Tag Archives: Tesla

NHTSA Opens Investigation into Tesla Gaming Software

December 22, 2021 admin

Patton plays games driving Model 3 — Journalist Vince Patton demonstrates its possible to play video games while driving his Tesla Model 3.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) it is investigating 580,000 Tesla vehicles sold since 2017 that allow those seated up front to play games on the infotainment touchscreen while the vehicle is in motion.

The investigation stems from a complaint filed with agency earlier this month by Vince Patton, a retired journalist from Portland, Oregon.

The formal safety investigation, which was announced Wednesday, covers 2017-2022 Tesla Model 3, S, X, and Y vehicles. NHTSA opened the investigation “based on reports that Tesla gameplay functionality, which is visible on the front center touchscreen from the driver’s seat, is enabled even when the vehicle is being driven.”

Tesla made the software more dangerous

The 2021 Tesla Model S gets an all-new interior, a yoke-style steering wheel and the updated software being investigated by NHTSA.

The feature, known as “Passenger Play,” increases the risk of a crash. Since December 2020, the feature can be used while driving. Prior to that, it could only be used when the vehicle was in Park. The agency said that it is evaluating aspects of the feature, including how frequently it’s used and when.

NHTSA is concerned about distracted driving, an increasing risk as automakers bring increased online connectivity to infotainment touchscreens. Distracted driving caused 3,142 deaths in 2019, all of them preventable.

While Passenger Play does have a warning stating the game is meant solely for passengers. Although it asks for confirmation that the player is a passenger and not the driver, there is nothing preventing the driver from playing while driving.

Other Tesla safety issues

Consumer Reports criticized the performance of Tesla’s latest version of Autopilot.

It’s not NHTSA’s only Tesla safety investigation, nor Tesla’s only safety issue.

In August, the agency opened a formal safety investigation of 765,000 Teslas equipped with its Autopilot driver-assistance system after 11 crashes involving parked emergency vehicles killed one person and injured 17. The inquiry covers 2014-2021 Models S, X, Y and 3.

In October, Tesla had to roll back full self-driving, or FSD, with Musk revealing that the company is “seeing some issues with 10.3, so rolling back to 10.2 temporarily.”

And in November, Tesla issued a recall for 11,704 vehicles sold in the U.S. since 2017. The recall covers Model S, X, 3 and Y vehicles and came about as a result of an over-the-air firmware update of the automaker’s “Full Self-Driving Beta,” its advanced driver assistance system.

The company identified a software communication error that could cause the forward-collision warning or automatic emergency brake system to falsely activate, possibly leading to a rear-end collision.

Other OEM infotainment issues

2022 Mercedes EQS 580 4Matic black daytime — The new Mercedes-Benz EQS was recalled after it was found that its MBUX system allowed television and internet to be displayed while driving

Other automakers are far more concerned over distracted driving than Tesla. On November 29, Mercedes-Benz recalled 227 vehicles in the U.S. after the company discovered that its MBUX infotainment system allowed television and internet to be displayed while driving.

The recall affected 2021 Mercedes-Benz S580, 2022 EQS450, EQS580, and S500 models. Mercedes-Benz has already corrected the problem, and no deaths or injuries seem to have resulted from the problem.

Musk pays billions to satisfy tax bill

In other Tesla news, Reuters is reporting that Tesla CEO Elon Musk sold 10% of his own company stock, 13.5 million shares, 8.06 million of which were sold to pay taxes. The billionaire said he is paying more than $11 billion in taxes this year.

“California used to be the land of opportunity and now it is … becoming more so the land of sort of overregulation, overlitigation, overtaxation,” Musk told Reuters, adding his combined federal and state tax rate tops 50 percent.

The tax bill may explain why Musk recently relocated Tesla’s headquarters to Austin, Texas from Palo Alto, California.

But taxes aren’t Musk’s only concern.

The company has submitted all the documentation required to get its factory approved near Berlin, Germany. Approval of Tesla’s newest manufacturing facility has been delayed by environmental concerns and red tape due to Tesla’s decision to add a battery factory to the site. That has delayed the approval process. It remains unclear when the new plant is expected to open.

Entertaining Or Outright Lunacy? Tesla Model S Blown Up With Dynamite

December 22, 2021 admin

The era of YouTube & social media has significantly blurred the distinction between truth and viral videos. This video from the Finnish YouTube channel Pommijätkät, which translates literally to “Bomb Dudes” would have us believe that a dissatisfied Tesla Model S owner contacted them and asked them to blow up his electric car.

