Tech Trend 247

Shortly after yesterday's announcement, in which Tesla promised to equip all of its future cars with self-driving hardware, CEO Elon Musk promised to soon share a video of a Tesla "navigating a complex urban environment."

The video, according to Musk, is what had delayed the announcement from Sunday (as originally promised) to Wednesday. 

Now, the video is available, and it shows a Tesla car driving a typical home-to-work route without any assistance from its human driver (who is required by law to sit in the driver's seat and be able to take control of the car at any moment). 

In the three minute, 46 second-long video, we see a Model X exit the garage, enter traffic, join a highway lane and drive itself into a city, abiding all traffic regulations (stop signs, traffic lights) along the way.  

The video is edited; we don't see if the car actually encountered any issues on its ride, but the parts that we do see work without a hitch. At the end, the driver exits the car, which then proceeds to find a parking spot at a crowded parking lot and parallel park itself. 

Musk later noted on Twitter that the car is smart enough to skip the disabled spot. He also said that with this technology, the Summon feature will bring the car to you no matter where you are. 

On Wednesday, Musk said that Model S and Model X cars with self-driving hardware are already in production. He claims the cars will have "Level 5" autonomy, meaning they will be able to drive themselves in all conditions. 

BONUS: Affordable solar-powered car

Elon Musk is getting ready to announce a new product — but he's not giving many clues about what it might be. 

On Sunday morning, the Tesla CEO sent out a tweet about a "product unveiling" on Oct. 17. 

So what is this new Tesla product, which, according to Musk, will be "unexpected by most?" 

Is it a new Tesla model? The second version of Tesla's giant rechargeable battery, the Powerwall? Or something much creepier?

While that product might be a mystery, it's pretty clear that Musk will reveal a new solar rooftop at the Tesla/SolarCity event on Oct. 28. It's no rocket to Mars, but, still, pretty cool.  

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.

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.

A driver of a Tesla Model S died in early May when both he and his car's semi-autonomous Autopilot system failed to see a tractor trailer crossing in front of the car on a highway in Florida.

While it seemed like the perfect storm of real-world chance versus automotive high tech, it turns out not just an unlikely blend of coincidence could cause Tesla's Autopilot to miss an obstacle.

Researchers at the University of South Carolina and China’s Zhejiang University, in collaboration with the Chinese security firm Qihoo 360, say they've both easily blinded Autopilot and also caused it to see phantom obstacles.

When they take the stage later this week at the Defcon hacker conference, the researchers will detail how they used relatively accessible (but expensive) devices to deceive Tesla’s Autopilot sensors, according to Wired.

Intriguingly, the researchers, turned white-hat hackers, didn't actually have to hack the car. They simply jammed the stationary test car's front-mounted radar, ultrasonic sensors and cameras by exposing them to various machines that emitted light, radio and sound.

As you can see in the video above, Autopilot suddenly and without warning loses track of the car ahead when the radio interferer is activated.

What's more, the researchers created the same blinding effect by draping a car with acoustic foam, which is far cheaper than devices with five- and six-figure price tags.

Granted, the machines employed by the researchers are expensive — and wrapping something in acoustic foam would be obvious. So, it's unlikely they would be used by would-be hackers to impair a single car. However, the tests prove that there are more issues with Tesla's Autopilot system than was initially anticipated.

Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.

A driver of a Tesla Model S died in early May when both he and his car's semi-autonomous Autopilot system failed to see a tractor trailer crossing in front of the car on a highway in Florida.

While it seemed like the perfect storm of real-world chance versus automotive high tech, it turns out not just an unlikely blend of coincidence could cause Tesla's Autopilot to miss an obstacle.

Researchers at the University of South Carolina and China’s Zhejiang University, in collaboration with the Chinese security firm Qihoo 360, say they've both easily blinded Autopilot and also caused it to see phantom obstacles.

When they take the stage later this week at the Defcon hacker conference, the researchers will detail how they used relatively accessible (but expensive) devices to deceive Tesla’s Autopilot sensors, according to Wired.

Intriguingly, the researchers, turned white-hat hackers, didn't actually have to hack the car. They simply jammed the stationary test car's front-mounted radar, ultrasonic sensors and cameras by exposing them to various machines that emitted light, radio and sound.

As you can see in the video above, Autopilot suddenly and without warning loses track of the car ahead when the radio interferer is activated.

What's more, the researchers created the same blinding effect by draping a car with acoustic foam, which is far cheaper than devices with five- and six-figure price tags.

Granted, the machines employed by the researchers are expensive — and wrapping something in acoustic foam would be obvious. So, it's unlikely they would be used by would-be hackers to impair a single car. However, the tests prove that there are more issues with Tesla's Autopilot system than was initially anticipated.

Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.

A driver of a Tesla Model S died in early May when both he and his car's semi-autonomous Autopilot system failed to see a tractor trailer crossing in front of the car on a highway in Florida.

While it seemed like the perfect storm of real-world chance versus automotive high tech, it turns out not just an unlikely blend of coincidence could cause Tesla's Autopilot to miss an obstacle.

Researchers at the University of South Carolina and China’s Zhejiang University, in collaboration with the Chinese security firm Qihoo 360, say they've both easily blinded Autopilot and also caused it to see phantom obstacles.

