One Driving

Tesla steering wheel and touchscreen from the driver's seat, showing the Full Self-Driving visualization while the car is on the road

You're driving your Tesla. Yourself, hands on the wheel, Full Self-Driving switched off. A car ahead stops short, and the wheel turns without you.

That is what Tesla added in FSD (Supervised) v14.3.9, detailed in release notes that went out Friday afternoon. Tesla's wording: "FSD Supervised can now activate on your behalf when an imminent collision is detected and Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB) may not be enough." It can also switch itself on, Tesla says, if the car decides you're heavily distracted or that you disengaged FSD by accident. The feature is called Automatic Collision Evasion, and as of Friday it was "starting to roll out shortly."

Click to continue reading Tesla’s FSD Can Now Take the Wheel While You’re the One Driving


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Tesla Said the Cybercab Is Legal. NHTSA Wants to See the Homework.

A Tesla Cybercab robotaxi on a public street

Tesla put its first production Cybercabs on public streets in Austin this week. Federal safety regulators opened a file on them before the next day was over.

The probe is an audit query, AQ26002, from NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation, and it covers roughly 1,000 vehicles. No crash set it off. The agency is asking about paperwork, specifically the paperwork Tesla filed on itself.

Click to continue reading Tesla Said the Cybercab Is Legal. NHTSA Wants to See the Homework.


Tesla Killed the Solar Roof and Its Certified Installers Are Eating the Loss

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Corporate News, Smart Home,

Tesla Solar Roof solar shingles installed on a home

Tesla stopped selling the Solar Roof in August. There was no event, no blog post, no farewell video. Certified installers were told Tesla would supply conventional solar panels going forward, and the Solar Roof page on Tesla's site now sends you to those panels instead.

Elon Musk once said Tesla would be installing 1,000 Solar Roofs a week by 2019 or 2020. The real total came to roughly 3,000 systems over about seven years, something like 95% short of that pace.

Click to continue reading Tesla Killed the Solar Roof and Its Certified Installers Are Eating the Loss


You Don’t Own What You Bought. Here’s the Proof. (Video)

You bought the thing. It's sitting in your house. The box listed the features, you paid the money, the return window closed. So you own it, right? Here's the uncomfortable answer I landed on after digging through more than a decade of firmware updates, lawsuits, and shutdown notices: a company can sell you a product, wait out your return window, and then reach back into it to slow it down, strip its features, or kill it entirely, without anyone ever touching the hardware sitting in your living room.

Click to continue reading You Don’t Own What You Bought. Here’s the Proof. (Video)


Tesla Is Selling a $225 Balance Bike for Toddlers

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Toys, Transportation,

Tesla Balance Bike for Kids

Your two-year-old cannot legally drive. Tesla has found a workaround anyway. The company is now selling a $225 balance bike for toddlers, a pedal-free, motor-free little machine that a kid propels the old-fashioned way, with their own feet on the ground.

That is Flintstones-style locomotion at a Silicon Valley price. The bike targets kids aged 2 to 5 who weigh under 77 pounds, with a lightweight magnesium frame in white, a five-way adjustable black seat, the Tesla word mark on the side and a T logo up front. It comes with assembly tools. It is also, as of now, already sold out.

Click to continue reading Tesla Is Selling a $225 Balance Bike for Toddlers


How the Tesla Cybertruck Became a $10 Billion Mistake

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Transportation, Videos,

It has been six years since Elon Musk stood on stage and watched the "bulletproof" window of the Cybertruck shatter in front of the entire world. At the time, we thought it was just a funny PR mishap, but looking back, it was actually the perfect metaphor for what was coming. We need to talk about how the most hyped vehicle in history has turned into a maintenance nightmare, plaguing owners with everything from rust issues to a recall caused by assembly workers using literal soap as a lubricant. It is a classic case of what happens when a company prioritizes "cool" over engineering fundamentals.

But the hardware failures are only half the story. The financial data surrounding the Cybertruck is where things get truly ugly. We are looking at a reservation conversion rate of just 2.5 percent. This means that the vast majority of people who said they wanted this truck, even after putting their money down for one, walked away when it actually arrived. I’m breaking down the numbers, the massive depreciation early adopters are facing, and why Tesla’s refusal to report separate sales figures for this truck tells you everything you need to know about its performance.