Entertaining Or Outright Lunacy? Tesla Model S Blown Up With Dynamite
- image 1042481 — Meet Tuomas Katainen from the Suomi, up in icy Finland

Meet Tuomas Katainen. In the video, which by the way you can watch with English subtitles, the man says that his 2013 Tesla Model S recently developed a slew of issues, prompting him to have it taken to a Tesla service facility. Four weeks later, after inspecting the vehicle, Tesla notified him that it would require a new battery, which would cost $22500.

Entertaining Or Outright Lunacy? Tesla Model S Blown Up With Dynamite
- image 1042479

With such a steep quote, Katainen chose not to fix the car and instead decided it would be more fun to blow it up, possibly in the hope that the advertising revenue produced by the film would enable him to buy a new car. Either that or perhaps he was so fed up with the whole thing that he set out to destroy it regardless. To ensure the Tesla’s demise, Katainen fastened close to 70 pounds of dynamite to the Model S’s exterior and placed a mannequin of Elon Musk in the driver’s seat. The vehicle was then parked beneath a small rocky cliff, and the rest is history.

Entertaining Or Outright Lunacy? Tesla Model S Blown Up With Dynamite
- image 1042483 — Or be it a dummy, it was Elon Musk of course. They chose to strap on this dummy onto the passenger seat

The entire explosion was filmed by high-definition cameras recording in slow motion, and although it’s seldom pleasant to witness a car needlessly wrecked like this, it’s intriguing to watch how rapidly the car was almost instantly engulfed in a ball of fire. The explosives used were more than adequate to fully destroy the automobile. The Tesla was completely decimated after this. Was this taking it a bit too far? You be the judge. The video has raked up over 1.3 million views on YouTube so far.

Entertaining Or Outright Lunacy? Tesla Model S Blown Up With Dynamite
- image 1042492 — And before you know it, the entire car was engulfed in flames

Now this Model S in question was obviously an early example and belonged to an era when people still had their doubts about EVs and Tesla’s were notorious for bad build their myriad of build quality issues. But, Tesla has vastly improved the quality of their cars since and has closed the gap to the legacy automakers. What remains to be seen is if they can hold on to that position. But in the end, the brand did succeed in helping sway the entire auto industry towards electrification.

You can watch these guys destroy this 2013 Model S with dynamite in the video below

What we know so far about the fatal Tesla crash in Paris

December 17, 2021 admin

Officials in Paris, France are working to determine the cause of an accident last Saturday involving a Tesla vehicle that killed one person and injured twenty others. There are differing accounts around the cause of the incident. According to Reuters, police are investigating the wreckage of the Tesla Model 3 and analyzing the USB key that records its activity to better understand what happened.

Sarah Saldmann, a lawyer for the driver, told Reuters that the driver claims his Tesla Model 3 accelerated “on its own” and did not respond to brakes. Saldmann adds that he was treated for minor injuries and is now under investigation for suspected involuntary manslaughter.

Reuters says Tesla told the French government earlier this week that there was “no indication” on their end that a technical fault was responsible. The French transportation minister, Jean-Baptiste Djebbari, echoed that statement in a radio interview on Tuesday, saying there was no evidence of a Tesla issue.

🎙 “Il n’y a pas d’inquiétude après l’accident de la voiture Tesla. La version du conducteur peut être inquiétante. Il n’y a pas d’éléments sur un dysfonctionnement technique”.

Jean-Baptiste Djebbari, ministre des Transports. #ApollineMatin pic.twitter.com/G5k0MAcIgf

— RMC (@RMCinfo) December 15, 2021

The driver has worked as a taxi driver since the 1990s, and currently works for G7, one of the largest taxi companies in Paris. He was off-duty at the time of the accident, but in response, the company still moved to suspend the use of Tesla Model 3 cars for its drivers, Reuters reported on Wednesday.

“We will maintain the suspension of the Tesla Model 3 while the investigation is ongoing, as a safety measure for our drivers, customers, and other road users,” Yann Ricordel, G7 Deputy Chief Executive, told Reuters.

This new report adds to the mounting concerns over the safety of Tesla vehicles. In 2020, the United States National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) investigated reports of Tesla cars unintentionally and rapidly accelerating after receiving more than 200 complaints of such incidents. Ultimately, the Washington Post says the agency attributed the issue to people hitting the wrong pedals, speeding up when they meant to brake, rather than technical defects. The Washington Post notes that electric cars are also able to speed up faster than most gas-powered vehicles, which could have contributed to driver confusion over the acceleration.

