Tesla car

Tesla selfdriving car

Tesla Privately Admits Elon Musk Has Been Exaggerating About ‘full Self-driving’ © Photo by Britta Pedersen-Pool/Getty Images Tesla CEO Elon Musk has been overstating the capabilities of the company’s advanced driver assist system, the company’s director of Autopilot software told the California Department of Motor Vehicles. The comments came from a memo released by legal transparency group PlainSite, which obtained the documents from a public records request. It was the latest revelation about the widening gap between what Musk says publicly about Autopilot and what Autopilot can actually do. And it coincides with Tesla coming under increased scrutiny after a Tesla vehicle without anyone in the driver’s seat crashed in Texas, killing two men. “Elon’s tweet does not match engineering reality per CJ” “Elon’s tweet does not match engineering reality per CJ. Tesla is at Level 2 currently,” the California DMV said in the memo about its March 9th conference call with Tesla representatives, including the director of Autopilot software CJ Moore. Level 2 technology refers to a semi-automated driving system, which requires supervision by a human driver. In an earnings call in January, Musk told investors that he was “highly confident the car will be able to drive itself with reliability in excess of human this year.” (It would appear the DMV was referring to these January comments, which Moore misunderstood as a tweet from Musk.) Last October, Tesla introduced a new product called “Full Self-Driving” (FSD) beta to vehicle owners in its Early Access Program. The update enabled drivers to access Autopilot’s partially automated driver assist system on city streets and local roads. The early access program is used as a testing platform to help iron out software bugs. In the DMV memo, Tesla said that as of March 9th there were 824 vehicles in the pilot program, including 753 employees and 71 non-employees. Musk has said the company was handling the software update “very cautiously.” Drivers still are expected to keep their hands on the steering wheel and should be prepared to assume control of their Tesla at any time. But he has also offered lofty predictions about Tesla’s ability to achieve full autonomy that conflict with what his own engineers are saying to regulators. Tesla is unlikely to achieve Level 5 (L5) autonomy, in which its cars can drive themselves anywhere, under any conditions, without any human supervision, by the end of 2021, Tesla representatives told the DMV. The ratio of driver interaction would need to be in the magnitude of 1 or 2 million miles per driver interaction to move into higher levels of automation. Tesla indicated that Elon is extrapolating on the rates of improvement when speaking about L5 capabilities. Tesla couldn’t say if the rate of improvement would make it to L5 by end of calendar year. This isn’t the first time that Tesla’s private communications with the DMV have contradicted Musk’s public declarations about his company’s autonomous capabilities. In March, PlainSite published communications from last December between Tesla’s associate general counsel Eric Williams and California DMV’s chief of the autonomous vehicles branch, Miguel Acosta. In it, Williams notes that “neither Autopilot nor FSD Capability is an autonomous system, and currently no comprising feature, whether singularly or collectively, is autonomous or makes our vehicles autonomous.” In other words, Tesla’s FSD beta is self-driving in name only. “Tesla couldn’t say if the rate of improvement would make it to L5 by end of calendar year” (Al Prescott, associate general counsel at Tesla, was also involved in the December meeting with the DMV. Prescott has since left Tesla for LIDAR maker Luminar.) Tesla and Musk have long been criticized for overstating the capabilities of the company’s Autopilot system, which in its most basic form can center a Tesla vehicle in a lane and around curves and adjust the car’s speed based on the vehicle ahead. The use of brand names like Autopilot and FSD has also helped contribute to an environment in which Tesla customers are misled into believing their vehicles can actually drive themselves. There have been a number of fatal crashes involving Tesla vehicles with Autopilot enabled. The latest took place in Spring, Texas, in which two men were killed after their Tesla smashed into a tree. Local law enforcement said there was no one in the driver’s seat at the time of the crash, leading to speculation that the men were misusing Autopilot. Later, Tesla claimed that Autopilot was not in use at the time of the crash and someone may have been in the driver’s seat, too. The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board are both investigating the crash, in addition to dozens of other incidents involving Tesla Autopilot. Tesla didn’t respond to a request for comment, likely because the company has dissolved its press office and typically doesn’t respond to media requests anymore. Tesla Model 3, Model Y Get More Expensive As Automaker Jacks Up Prices Again © Provided by Roadshow Tesla If you ordered a Tesla Model 3 earlier this week, good job -- as of sometime in the wee morning hours of Friday, Tesla instituted yet another price increase for the electric sedan. Tesla Model Y prices jump up again too, as the company's website now shows. The Model 3 became a $40,000 vehicle last month, but as of today, the cheapest version, the Standard Range, now sits closer to $41,000 at $40,690. The Long Range version increases to $49,690. All prices include a $1,200 destination charge and show Tesla bumped up the actual price by $500 for both vehicles. The Model 3 Performance holds steady at $58,190. And keep in mind, these prices assume you select a white exterior color; any other hue and the price increases by at least $1,000. © Tesla As for the Model Y, it also sees a $500 price increase for the Long Range AWD variant, and now costs $52,690. Like its sedan counterpart, the Model Y Performance doesn't get a price increase this time around and remains at $62,190. Tesla does not operate a public relations department to field requests for comment, so we don't have an official answer for why these increases continue to occur so frequently. The automaker has never followed "traditional" model year cycles, often updating its cars at a moment's notice and rejiggering prices accordingly. However, this year, we've already seen more increases compared to years past. One possible explanation is Tesla is simply cashing in on high demand for its cars. On the other hand, the company may need to pass along additional costs to buyers as the global semiconductor chip shortage ravages automotive supply chains. This was originally published on Roadshow. Gallery: Koenigsegg Jesko (motor1.Com) Tesla Admits Totally Self-driving Cars Likely Aren't Happening In 2021 © Provided by Roadshow The goal was a lofty one. Tesla A Tesla engineer has admitted to California regulators the company probably won't have a completely self-driving car ready for operation this year. That's despite CEO Elon Musk saying during a January earnings call the company was "highly confident" it would achieve full autonomy in 2021. The admission comes from a document of exchanges dated May 6 between the California Department of Motor Vehicles and CJ Moore, an Autopilot engineer working for Tesla, released via the legal transparency group PlainSite. "Tesla indicated that Elon is extrapolating on the rates of improvement when speaking about [Level 5] capabilities," part of the memo from the DMV read. "Tesla couldn't say if the rate of improvement would make it to L5 by end of calendar year." © Tesla Level 5 capabilities refers to a fully autonomous car on the SAE scale of autonomy. Anything Tesla currently employs today, from Autopilot to the "Full Self-Driving" beta, registers as a Level 2 driver-assist system -- not a self-driving car. The memo added Tesla remains "firmly" in L2 technology. Tesla does not operate a public relations department to field requests for comment. The California DMV did not immediately return a request for comment. The automaker continues to take a unique approach to realizing the goal of a truly autonomous car: While other companies and rival automakers focus on lidar to help a car "see," Tesla hopes a neural network combined with sensors, radar and cameras will create a smart car good enough to drive itself. Tesla finally gave its Model S sedan a much needed refresh. © Provided by Roadshow This was originally published on Roadshow.