Telsa Motors is constantly in the news. Here are the latest news stories surrounding Tesla Motors about its Gigafactory, competitors, collisions, secrets and partnerships.
Gigfactory Grand Opening
The Tesla Gigafactory will open on July 29 when there will be a ceremony attended by officials VIPs and Tesla car owners. The Tesla owners received invites who participated in the Tesla sales program. The Gigafactory is in Nevada and will cut down the cost of producing electric vehicles because the batteries will be made on site.
The Sincerest Form of Flattery?
Tesla Motors has inspired several copy cats according Tracxn a startup analysis program. Competitors include:
- Protera
- Ateiva
- Smith
- ZeroF
- araday Future
- NextEv
Meanwile, there were several electric motor companies that collapsed after raising funding including Fisker Automotive, Better Place, A123 Systems, Coda Automotive and Think Global.
Tesla fans have been guessing what colors the Tesla 3 will be painted. The guesses include red, Titanium Metalic and flat black.
Orders Cancelled
Whoops, after the deluge of deposits for Tesla 3 models, 12,200 were cancelled- 8,000 were cancelled by customers and 4,200 duplicates were canceled by Tesla. The numbers were reported in a SEC filing to raise $1.4 Billion in shares.
“If we wanted to, we believe that we could further increase the number of Model 3 reservations with minimal effort but believe it is better to guide customers to purchase products currently in production,” Tesla Motors reported.
Secret Software Sauce
According to the MIT Technology Review, Tesla uses secret software updates to customers’ cars to test out features, especially AutoPilot. New sensors and cameras were installed in the 2014 models. Since the introduction of the new sensors, every 10 hours Tesla gets another million miles worth of data.
A Tesla S outfitted with new sensors and extra cameras was spotted on the road with some speculationg that the company is testing AutoPilot.
It was discovered and photographed by Darren Schilberg at the Cranberry Supercharger north of Pittsburgh, PA.
Tesla Rear-Ends Van on Highway
A Tesla Model S on Autopilot rear-ended a van in the high-speed lane of a highway. The owner, Chris Thomann who has video from his dash cam claimed it shows the Traffic Aware Cruise Control/Autopilot feature of his car didn’t work.
The video description states
A Tesla Model S on Autopilot crashed into the back of a stalled van in the fast lane of a highway this week. The owner Chris Thomann who caught the accident through his dash cam believes it shows the Traffic Aware Cruise Control/Autopilot feature of his car malfunctioned.
“1. The TACC, active cruise control did not brake as it normally does.
2. The automatic braking system (AEB) did not break.
3. The forward collision warning turned on way too late, it was set to normal warning distance.
4. The TACC actually was speeding up just before I did hit the brakes.
Yes, I could have reacted sooner, but when the car slows down correctly a thousand times, you trust it to do it the next time to. My bad.”
The Tesla owner’s manual states,”Always pay attention to the road ahead and stay prepared to take immediate corrective action.”
New Partnerships