However, the NHTSA has been involved in looking into a number of other issues relating to Tesla this year. On Thursday, the agency said it is currently in communication with Tesla over glitching Autopilot cameras in some of its vehicles. CNBC said Tesla is replacing these on a “goodwill basis” for owners experiencing the issue, but that the company has not put out a voluntary recall. And last week, the NHTSA responded to a New York Times article published about an update that allows Tesla drivers to play video games on the dash while the car is in motion, saying the agency is “discussing the feature with the manufacturer.”

Other, more serious problems with Tesla’s self-driving and Autopilot features have prompted NHTSA investigations and recalls. This summer, the agency launched an ongoing inquiry into multiple accidents involving Teslas hitting emergency vehicles while in Autopilot mode, which have resulted in numerous injuries and one death. Then, in November, Tesla issued a safety recall over a “software communication error” in its Full-Self Driving Beta program, which has since been addressed in a software update. It is currently unknown whether the Paris driver was using the Autopilot feature when the accident took place this past weekend.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has not commented on the crash, but he did broadly respond to safety concerns around automobile autonomy in a Monday interview with TIME, which named him 2021’s “Person of the Year.”

“I think it’s one of those things where you’re not going to get rewarded for [the lives that you save], necessarily, but you will definitely be blamed for the lives you don’t,” Musk told TIME Editor-in-Chief Edward Felsenthal. “Even if you save 90 percent of the lives, the 10 percent that you don’t save are going to sue you.”

Its official; Tesla HQ to move to Texas, Musk confirms. Find out why

October 9, 2021 admin

So, after spending nearly two decades in Los Angeles, Tesla’s CEO himself relocated to Austin last year. The billionaire entrepreneur had justified his personal move with the need to be closer to the two projects that were then occupying most of his time; the development of rockets by SpaceX, and the construction of Tesla’s new facility near Austin.

Addressing a gathering in front of the factory on the outskirts of the city, Musk said “We are pleased to announce that we are moving our headquarters to Austin,”

This is a symbolic move, however, it doesn’t mean that Tesla is leaving the West Coast altogether. “To be clear, we will continue to expand our operations in California,” said Musk.

Its official; Tesla HQ to move to Texas, Musk confirms. Find out why
- image 1023809

Some of the primary reasons for moving to Texas according to Musk include, the cost of living in Texas is lower for employees. According to experts, tax levies in Texas are projected to be far lower than in the golden state.

But, the entrepreneur noted, “you can’t expand forever in the San Francisco Bay Area, where density is high, the cost of living is high and traffic is often difficult. Whereas in Austin, the factory is located five minutes from the airport and fifteen minutes from downtown”.

But it’s not just Tesla that is making the move to Texas, other tech giants like HP & Oracle have also followed suit. Texas has been working hard in recent years to attract businesses with several tax incentives. With its highly rated universities and rich cultural life, Austin is certainly attracting a lot of attention. Here’s CNBC on why has Texas now become an attractive place for tech companies.

Its official; Tesla HQ to move to Texas, Musk confirms. Find out why
- image 1023814 — After this announcement, Musk later turned his attention to Business which according to the Billionaire CEO, is doing rather well

Musk later turned his attention to business, which he said was good for the company. Tesla announced in early October that it had delivered a record number of vehicles in the third quarter, against the backdrop of a market plagued by a shortage of semiconductors. The automaker is known for delivering a considerable number of vehicles, come the end of the quarter in order to impress investors with strong three-month figures.

Its official; Tesla HQ to move to Texas, Musk confirms. Find out why
- image 1023812 — Apart from the Austin factory, Europe’s very first Tesla plant, Giga Berlin in Germany. While Tesla HQ will move to Austin, the company will continue to have a strong presence in California. Swipe Up to Read More

In addition to the Texas factory, Tesla is constructing the first-ever European plant in Grünheide, near Berlin in Germany. It is projected that up to 12,000 people would work there and will produce up to 500,000 electric vehicles each year.

