PATREONItems tagged with Tesla
Back in July 2020, Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced plans to cancel the Standard Range version of its Model Y electric crossover. The Model Y Standard Range was originally announced with a base price of $39,000 (before incentives) and an EPA estimated drive range of 230 miles, which Musk later said was "unacceptably low". Well, it appears that Tesla is having a change of heart because the Model Y Standard Range is now available to purchase. According to the company, orders that are place now will begin shipping with the next 2 to 5 weeks. There are, however, a couple of changes to the Standard Range version available today compared to when it was first announced. When the Model Y...
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Tesla is by far the most prominent and respected name in the electric vehicle (EV) market. The company was a scrappy upstart with its original Roadster, and then completely revolutionized the EVs with the Model S. Tesla went onto flaunt excess with the Model X and its Falcon Wing doors, and hit mainstream gold with the Model 3, which was followed up by the Model Y. With Tesla leading the EV charts in both market and mind share, it should come as no surprise that it is often a frequent target of critics. Many of those critics are competing auto manufacturers, including Ford. Ford has a major EV release of its own for 2021, and it's called the Mustang Mach-E. The Mach-E will be going toe-to-toe...
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In the days of old, a car thief might stick a hanger in car window to unlock the door (or simply smash the glass), hop in, and hot wire the vehicle. Hollywood loves to show this kind of thing, sometimes with wires dangling beneath the steering column, and other times with a screwdriver jammed into the ignition. Trying to steel a Tesla Model X takes more effort, though perhaps not as much as you think, as a security researcher recently demonstrated. Today's vehicles are more reliant than ever on computer systems, and Tesla is at the front of the pack, with its advanced self-driving and other technologies. And like many modern vehicles, keyless entry is a common feature. That is also where the...
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You better look twice before crossing an intersection (in a car or especially on foot), because Tesla's fleet of self-driving vehicles have a new capability—the latest software update enables the autonomous cars to drive through a green light in some situations, without explicit confirmation from a flesh and blood driver. Let's hope it works as advertised. The feature is called "Traffic Light and Stop Sign Control," and it is being rolled out to vehicles through the newly released Autopilot 2020.40.0.1 update, along with a few other features added to the mix, like the addition of an optional PIN to protect the contents of the glove box, the ability to set a priority for a particular Bluetooth...
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When it comes to electric cars, Tesla has long been at the top of the heap with respect to market share, performance, and range. A newcomer to the electric car market, however, is looking to beat Tesla at its own game. Lucid Motors wants to disrupt the market with respect to performance and maximum driving range while offering even more luxuries for customers. The company’s first vehicle will be the Lucid Air, which we first talked about earlier this month when it ripped some seriously fast ¼ mile times (sub 10 seconds to be exact). Interestingly enough, the Lucid Air takes on a sedan body style in an age where sedans are a dying breed. Companies like Chevrolet and Ford...
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It is crazy to think how far electric vehicle (EV) technology has come in such a relatively short time. Raw performance is far from an afterthought, and in case anyone might still believe otherwise, Lucid took its Air Dream Edition EV to the track and posted a downright impressive 9.9-second quarter-mile. That qualifies it as the world's quickest production sedan. The Air Dream Edition is also the first EV to achieve a quarter-mile run in under 10 seconds, beating Tesla to the punch. It can also zoom from 0 to 60 miles per hour in just 2.5 seconds, and has a top speed of 200 MPH. All of those metrics leave my hybrid 2019 Honda Insight in the dust, which is not surprising, considering what is...
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Earlier this month, a U.S. Appeals Court ruled in favor of Qualcomm following an FTC antitrust lawsuit. Qualcomm was cleared after "no evidence" of anticompetitive behavior was found, and the company's $5 billion a year licensing business was left unscathed. Now, car and tech companies are up in arms, requesting that the FTC not back down yet. In 2017, the FTC brought up a lawsuit against Qualcomm alleging antitrust law violations and anti-competitive behavior. Initially, the ruling was against Qualcomm, whereby they would have to renegotiate patent licensing agreements with the companies to which they provided parts. The 9th circuit court with a panel of judges, however, reversed this decision...