When they take the stage later this week at the Defcon hacker conference, the researchers will detail how they used relatively accessible (but expensive) devices to deceive Tesla’s Autopilot sensors, according to Wired.

Intriguingly, the researchers, turned white-hat hackers, didn't actually have to hack the car. They simply jammed the stationary test car's front-mounted radar, ultrasonic sensors and cameras by exposing them to various machines that emitted light, radio and sound.

As you can see in the video above, Autopilot suddenly and without warning loses track of the car ahead when the radio interferer is activated.

What's more, the researchers created the same blinding effect by draping a car with acoustic foam, which is far cheaper than devices with five- and six-figure price tags.

Granted, the machines employed by the researchers are expensive — and wrapping something in acoustic foam would be obvious. So, it's unlikely they would be used by would-be hackers to impair a single car. However, the tests prove that there are more issues with Tesla's Autopilot system than was initially anticipated.

Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.

A driver of a Tesla Model S died in early May when both he and his car's semi-autonomous Autopilot system failed to see a tractor trailer crossing in front of the car on a highway in Florida.

While it seemed like the perfect storm of real-world chance versus automotive high tech, it turns out not just an unlikely blend of coincidence could cause Tesla's Autopilot to miss an obstacle.

Researchers at the University of South Carolina and China’s Zhejiang University, in collaboration with the Chinese security firm Qihoo 360, say they've both easily blinded Autopilot and also caused it to see phantom obstacles.

When they take the stage later this week at the Defcon hacker conference, the researchers will detail how they used relatively accessible (but expensive) devices to deceive Tesla’s Autopilot sensors, according to Wired.

Intriguingly, the researchers, turned white-hat hackers, didn't actually have to hack the car. They simply jammed the stationary test car's front-mounted radar, ultrasonic sensors and cameras by exposing them to various machines that emitted light, radio and sound.

As you can see in the video above, Autopilot suddenly and without warning loses track of the car ahead when the radio interferer is activated.

What's more, the researchers created the same blinding effect by draping a car with acoustic foam, which is far cheaper than devices with five- and six-figure price tags.

Granted, the machines employed by the researchers are expensive — and wrapping something in acoustic foam would be obvious. So, it's unlikely they would be used by would-be hackers to impair a single car. However, the tests prove that there are more issues with Tesla's Autopilot system than was initially anticipated.

Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.

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.

Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.

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.

Elon Musk is accelerating his plans to reinvent Tesla, making good on Monday his promise to combine Tesla and SolarCity, two companies where he currently serves as Chairman of the Board.

Electric car manufacturer Tesla announced its intention to buy SolarCity for $2.6 billion in stock in a blog post a little more than a month after it initially proposed the transaction.

Combining these two companies is actually part of Musk's larger grand plan for Tesla, which includes creating a broad portfolio of Tesla vehicles that range from low-volume/high-cost to low-cost/high-volume and building a company that can handle both the generation and storage of energy.

Bringing Tesla and SolarCity together will, at least at the outset, allow Musk, who founded Tesla and also serves as its CEO, to combine his two clean energy initiatives: The Tesla Powerwall, a wall-mounted home battery, and the solar panel building and installation business that is SolarCity.

Musk explained his reasoning last month in his Master Plan Part Deux:

That they are separate at all, despite similar origins and pursuit of the same overarching goal of sustainable energy, is largely an accident of history. Now that Tesla is ready to scale Powerwall and SolarCity is ready to provide highly differentiated solar, the time has come to bring them together.

The deal was approved by the company boards and is expected to save, according to Tesla, the combined company $150M in "cost synergies." It should also lead to one-stop shopping for Tesla's energy products and a single smartphone app to control and monitor their products.

Before anyone pops a cork on this deal, though, Tesla and SolarCity still need regulatory approval and SolarCity is open to shop for a better deal for the next 45 days. Considering that Musk is the chairman of both companies and his cousins run SolarCity, it seems unlikely that the solar energy company will land with anyone else.

Tesla let the press into its giant new battery-producing plant, called the Gigafactory, for the first time Friday. 

Experts told Wired the factory will be necessary to power Musk's dream fleet of EVs and hybrids (the company's goal is 500,000 cars a year). Currently, Tesla's battery production is outsourced to Asia, a costly and slower option. The new domestic factory, however, is expected to cut costs by 30 percent and is a one-hour plane ride away from the company's headquarters in Palo Alto, California. The 3,200-acre plant is located in Reno, Nevada.

Musk also told the BBC he wants to see more of these soon, "in Europe, in India, in China ... ultimately, wherever there is a huge amount of demand for the end product."

The factory was built in collaboration with Panasonic, which invested $1.6 billion. Robots will be responsible for most of the assembly inside the plant, streamlining Tesla's manufacturing process. 

They will be building every part of the electric vehicles, including the solar panels to power that production. Panasonic will bring the necessary raw materials, like lithium, by rail.

As of now, the Gigafactory is about 14 percent completed, but is expected to produce 35GWh of battery power by 2018, more than the combined global production in 2014, according to the BBC. 

Only a few select news outlets have gotten a peek so far, but the general impression remains similar. It's very big, it's very powerful and could get even more so: Wired reports Tesla has purchased another 1,864 acres near their plot.