You can watch the entire presentation by Tesla below

Source: Youtube

Twist: NHTSA Tesla Autopilot Probe Now Includes Other Automakers

September 14, 2021 admin

<img data-attachment-id="1770456" data-permalink="https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2021/08/study-suggests-evs-cost-more-to-service/electriccarschargingstationcloseupphoto-vehiclerechargeablebatteriescharing/" data-orig-file="http://lntransportation.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/twist-nhtsa-tesla-autopilot-probe-now-includes-other-automakers-5.jpg" data-orig-size="1000,667" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"Shutterstock","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"Copyright (c) 2016 Virrage Images\/Shutterstock. No use without permission.","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"Electric,Cars,Charging,Station,Closeup,Photo.,Vehicle,Rechargeable,Batteries,Charing.","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="EV charging tesla superchargers tesla charging station EVs" data-image-description="

Virrage Images/Shutterstock

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has been doing a deep dive into Tesla’s Autopilot to determine if 765,000 vehicles from the 2014 model year onward are fit to be on the road. We’ve covered it on numerous occasions, with your author often making a plea for regulators not to harp on one company when the entire industry has been slinging advanced driving aids and distracting infotainment displays for years.

Apparently someone at the NHTSA either heard the blathering, or was at least of a similar mind, because the organization has expanded its investigation to include roughly a dozen other automakers.

On Monday, letters were issued to major manufacturers — reportedly including BMW, Honda, Toyota, and Ford Motor Co. — requesting a “comparative analysis amongst production vehicles equipped with the ability to control both steering and braking/accelerating simultaneously under some circumstances.”

Bloomberg was the first to learn of the regulatory notices and stated that they included comprehensive documentation on how driver-assistance features work for each company, as well as how they know when and if a system was engaged in the event of an accident. Since the Tesla probe originally started by investigating vehicle crashes in the presence of rescue and law-enforcement vehicles, the NHTSA also wants to know how various systems handle their presence. Automakers were asked by regulators to respond no later than November 17th, 2021.

This is probably something the Department of Transportation should have been looking into years earlier, rather than allowing the industry to implement features that debatably went onto the market unproven. Now we’re in a situation where driving aids have become the norm and regulators are just starting to get serious about looking into some of the resulting complications. But it’s difficult to say what’s right when regulations often have unintended consequences and rarely seem to take the larger picture into account.

It’s not difficult to imagine a scenario where the NHTSA wants all manufacturers to network all vehicles with emergency responders to prevent future incidents where an automobile goes haywire near some flashing lights and road flares. While that would almost assuredly result in a technical violation of the Fourth Amendment, counties lacking such protections have already implemented traffic enforcement centers (e.g. China) that track networked vehicles in real time and individual automakers have data hubs on U.S. soil doing roughly the same thing.

But that’s just one possible scenario.

Regulators could just as easily attempt to establish a set of rules relating to how, when, and where these systems can be operated. A certification and testing protocol could also be implemented to ensure their effectiveness or automakers might be forbade from implementing certain functions entirely. Nobody but bureaucrats hold any love for red tape, and it’s bound to result costly recall campaigns. However doing nothing might leave millions of vehicles on the road with potentially hazardous safety and convenience packages and I haven’t the faintest idea whether that’s going to be the best or absolute worst solution to this problem. There are several issues here begging to be addressed (safety, privacy, a lack of standardization, increased costs, manufacturing complexities, etc.) but so many regulatory actions turn out to be counter productive that it makes one hesitant to endorse anything.

As pickles go, this one is taking up the whole damn jar — thanks partially to regulators dragging their feet and out-of-touch legislators having next to no idea how any of these systems worked. Rather than examining things seriously six or seven years ago and attempting to establish a competent regulatory framework that could be updated as new technologies cropped up, the government now has to play catchup and plot a course of action while it’s still learning how these systems function.

[Image: Virrage Images/Shutterstock]

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NHTSA Resumes Inquisition of Tesla Autopilot

August 16, 2021 admin

<img data-attachment-id="1770456" data-permalink="https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2021/08/study-suggests-evs-cost-more-to-service/electriccarschargingstationcloseupphoto-vehiclerechargeablebatteriescharing/" data-orig-file="http://lntransportation.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/nhtsa-resumes-inquisition-of-tesla-autopilot-5.jpg" data-orig-size="1000,667" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"Shutterstock","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"Copyright (c) 2016 Virrage Images\/Shutterstock. No use without permission.","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"Electric,Cars,Charging,Station,Closeup,Photo.,Vehicle,Rechargeable,Batteries,Charing.","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="EV charging tesla superchargers tesla charging station EVs" data-image-description="

Virrage Images/Shutterstock

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has been keeping tabs on Tesla’s Autopilot for years, sometimes giving crashes involving the system a bit more attention than they otherwise would have. But the extra scrutiny seemed to dissipate as practically every automaker on the planet introduced their own advanced driving suites and Telsa seemed to preemptively adhere to fast-approaching government regulations (and industry norm) by introducing driver-monitoring cameras.