This more than just a polarized design or a polarizing CEO. The Cybertruck flop is about a $10 billion bet that seems to be failing to deliver on basic utility. From the cancelled range extender to the struggle of doing basic truck stuff like driving in sand, the Cybertruck is proving to be less of a revolution and more of a warning sign for the future of Tesla. Let's dig into exactly where this went wrong.


Geared Up: Riding in Tesla’s Cybertruck, & Samsung Tech Day w/ Special Guests Ben Sullins & Jim Elliott

Tesla cybertruck review

This week we talk about the newly-announced Tesla Cybertruck, Tesla’s take on what a modern (if not futuristic) pickup truck should be, along with thoughts on riding inside the vehicle. Joining us for that segment is Tesla expert Ben Sullins from Teslanomics. Ben and Jon were on-hand at the Cybertruck reveal event, while Andru watched from home, left out from the annals of history. We also have an interview with Samsung Semiconductor’s Senior Vice President of Sales & Marketing Jim Elliott, talking about the new tech we can expect in upcoming Samsung smartphones, as well as how 5G, autonomous driving, high-bandwidth memory, and more are changing the future!

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Listen to the episode in the player above or subscribe to Geared Up in your favorite podcast app to listen on the go:


Geared Up: AirPods Pro review, foldable Motorola RAZR, and the Pixel 4’s Shortcomings

AirPods Pro review

The AirPods Pro have been out for a week, and we bring you our hands-on (and ears-on) thoughts on Apple’s noise-cancelling earbuds. Motorola is about to bring back the RAZR, this time with a foldable display! Are folding clamshell smartphones about to make a comeback? We also talk about the woes of the Google Pixel 4, wondering if Google actually wants its smartphone line to do well in the market, or if they have other goals with their handhelds. Tesla is going to finally announce and reveal its Cybertruck in just over a week - we speculate on what we can expect!

LINKS MENTIONED IN THE SHOW

SPONSOR: National Car Rental - skip the line with the Emerald Club. Go National. Go Like a Pro.

Listen to the episode in the player above or subscribe to Geared Up in your favorite podcast app to listen on the go:


Geared Up: Huge Apple Leaks, Tesla Model 3, New MacBook Pros, and more!

iOS 13 Leaked Dark Mode screenshots
(Photo Credit: 9to5Mac)

This week we have a couple of big leaks out of Apple that give us a glimpse of what to expect from the upcoming iOS 13 and macOS 10.15, including the impending death of iTunes as Apple splits the iconic music player up.

Apple has released updated 2019 MacBook Pros with faster processors and upgraded keyboard, and we talk about what's changed and how much they cost.

We also go over the keyboard woes Apple has experienced, along with the new Keyboard Service Program. Apple will now replace your faulty keyboard up to 4 years after purchase.

Finally, I answer your questions about the OnePlus 7 Pro smartphone, how my Tesla Model 3 is holding up, how to pick between older flagships and new mid-range smartphones, and more!

SPONSOR: National Car Rental - skip the line with the Emerald Club. Go National. Go Like a Pro.

Listen to the episode in the player below or subscribe to Geared Up in your favorite podcast app to listen on the go:

Listen to this episode of the Geared Up podcast for analysis of the latest from Apple, Tesla, and OnePlus 7.


Mysterious new Hydrogen One smartphone from Red and getting hyped for Tesla Model 3 - Geared Up!

The Geared Up Giveaway is back! We're giving Geared Up subscribers the chance to win an Oculus Go headset. See the bottom of this post for details on how to enter the giveaway.

High-end camera maker Red unveiled a mysterious new smartphone this week, and Geared Up co-host Andru Edwards was there for the hands-on experience. He said the new phone has some cool and exciting features, but also some strange ones.

Plus, Microsoft is once again trying to take on Apple's dominance in the tablet market. But can a new line of Surface devices make a real change?

We also dive into the hype around the Tesla Model 3, which is now rolling out to customers. Andru ordered his Model 3 more than two years ago and is picking it up in just a few days.

Listen to the episode in the player below or subscribe to the show in your favorite podcast app.

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