Tech Trend 247

A few weeks after Elon Musk revealed the updates coming to the brand's Autopilot semi-autonomous driving feature, Tesla officially detailed the software 8.0 update Thursday morning.

Along with Autopilot changes, Tesla has reworked the media player, voice commands, and maps and navigation. It also added a trip planner as well as a 'cabin overheat protection' feature.

In total, the software 8.0 update represents "the biggest UI revamp since the launch of Model S," according to Tesla.

The latter is perhaps the most intriguing. Here's how Tesla describes its function: "[cabin overheat protection] keeps the car at a safe temperature for hours, even when the car is off."

The upstart electric vehicle maker points out that the system is an 'industry first' and designed for the safety of both children and pets (presumably, those accidentally left in a Tesla).

The company press release didn't specify how the system keeps the cabin cool. It simply stipulated it's only possible due to Tesla's "uniquely large battery packs." It likely keeps energy flowing to the climate control system even after the car is off.

Certainly, this will drain the battery. However, a dead EV battery is better than a dead child or pet.

The other updates simply enhance the user interface. Voice commands, for example, are initiated with a single tap. And a transcript of the driver's voice commands is displayed on the instrument panel to ensure command accuracy.

As for maps and navigation, destination search and initiating navigating to the driver's home are now activated with a single touch.

Over all, simply based on reading the press release, 8.0 seems to be a robust update. However, I will save final judgement until I am able to get my hands on it.

Volkswagen is super-duper serious about going green. Emphasizing that fact, it will unveil a new electrified concept car later this month at the Paris Motor Show.

Ahead of that that official debut, the German automaker has released three teaser images of that concept likely to both pique our interest for the thing but also to undermine the headlines Chevy has been garnering this week surrounding its 238-mile Bolt EV.

Certainly, the concept looks classic VW, with a happy, round-y hatchback shape. That said, this car is more of a design showcase than a production car.

However, the car does ride on the Volkswagen Group's new platform, codenamed MEB. So although its exterior designs might be a bit wilder than buyers will see in the showrooms in a few years time, its overall shape — and perhaps projected range — will be closer to reality.

What details do we spy here in these teaser images that won't probably make it to the assembly line? Well, that charge port in the rear hatch-mounted spoiler for one. Also, those neat honeycomb-style LED headlights are probably prohibitively expensive for production.

And although VW hasn't teased the interior, if the EV microbus BUDD-e concept from 2016 CES was any indiction, it should be pretty techie in this one as well.

That's just a guess, though. We'll have to wait until September 29 when the Paris Motor Show kicks off to know for sure.

As if Tesla's Autopilot system wasn't expensive enough, the automaker just tacked an additional 20 percent to the price tag ... without adding any additional sensors or features.

When Tesla originally released Autopilot last October, it was apart of a $2,500 package. Now, that package has been bumped up to $3,000 at the time of vehicle purchase. What's more, Tesla pushed the price to $3,500 for Model S and Model X owners who opt to have the system activated after purchase.

The quiet Autopilot price hike corresponded with the announcement of a new, higher-priced 100kWh battery pack option for the Model S and Model X vehicles.

Turns out, the price jump come doesn't come with an improvement in sensors or functionality. A Tesla representative told Electrek that the $500 increase was added to "better reflect the value of the product."

This is specious reasoning at best. Likely, it's just another way to pull in a few more bucks leading up to the launch of Model 3 production next year. Really, though, with prices of the new Model S P100D starting at $134,500, it's probable that buyers won't know about or flinch at the additional Autopilot cost.

People seem to have forgotten that Mercedes resurrected the Maybach brand as an all-new suffix to Mercedes' most luxurious models, like the Mercedes-Maybach S600. To remedy that, it's created a new luxury car of monumental proportions: the Vision Mercedes-Maybach 6 concept.

You might not be able to tell from the renderings, but it is truly monumental. To emphasize that point, let me give you a few of its specs straight away. First off, it's 18-feet-eight-inches long (that's almost 6 meters long, hence the 6 in its moniker).

Despite its gargantuan size, its all-electric, all-wheel drive powertrain will push it from 0 to 62 mph in less than four seconds on the way to its electronically limited top speed of 155 mph. Now, it can accelerate that quickly thanks to its 80-kilowatt-hour battery pack that puts out 738 horsepower.

Although it's big and powerful, it's still relatively efficient, going by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency efficiency standards, it's rated at a 200-mile range on a single charge. What's more, thanks to fast-charging tech, it can receive charge that lasts for 62 miles of driving in just five minutes. The Vision Mercedes-Maybach 6 includes both wireless inductive charing and wired charing.

To access its "technoid" (Mercedes' word, not mine) interior, occupants flip open the gullwing doors and drop into the coupe's luxurious and techie cabin.

There, they'll find a blend of old-world luxury, like open-pore elm wood floors and soft, quilted leather. These classic features are juxtaposed by high-tech highlights like a windshield that doubles as both a window and transparent digital display. The Vision Mercedes-Maybach 6 projects driving data and navigation information onto the windshield. And it's operated with gesture controls.

The tech isn't just functional, designers added some fashion, too. The transparent center tunnel in between the driver and passenger projects a visual representation of the flow of electricity from the powertrain to the wheels. The harder the driver pushes the accelerator pedal, the more energy is shown flowing. Granted, it's just a digital approximation. But it's still a cool idea.