On Friday, the NHTSA returned to business as usual and announced it had opened a preliminary evaluation of Autopilot to determine if there were any problems with the system. The agency has claimed it received at least 11 verifiable crash reports since 2018 where a Tesla product struck at least one vehicle that was already at the scene of an accident. It’s sort of a weird metric but allegedly worthy of the NHTSA wanting to look into every model the company produced between 2014 and 2021. However, actually reading the report makes it sound like the agency is more preoccupied with how Tesla’s system engaged with drivers, rather than establishing the true effectiveness of Autopilot as a system.

From the report:

Most incidents took place after dark and the crash scenes encountered included scene control measures such as first responder vehicle lights, flares, an illuminated arrow board, and road cones. The involved subject vehicles were all confirmed to have been engaged in either Autopilot or Traffic Aware Cruise Control during the approach to the crashes.

Autopilot is an Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) in which the vehicle maintains its speed and lane centering when engaged within its Operational Design Domain (ODD). With the ADAS active, the driver still holds primary responsibility for Object and Event Detection and Response (OEDR), e.g., identification of obstacles in the roadway or adverse maneuvers by neighboring vehicles during the Dynamic Driving Task (DDT).

As a result, the Office of Defects Investigation says it has started investigating Autopilot (SAE Level 2) equipped to all Tesla models (S, X, 3, and Y) manufactured between 2014 and 2021. The goal will be to assess the associated “technologies and methods used to monitor, assist, and enforce the driver’s engagement with the dynamic driving task during Autopilot operation.”

While it also plans to look into the general effectiveness of Autopilot but it’s written into the report almost as an afterthought, making the whole thing a bit curious. The government granted manufacturers quite a bit of leeway in terms of where and how they tested autonomous vehicles for years, with the NHTSA doing little to buck the trend. Retroactively looking into Tesla vehicles for not being sufficiently obnoxious to convince operators not to use Autopilot seems genuinely stupid. Most forms of ADAS encourage drivers to check out of the driving experience, encouraging complacency behind the wheel.

That’s not really a defense on behalf of Tesla either. Your author routinely bashed the company for rolling out Autopilot irresponsibly and there are more than enough examples of drivers doing something truly stupid to help that case. But the government already allowed it to sell those vehicles and hasn’t done nearly as much to chide other manufacturers who are offering similar systems that also yield questionable efficacy. Tesla simply got there first, had better (albeit questionable) marketing, offered more features, and took all the early praise.

The NHTSA frequently goes out of its way to remind people that no commercially available vehicles are capable of driving themselves while simultaneously giving the go-ahead to automakers who stop just short of making the absolute counterclaim. Seeing the agency suddenly launch a preliminary investigation that could ultimately lead to a recall campaign of 765,000 vehicles makes it seem like it has a vendetta against Tesla or a desperate need to look competent. Why not have a full assessment of literally every vehicle sold with features that qualify as SAE Level 2 rather than single out the highest-profile manufacturer selling the least amount of cars?

Probably because that would require a lot more work and gum up the works for legacy automakers that have better relationships with government entities. Let’s not forget that Tesla was the only domestic automaker deemed ineligible for the latest EV subsidies on account of its opposition to unionization and has a history of butting heads with regulators and the State of California. But it would be irresponsible for me to claim that’s the agency’s de facto reasoning, rather than a strong hunch.

The NHTSA has at least started requiring automakers to report crashes where advanced driving systems were engaged during or immediately before the crash. That should eventually help build a foundation of data to help make more informed decisions moving ahead. But the recent focus on driver monitoring remains unsettling, particularly as we’ve seen bizarre inclusions in unrelated bills attempting to mandate enhanced government surveillance of vehicle occupants. If the NHTSA was serious about any of this, it would take a look at how oversized central displays are encouraging distracted driving and put some additional effort behind its generalized ADAS assessments.

Tesla has plenty of problems and frequently makes decisions that run counter to good taste. Autopilot may even have serious issues that need to be addressed. But if other manufacturers aren’t subjected to the same level of scrutiny, then the NHTSA hasn’t done its job. There are millions of less-expensive vehicles equipped with similar systems, some I’ve personally seen fail in ways that could have easily resulted in an accident. Frankly, I would argue most ADAS fail to work as advertised and encourage complacency to a potentially dangerous degree. However, they don’t make the headlines or end up on the receiving end of enhanced regulatory pressure.