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Of all the cars running the streets today, few rely on software more than the Tesla range of electric vehicles. Tesla sells upgrades that unlock additional capabilities hidden inside its vehicles for an added cost. One such software upgrade for the Tesla Model 3 is the battery upgrade unlocking additional range and the Acceleration Boost feature for the Model 3 Dual Motor. Some hackers have been able to unlock performance boosts without paying Tesla, and the automaker is fighting back. A company called Ingenext produces a device that allows Tesla owners to unlock Tesla's $2,000 Acceleration Boost feature for the Dual Motor version of the Model 3 for $1,000. The device the company sells unlocks...
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The price of entry to get into a Model Y won't be as low as previously expected. When Tesla CEO Elon Musk first announced the Model Y, he revealed that the vehicle would be available in a Standard Range variant priced at $39,000 and that it would launch in Spring 2021. However, Musk announced over the weekend via Twitter that the Model Y Standard Range has been canceled. In his words, the 230-mile EPA range of the vehicle would be "unacceptably low" for consumers. That's definitely a bit disappointing for those that wanted more cargo space than the Model 3 sedan provides, but didn't want to pony up for the inflated pricing that comes with the even larger Model X crossover. We have...
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Sometimes I get a hankering for a juicy burger, and if I happen to pass by a Burger King, a Whopper (with extra pickles, don't @me) will suffice. It looks like I'm not the only one. Apparently the Autopilot feature in Tesla vehicles can confuse circular Burger King restaurant signs with stop signs, and will slow down accordingly. This is part of a new "Traffic Light and Stop Sign Control" feature that Tesla is beta testing, though to be clear, it's not supposed to slow down for restaurant signs, Burger King or otherwise. Burger King ran with the idea anyway, and for a brief period, was offering a free Whopper to Tesla owners who shared a picture of their smart car stopped at one of its locations....
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Back in early May, Tesla (and SpaceX) CEO Elon Musk got into a bit of a tizzy over the official Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) range figures for its latest variant of the Model S. Musk and Tesla had expected that the vehicle would be rated for 400+ miles of range, but it could only muster 391 miles in the hands of the EPA. That shortfall drew the ire of Musk, who accused the EPA testers of leaving the keys inside the vehicle which drained power overnight. The EPA calmly pushed back against those claims and added, "we are happy to discuss any technical issues with Tesla, as we do routinely with all automakers." Well, the EPA has apparently gotten around to retesting the 2020...
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Elon Musk first unveiled the Tesla Semi way back in November 2017, and plans for the revolutionary vehicle have been in a holding pattern since then. However, Musk revealed in an email that went out to Tesla employees over the weekend that it’s time to kick production into gear to start fulfilling the immense number of preorders that it has received. “It’s time to go all out and bring the Tesla Semi to volume production,” said Musk in the memo that was seen by CNBC. “It’s been in limited production so far, which has allowed us to improve many aspects of the design. Production of the battery and powertrain would take place at Giga Nevada, with most...
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The past few weeks have been somewhat of an emotional rollercoaster for Elon Musk. As the CEO of two high-profile companies -- SpaceX and Tesla -- Musk is under immense pressure to be at the bleeding edge of both the space industry and electric vehicles. And his "rock star" persona in the EV community comes with its ups and downs. Musk's latest escapade includes an escalation in his attacks on Alameda County, California, where's Tesla's headquarters and Fremont manufacturing facility is located. Tesla filed a lawsuit with the US District Court in the Northern District of California targeting Alameda County's current shelter-in-place order. Tesla's Fremont factory in Alameda County,...
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A security researcher that goes by GreenTheOnly on Twitter recently shared some information that impacts some of the most popular Tesla vehicles. According to Green, some Tesla hardware currently being sold on eBay retains a significant amount of personal information from previous owners even after a reset. The parts the security researcher tested include a Tesla Model 3 integrated media control unit (MCU) and Autopilot (HW) units. The MCU and HW units for a Model 3 along with a Model X MCU unit were acquired from eBay. All three of the units had been reset, but the researcher found that a slew of private owner information, including passwords, were still easily recoverable from the units. Among...
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Elon Musk has been on quite a bit of "wild streak" for the past week, starting off with Tesla's Q2 earnings call. While the company announced that it made a profit once again -- despite the shutdown of its Fremont factory because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic -- Musk drew attention for comments he made about EPA testing procedures. But let's back up a bit, shall we? Back in late January, Musk proclaimed that Tesla would soon be releasing a Model S with 400 miles of range thanks to improved core chemistry used in its 18650 battery cells. At the time, the Model S was rated for 373 miles for the "Long Range" variant and 348 miles for the "Performance" variant. However, when the EPA...
