Teslas

When last we checked in with Tesla’s “phantom braking” problem, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it had received 350 complaints from owners who said their vehicles were braking for no reason. Now that number stands at 758, and the US government has some questions. On May 4th, NHTSA fired off a 14-page “request for information” letter to Tesla about these incidents, including a request for all consumer and field reports it has received about false braking, as well as reports of crashes, injuries,…

In a tweet that is definitely not meant to distract from the news that he’s planning on laying off about 10 percent of his workforce, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that he was shifting the company’s “AI Day” event from August to September in anticipation of being able to show off a “working” Optimus prototype. You’ll recall that Optimus is the name given to the humanoid robot that Musk said will take on the repetitive, boring tasks that humans are loath to do. The robot was revealed during Tesla’s last AI day in August…

The company is pausing "all hiring worldwide."Super BadTesla CEO Elon Musk is planning to cut ten percent of Tesla staff and freeze hiring worldwide because he has a "super bad feeling" about the economy, according to an email sent to executives and obtained by Reuters.Tesla shares dropped by almost three percent in premarket trading today, according to the report.Unsurprisingly, Musk did not elaborate on his rationale. But it's indicative of his larger concerns about an imminent economic downturn, which could put his car…

Tesla electric cars could add support for Apple AirPlay, allowing people to more easily stream audio and potentially video from their iPhones. But CEO Elon Musk remains steadfast in his refusal to discuss adding the feature everyone really wants — CarPlay support. The new AirPay admission came after Musk replied to one Tesla car owner to say that he would speak with Tesla audio engineers about the possibility of adding support for AirPlay. Musk says that the sound system built into the new Model S and Model X is…

Having served in executive roles at LEGO and Apple, and now running my own startup at Uplift Labs, I’ve been put in a few tight situations with some pretty high stakes involved. But I’m not sure anything compares to one challenge I had to meet as the President of Tesla Japan: the 2014 launch of the Model S for Japan.I had led other launches in the past, and I estimated that I’d have about five months to put it together. But at Tesla things move fast, and Elon Musk came to me and said, “Get it done in five weeks.” (I now…

A group of environmentalists is asking the city of Austin to withhold Tesla’s permit for its upcoming battery cathode material factory next to Gigafactory Texas over concerns about water supply along the Colorado River. Over the last two years, Tesla was simultaneously building massive factories in Germany near Berlin and in Texas, near Austin. In Germany, the company ran into many issues with environmentalists challenging the automaker’s permits over a multitude of concerns ranging from deforestation to water…

An S&P Dow Jones Indices executive told Reuters on Wednesday it has removed electric carmaker Tesla from the widely followed S&P 500 ESG Index because of issues including claims of racial discrimination and crashes linked to its autopilot vehicles, and Tesla CEO Elon Musk responded with harsh tweets including that "ESG is a scam".In its changes, effective May 2, the sustainability index also added soon-to-be-Musk-controlled Twitter and oil refiner Phillips 66 while dropping Delta Air Lines and Chevron, according…

Capistrano Volkswagen/Mazda, a car dealership in San Juan Capistrano, California, has partnered with San Diego-based solar and battery installation company Stellar Solar to offer EV customers solar, battery storage, and EV connectivity to power their cars with clean energy. Car dealership + solar Stellar Solar says the partnership is the first of its kind between an auto dealer and solar company in Orange County. (We at Electrek are wondering whether it’s the first of its kind in the United Stsates – let us know…

Elon Musk’s claim that Tesla will have “1 million robotaxis by end of the year” has now become “1 million people in Full Self-Driving (FSD) Beta.” Musk has a long history of making claims about Tesla’s self-driving effort that haven’t come through, especially when it comes to the timing. The biggest claim has been that “Tesla will have 1 million robotaxis on the road by the end of the year.” That year was originally 2020, but it has since been pushed several times. Until somewhat recently, Musk was still claiming…

A group of security researchers has found a way to circumvent digital locks and other security systems that rely on the proximity of a Bluetooth fob or smartphone for authentication. Using what’s known as a “link layer relay attack,” security consulting firm NCC Group was able to unlock, start, and drive vehicles and unlock and open certain residential smart locks without the Bluetooth-based key anywhere in the vicinity. Sultan Qasim Khan, the principal security consultant and researcher with NCC Group, demonstrated…