Either these systems work well and should be retained or they don’t and must be removed — the badge on the front of the car should be irrelevant. Nobody has done a great job with autonomy and the solutions being presented by regulators are truly unsavory, we should all be tired of pretending otherwise.

[Image: Virrage Images/Shutterstock]

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Tesla Chooses Texas for Next Gigafactory

July 23, 2020 admin

In case you were wondering if Texas or Oklahoma was the site for the new Gigafactory, that’s Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas on the left.

Things are coming up roses for Tesla these days – yellow roses – as the California-based EV maker announced it will build its next Gigafactory on a 2,000-acre plot of land just outside Austin, Texas.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk revealed the choice – Tulsa, Oklahoma was the other finalist – during the company’s second quarter earnings call. He said the site, which is on the banks of the Colorado River, would be an “ecological paradise” with a hiking and biking trail open to the public, should open sometime next year.

The plant, dubbed GigaTexas, will build a variety of vehicles, including the new Cybertruck and the Tesla semi. It will also handle Model 3 and Model Y production for the eastern half of North America. He also noted that Tulsa could still be in line for a future factory. After announcement, Musk was quick to point out the company will still grow in California.

(Tesla reports $104M Q2 profit; fourth consecutive quarter of profits.)

“We expect California to do Model X and S for worldwide consumption, and 3 and Y for the western half of North America. We also think the Tesla Roadster … would make sense in California. I think this is a nice split between Texas and California.”

Tesla’s Cybertruck is one of four products that the company will build at GigaTexas once it’s complete.

In addition to what is going to get built where in the U.S., Musk addressed potential future products and how they fit into the company’s plans.

“It would be reasonable to assume we’d make a compact vehicle of some kind, and probably a high capacity vehicle of some kind,” he said. “These are likely things at some point. I do think there’s a long way to go with 3 and Y, Cybertruck and semi. There’s a long way to go with those. I think we’ll do the obvious things.”

While future product is critical to the company’s long-term growth, Musk says he’s got his eyes on a short-term prize: full-self driving. The CEO has long predicted that (insert year here) will be when FSD will be available in vehicles.

However, after years of missed deadlines, the company may be on track to meet his latest goal of having it available sometime this year. He called it the “most important thing” on his very full agenda, adding “everything else is pretty small by comparison.”

(Texas offers Tesla $80M in incentives for new gigafactory.)

Musk has been selling the FSD to buyers for several years now but increasing the price for the dormant technology during the past few years, starting at $5,000 to add it and now it sits at $8,000 and it’s going to get pricier as it gets closer to launch. However, there’s a good reason to charge so much money for the technology, Musk believes, as you’ll get what you pay for — and then some.

Tesla is getting ready to produce its first heavy-duty model, the all-electric Semi. It, too, will be built at the new plant in Texas.

“I think the upgrading of the fleet to full-self driving, essentially with an over-the-air software update, I mean may go down as the biggest asset value increase in history as a step change,” he said. “Overnight … you’d have like, I don’t know, a few million cars suddenly becoming five times more valuable.”

Those vehicles also become an even bigger revenue stream for Musk and Tesla as then he can begin to sell access for services, like shopping, games, movies, etc. that could be used by drivers as they allow their vehicle to drive them to their destination.

In fact, Musk is using an advanced test version of the technology now and says he can drive from his home to the office without intervention. While he wouldn’t commit to it being ready this year, he suggested he thought it would be, then it would be a matter of governmental approvals.

(CEO Musk sees big growth coming soon for Tesla.)

