Heena Sharma Blog

  As Tesla faces several fatal crashes in the recent past that has put its Autopilot mode in scrutiny, engineers at Consumer Reports engineers have easily tricked a Tesla Model Y to drive on the electric carmakers driver assistance feature, without actually anyone in the drivers seat. During the drive, Tesla Model Y automatically steered along painted lane lines, but the system did not send out a warning that the driver's seat was empty. The engineers tricked Tesla vehicle by placing a small, weighted chain on the steering wheel, to simulate the weight of a driver's hand, and slid over into the front passenger seat without opening any of the vehicle's doors, because that would disengage Autopilot, the report said on Thursday. Using the same steering wheel dial, the engineers reached over and was able to accelerate the vehicle from a full stop. "In our evaluation, the system not only failed to make sure the driver was paying attention, but it also couldn't...

  South Korea's LG Chem Ltd plans to more than double production capacity of battery cells it makes in China for Tesla Inc electric vehicles (EV) next year, sources said, to keep up with its U.S. client's growth in the biggest car market. The firm, a supplier for Tesla's Shanghai-built Model 3, will also ship its increased output from China as well as Korea to Tesla's factories in Germany and the United States, said two people with knowledge of the matter, signalling an increased role in the supply chain of the world's leading EV manufacturer. The plan comes as Tesla, LG Chem's primary customer, scrambles to secure cells as part of an aggressive global production expansion plan, as it targets soaring demand fanned by governments promoting EVs to curb air pollution. LG Chem has already added production lines in South Korea this year mainly to meet demand from Tesla's U.S. plant, the people said. Moreover, the automaker has asked Japan's Panasonic ...

  Tesla Inc has obtained permission to start selling its Shanghai-made Model Y sports utility vehicle in China. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology published the approval on its website on Monday. Tesla, now sells its Model 3 electric cars in China and has been building new car manufacturing capacity in Shanghai to make its Model Y SUVs. It applied for the Shanghai-made Model Y SUV sales permission earlier this month. It started delivering vehicles made in its Shanghai factory last December and sold more than 13,000 vehicles in China in October. The company has started exporting China-made Model 3 cars to Europe and said last week it plans to also start making electric vehicle chargers in China in 2021. Read More

Tesla Inc 's highly anticipated unveiling of its futuristic pickup truck suffered a setback after its " armoured glass " windows shattered during a demonstration. During the tightly choreographed unveiling of the Cybertruck to cheering fans on Thursday, Tesla boss Elon Musk had taken a stab at the design, power and durability of mainstream trucks, only to be shaken when his boast about his new truck's windows backfired. With a starting price of $39,900, the Cybertruck's futuristic, angular body in gun-metal grapy resembles an armoured vehicle and takes aim at the heart of Detroit automakers' profits. Musk singled out the Ford F-150, the top-selling vehicle in the United States, to highlight the capabilities of the Cybertruck, showing an edited video of the two trucks in a back-to-back "tug-of-war" in which the Cybertruck takes off, dragging the F-150 behind it shortly after both trucks accelerate from starting position. To show off the...

Not content with monitoring almost everything you do online, Facebook now wants to read your mind as well. The social media giant recently announced a breakthrough in its plan to create a device that reads people’s brainwaves to allow them to type just by thinking. And Elon Musk wants to go even further. One of the Tesla boss’ other companies, Neuralink, is developing a brain implant to connect people’s minds directly to a computer. Musk admits that he takes inspiration from science fiction, and that he wants to make sure humans can “keep up” with artificial intelligence. He seems to have missed the part of sci-fi that acts as a warning for the implications of technology. These mind-reading systems could affect our privacy, security, identity, equality and personal safety. Do we really want all that left to companies with philosophies such as that of Facebook’s former mantra, “move fast and break things”? Though they sound futuristic, the technologies needed to make brainwa...

Tesla Inc said board member Robyn Denholm will replace Elon Musk as its chair, more than a month after the billionaire had to step down as the electric-car maker's chairman as part of a settlement with U.S. regulators. Tesla had until Nov. 13 to name an independent board chairman under the settlement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which said Musk's tweets about taking the company private were fraudulent and that the billionaire could retain his role as CEO but should quit as chairman. Musk said in August he was considering taking Tesla private in a $420 a share and that he had secured funding for a deal that was later scuttled but attracted scrutiny from several government agencies. The appointment of Denholm caps months of turbulence for the company and its stock and investors called for stronger oversight of Musk, whose recent erratic public behavior raised concerns about his ability to steer the company through a rocky phase of growth. ...

If you’re among the multitudes sceptical that computers might one day be trustworthy replacements for drivers, consider this: The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says that 94 per cent of serious crashes are the result of human error. So yes, computers may prove to be safer at the controls. It’s not a high bar. The secret sauce of those computers’ becoming our chauffeurs is the ubiquitous force of artificial intelligence, which is already active in virtual personal assistants and a bank’s customer-service chatbot. But it’s the automobile where AI could have a critical role for the greatest number of people. Few AI applications carry the responsibility of automotive safety systems, where actions must be carried out in nanoseconds and an ill-considered response may have costly consequences. Systems that marry microprocessors, sensors and software to make fully driverless cars possible are in the advanced stages of development, but experts say the leap fro...

Tesla Inc on Thursday introduced a new $45,000 version of its Model 3 sedan on its website, launching the car as U.S. tax breaks for Tesla cars are about to decrease. According to the website, the rear-wheel-drive model has a "mid range" battery, a range of 260 miles, 50 miles less than the long-range battery that the more expensive Model 3 is equipped with. The new version has a delivery period of six to 10 weeks, according to the website, which would customers eligible for the current $7,500 U.S. tax credit if they take delivery by the end of the year. The tax credit for Tesla cars will drop by half on Jan. 1. Although Tesla has promised a base-level version of the Model 3 priced at $35,000, so far it has only produced higher-cost versions starting at about $49,000. Tesla has said that it would not manufacture the base-level version of the Model 3 this year. Adding the mid-priced version of the Model 3 appears to be a strategic way to lure possible bu...