Of course, such a high-tech car is also autonomous. With a push of a button, the driver can designate driving duties to the car. After all, there's nothing more luxurious than having a computer do the driving for you.

Intriguingly, the new Vision Mercedes-Maybach 6 has the same wheelbase as the Vision Tokyo concept and wheels inspired by the brand's Concept IAA. This is no coincidence. These three vehicles likely show a realistic vision of Mercedes' future vehicle plans, from a self-driving lounge to an efficient, morphing luxury sedan to an extremely luxurious sports EV coupe.

With the Vision Mercedes-Maybach 6 concept, Mercedes proves that although the future of mobility will be governed by automated driving and extremely efficient designs, it doesn't mean it has to be boring.

If you thought the Tesla Model 3's 200-mile-range was impressive, wait until you hear what Volkswagen has in store.

The company has been hurting a bit since dieselgate broke last year. The world's largest automaker might be down, but it's not out. That's because it has a veritable arsenal of exciting new vehicles in the pipeline. Perhaps none more so than VW's forthcoming long-range EV.

While we knew the German carmaker was working on a 300-plus-mile electric car, we didn't quite know when we might actually see it, or learn about any of its features. However, today we have a better idea.

VW CEO Hebert Diess told German magazine Wirtschafts Woche that the yet-unnamed EV will have a range somewhere between 400 to 600 kilometers (248 to 372 miles), according to Electrek.

However, the New European Driving Cycle (NEDC) is a bit more liberal with its efficiency figures than the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). So, it'd probably rated by the EPA at around 300 miles per charge. Still, that would make it the longest-range EV around.

What's more, Diess admitted the EV will be around the size of the Golf but have the cargo space of the larger Passat sedan. Given that admission, it's not unlikely that the car will be a microbus like the BUDD-e VW unveiled at CES earlier this year.

Although Elon Musk has confirmed Tesla is working on a microbus of its own, there's no telling when that EV mini people mover will be debuted. The VW, on the other hand, is being readied for a Paris Motor Show unveiling in September.

Granted, that car will be just a prototype. Thankfully, Diess confirmed the production version of the car will be sent into production in 2018 or 2019.

If you're in the market for a mass-market long-range EV and don't want to wait for either the Model 3 or the VW EV, though, Chevy's Bolt EV will be hitting showrooms later this year.

BONUS: BUDD-e electric microbus from Volkswagen is a tech lover's dream

A Tesla executive dismissed competitors like the Nissan Leaf, Kia Soul EV, BMW i3 and Chevrolet Spark EV as "little more than appliances,” according to Automotive News.

“Now, appliances are useful. But they tend to be white. They tend to be unemotional," Diarmuid O’Connell, Tesla's vice president of business development, said Tuesday at CAR Management Briefing Seminars in Michigan. 

Specifically, O’Connell believes EVs from other brands don't offer enough range and cost too much.

Granted, O’Connell made similar comments last year, when he likened other mass-market EVs to 'compliance' cars built to meet regulations rather than affect a meaningful change in the marketplace. Although this is not a new attitude for O’Connell, this week's comments are nonetheless, as Dave Chappelle portraying Rick James would say, "cold blooded."

How I see it, O’Connell is taking one last jab at the competition before the flood of affordable, long-range EVs hit the market in the coming years, starting with the Chevy Bolt EV this fall. It's worth noting that Chevy will beat Tesla's Model 3 to the market with a mass-market, 200-mile-range EV by more than a year.

And, really, O’Connell barely has a leg to stand on, when it comes to accusing carmakers of producing EVs that are too expensive. Though it starts at $70,000, the average retail price of the Model S is above $100,000 — hardly accessible to the average American car buyer.

Still, though, he's not all wrong. The Nissan LEAF was compelling when it first launched in 2010. Now, not so much.

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When Elon Musk revealed that Tesla is planning to produce an all-electric commercial vehicle platform called "Tesla Semi," it came as quite a surprise to a lot of people. That's because it seemed virtually no one else was thinking about electric semi trucks.

Turns out, though, Mercedes-Benz has been hotly engineering a semi truck EV for some time. To underscore that fact, it unveiled its Urban eTruck concept.

As it sits, the eTruck has a range of around 124 miles per charge. And it has a load capacity comparable to current diesel-powered semis — around 26 tons. If that weren't impressive enough, lighter-duty all-electric Daimler (Mercedes' parent company) trucks are currently undergoing customer trials.

Now, if you're scoffing at the relatively low range of the eTruck compared to a Tesla Model S, Model X or even a Chevy Bolt EV, don't be too skeptical. Remember, weight and aerodynamics are the two biggest hurdles facing long-range EVs — and semi trucks have those in spades. So, to get a truck that can haul 26,000 pounds and go 124 miles is nothing to sneeze at.

What's more, while the Tesla Semi is a long way off, Mercedes says a production version of the eTruck, which would be ideal for "short-radius distribution," could be possible sometime in the early 2020s.

That might be just perfectly aligned with Mercedes' autonomous trucks that it's been teasing for a while now. Imagine a world where semis are both silent and self-driving. That'd make living freeway adjacent a lot more enjoyable.