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border-radius: 0; padding: 11px 17px; font-size: 16px; line-height: 16px; text-align: left; border: 1px solid #ccc; color: #555; outline: none; margin: 0; } html div#gJSomKNtPm div#gJSomKNtPm_inpost.columbine-container input.columbine-submit, html div#gJSomKNtPm div#gJSomKNtPm_inpost.columbine-container input[type=”submit”].mo-optin-form-cta-button { display: block; -webkit-box-sizing: border-box; -moz-box-sizing: border-box; box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-appearance: none; border: 0; background: #54C3A5; padding: 13px 18px; font-size: 16px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; color: #fff; outline: none; cursor: pointer; font-weight: 600; width: 100%; margin: 0; border-radius: 0; } html div#gJSomKNtPm div#gJSomKNtPm_inpost.columbine-container div.columbine-note { margin-top: 10px; line-height: normal; } html div#gJSomKNtPm div#gJSomKNtPm_inpost.columbine-container div.mo-optin-error { display: none; background: #FF0000; color: white; text-align: center; padding: .2em; margin: 0; width: 100%; font-size: 16px; -webkit-box-sizing: border-box; -moz-box-sizing: border-box; box-sizing: border-box; border: 1px solid #FF0000; } @media only screen and (max-width: 650px) { html div#gJSomKNtPm div#gJSomKNtPm_inpost.columbine-container div.mo-optin-error { margin-bottom: -10px; } html div#gJSomKNtPm div#gJSomKNtPm_inpost.columbine-container div.columbine-two-col1, html div#gJSomKNtPm div#gJSomKNtPm_inpost.columbine-container div.columbine-two-col2, html div#gJSomKNtPm div#gJSomKNtPm_inpost.columbine-container div.columbine-three-col1, html div#gJSomKNtPm div#gJSomKNtPm_inpost.columbine-container div.columbine-three-col2, html div#gJSomKNtPm div#gJSomKNtPm_inpost.columbine-container div.columbine-three-col3 { float: none; width: 100%; margin-right: 0; margin-top: 10px; } } html div#gJSomKNtPm.mo-optin-has-custom-field div#gJSomKNtPm_inpost.columbine-container div.columbine-column, html div#gJSomKNtPm.mo-optin-has-custom-field div#gJSomKNtPm_inpost.columbine-container div.columbine-two-col1, html div#gJSomKNtPm.mo-optin-has-custom-field div#gJSomKNtPm_inpost.columbine-container div.columbine-two-col2, html div#gJSomKNtPm.mo-optin-has-custom-field div#gJSomKNtPm_inpost.columbine-container div.columbine-three-col1, html div#gJSomKNtPm.mo-optin-has-custom-field div#gJSomKNtPm_inpost.columbine-container div.columbine-three-col2, html div#gJSomKNtPm.mo-optin-has-custom-field div#gJSomKNtPm_inpost.columbine-container div.columbine-three-col3 { float: none; width: 100%; margin-right: 0; margin-top: 10px; } html div#gJSomKNtPm.mo-optin-has-custom-field div#gJSomKNtPm_inpost.columbine-container div.columbine-column textarea.mo-optin-form-custom-field.textarea-field { min-height: 80px; }div#gJSomKNtPm *, div#gJSomKNtPm *:before, div#gJSomKNtPm *:after {box-sizing: border-box;-webkit-box-sizing: border-box;-moz-box-sizing: border-box;}div#gJSomKNtPm_inpost_container div.mo-optin-powered-by{margin:5px auto 2px;text-align:center;}div#gJSomKNtPm_inpost_container div.mo-optin-powered-by a {font-size:16px !important; text-decoration: none !important;box-shadow:none !important;border-bottom-width:0px !important;cursor:pointer !important;}div#gJSomKNtPm_inpost_container #mo-acceptance-checkbox {background-color: #fff;line-height: 0;border: 1px solid #bbb;width: 16px;min-width: 16px;height: 16px;margin: 0 5px 0 0 !important;outline: 0;text-align: center;vertical-align: middle;clear: none;cursor: pointer;}div#gJSomKNtPm_inpost_container .mo-acceptance-label {cursor:pointer}div#gJSomKNtPm_inpost_container div#gJSomKNtPm_inpost p {padding:0px !important;margin:0px !important}div#gJSomKNtPm .mo-optin-form-wrapper label {color:inherit;font-weight: normal;margin: 0;padding:0;}div#gJSomKNtPm.mo-cta-button-flag .mo-optin-form-note .mo-acceptance-label {display:none;}div#gJSomKNtPm .mailoptin-video-container { position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden; } div#gJSomKNtPm .mailoptin-video-container iframe, div#gJSomKNtPm .mailoptin-video-container object, div#gJSomKNtPm .mailoptin-video-container