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Origin PC is now accepting orders for its new "Ludicrous PC," a modified Radio Flyer Tesla Model S toy car with high-end PC gaming hardware that sits literally underneath the hood. Specifically, an AMD Ryzen 9 3900X processor and GeForce RTX 2080 Ti take this thing from 0 to fun for those who can afford this kind of luxury. The press release pegs the starting price at $13,370, an obvious play on 1337 ("leet"), though a visit to the semi-customizable product page comes up with a $13,432 sticker price. Either way, it's expensive. Some might even say it's a ludicrous amount to spend on a PC, though that's not where the name comes from—Model S vehicles have a pavement-slaying 'Ludicrous' mode...
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It is taking a cooperative effort on a global scale to stop the spread of COVID-19, of which there are now nearly 1.3 million confirmed cases and over 70,000 deaths. On the manufacturing side of the equation, technology companies like Apple and Tesla are stepping up to produce much needed equipment for medical workers. As it pertains to Tesla, the automaker provided an engineering update on its custom ventilator made from various car parts, including components from its Model 3. Ventilators are complex contraptions. They are also supremely important in managing and treating some patients with COVID-19, but are in short supply at the moment. Tesla is one of several automakers who are sourcing...
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Tesla Model 3 Pwned As Hack Disables Autopilot Notifications, Speedometer, Climate Controls And More
There’s no question that the Tesla Model 3 is one of the most advanced cars on the planet, thanks in part to its advanced EV powertrain, its heavy use of powerful computers for its Autopilot self-driving system, and its heavy software integration with numerous vehicle functions. Tesla is also a leader in the industry when it comes to over-the-air updates that bring new features or fixes for existing features (and in some cases, removing features altogether). That complex integration of software and hardware is coming to light in findings posted by “Jacob A” of SafeKeep Cybersecurity. Jacob describes himself as a veteran security engineer that has disclosed previous...
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Tesla announced that deliveries of its highly anticipated Model Y crossover have begun. Initially, only the higher-end Model Y is available, with the standard range version expected to enter production in early 2021. The Model Y deliveries occurring at the moment are for the Long Range and Performance versions of the electric crossover. Tesla says all of the Model Y EVs it's delivering currently have the premium interior and upgraded sound system. The Long Range version has a $52,990 base purchase price with the price of $46,690 after potential [future] fuel savings. The Model Y Performance has a $60,990 purchase price and costs $56,690 after potential savings. The Performance upgrade brings...
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The Tesla Cybertruck is the most "Bro" electric vehicle that we've seen so far, and it's got the specs to back it up. The vehicle will come with up to three electric motors, travel up to 500 miles per charge, and will accelerate from a standstill to 60 mph in just 2.9 seconds. But for those that don't want to cough up the $39,990 price of entry for the base model -- or simply want to have a scale model to go along with their life-sized purchase -- Mattel has teamed up with Tesla to release a 1:10 scale R/C Hot Wheels version of the Cybertruck. The Hot Wheels Cybertruck is a dead ringer for its full-size counterpart down to its angular shape, ginormous wheels/tires, and all-wheel...
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Imagine for a moment that you bought a used car from a dealership, and after doing so, the original manufacturer of the automobile came to your house and began stripping away features that do not come standard with the base model of whichever car you bought. Maybe you call the cops, or perhaps you take matters into your own hands (we don't condone the latter). Either way, it would be an unfathomable situation. Nevertheless, Tesla is under fire for allegedly doing something similar, only instead of physically removing a customer's radio or anything like that, it disabled features on a used car by way of an over-the-air (OTA) software update. These are not minor features, either—Tesla is...
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Tesla and its CEO Elon Musk are well known for using unconventional methods to both hire key employees and improve their electric vehicles. The latest hiring tactic that Musk and company are using to lure in new programmers for AI and Autopilot is to hold a party at Musk's house. Musk tweeted about the event, noting that Tesla is going to hold a Super Fun AI party/hackathon. The "house party" is specifically looking to recruit people for the AI/autopilot team. The tweet says that invites will be going out soon. We assume security will be tight to prevent people from sneaking in or making off with Musk's stuff. Reports indicate that Tesla has been known to frequent AI conferences and throw parties...
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