embed, div#gJSomKNtPm .mailoptin-video-container video { position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; }#gJSomKNtPm .mo-optin-form-container .mo-optin-spinner { border-radius: inherit; position: absolute; width: 100%; height: 100%; background: #fff url(https://www.thedetroitbureau.com/wp-content/plugins/mailoptin/src/core/src/assets/images/spinner.gif) 50% 50% no-repeat; left: 0; top: 0; opacity: 0.99; filter: alpha(opacity=80); } #gJSomKNtPm .mo-optin-form-container .mo-optin-success-close { font-size: 32px !important; font-family: “HelveticaNeue – Light”, “Helvetica Neue Light”, “Helvetica Neue”, Helvetica, Arial, “Lucida Grande”, sans-serif !important; color: #282828 !important; font-weight: 300 !important; position: absolute !important; top: 0 !important; right: 10px !important; background: none !important; text-decoration: none !important; width: auto !important; height: auto !important; display: block !important; line-height: 32px !important; padding: 0 !important; -moz-box-shadow: none !important; -webkit-box-shadow: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; } #gJSomKNtPm .mo-optin-form-container .mo-optin-form-wrapper .mo-optin-success-msg { font-size: 21px; font-family: “HelveticaNeue – Light”, “Helvetica Neue Light”, “Helvetica Neue”, Helvetica, Arial, “Lucida Grande”, sans-serif; color: #282828 !important; font-weight: 300; text-align: center; margin: 0 auto; width: 100%; position: absolute !important; left: 50%; top: 50%; -webkit-transform: translate(-50%, -50%); -moz-transform: translate(-50%, -50%); -o-transform: translate(-50%, -50%); -ms-transform: translate(-50%, -50%); transform: translate(-50%, -50%); } #gJSomKNtPm .mo-optin-form-container .mo-optin-form-wrapper .mo-optin-success-msg a { color: #0000EE; text-decoration: underline; }div#gJSomKNtPm div#gJSomKNtPm_inpost .mo-optin-form-headline, div#gJSomKNtPm div.mo-optin-form-container h2, div#gJSomKNtPm div.mo-optin-form-container h1 { font-size: 32px !important; }div#gJSomKNtPm div#gJSomKNtPm_inpost .mo-optin-form-description, div#gJSomKNtPm div.mo-optin-form-container div#gJSomKNtPm_inpost p { font-size: 18px !important; }div#gJSomKNtPm div#gJSomKNtPm_inpost .mo-optin-form-note { font-size: 14px !important; }@media screen and (max-width: 768px) { div#gJSomKNtPm div#gJSomKNtPm_inpost .mo-optin-form-headline, div#gJSomKNtPm div.mo-optin-form-container div#gJSomKNtPm_inpost h2, div#gJSomKNtPm div.mo-optin-form-container div#gJSomKNtPm_inpost h1 { font-size: 30px !important; } div#gJSomKNtPm div#gJSomKNtPm_inpost .mo-optin-form-description, div#gJSomKNtPm div.mo-optin-form-container div#gJSomKNtPm_inpost p { font-size: 18px !important; } div#gJSomKNtPm div#gJSomKNtPm_inpost .mo-optin-form-note { font-size: 14px !important; } }@media screen and (max-width: 480px) { div#gJSomKNtPm div#gJSomKNtPm_inpost .mo-optin-form-headline, div#gJSomKNtPm div.mo-optin-form-container div#gJSomKNtPm_inpost h2, div#gJSomKNtPm div.mo-optin-form-container div#gJSomKNtPm_inpost h1 { font-size: 25px !important; } div#gJSomKNtPm div#gJSomKNtPm_inpost .mo-optin-form-description, div#gJSomKNtPm div.mo-optin-form-container div#gJSomKNtPm_inpost p { font-size: 16px !important; } div#gJSomKNtPm div#gJSomKNtPm_inpost .mo-optin-form-note, div#gJSomKNtPm div#gJSomKNtPm_inpost .mo-optin-form-note * { font-size: 12px !important; } }div#gJSomKNtPm .mo-mailchimp-interest-container { margin: 0 10px 2px; } div#gJSomKNtPm .mo-mailchimp-interest-label { font-size: 16px; margin: 5px 0 2px; } div#gJSomKNtPm input.mo-mailchimp-interest-choice { line-height: normal; border: 0; margin: 0 5px; } div#gJSomKNtPm span.mo-mailchimp-choice-label { vertical-align: middle; font-size: 14px; } div#gJSomKNtPm .mo-mailchimp-interest-choice-container { margin: 5px 0; }div#gJSomKNtPm .mo-mailchimp-interest-label { display:inline-block!important; } div#gJSomKNtPm span.mo-mailchimp-choice-label { vertical-align:baseline!important; } div#gJSomKNtPm .mo-mailchimp-interest-container { padding:18px 0 6px 0; } div#gJSomKNtPm .mo-mailchimp-choice-label { font-size:16px!important; }

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