New Photo Reveals the Cybertruck’s Range To Be About 290 Miles

November 29, 2023

By Kevin Armstrong

A new photo by MBKHD reveals the Cybertruck's range

MBKHD / Not a Tesla App

There is a new range anxiety in the Tesla community. It's not the usual, will I make it to the next Supercharger? Instead, will the Cybertruck range live up to expectations? A recently surfaced video shows the stainless steel beast's range, sparking discussions and theories.

A Look at the Cybertruck's Range

There have been various videos alluding to the Cybertruck's range. A recent video showcased the Cybertruck's interior and an intricate user interface.

Eagle-eyed observers scrutinized the footage, leading to a spectrum of predictions regarding the Cybertruck's range. Some estimate the truck will get somewhere between 220 to 320 miles. These figures are speculative but align with Tesla's initial promises during the Cybertruck's unveiling four years ago for the dual motor variant. However, it's essential to remember that these are based on this specific Cybertruck, for a specific trip, which could be uphill or downhill, which leaves significant variance in the final range.

New MKBHD

Today, a new photo by MBKHD, shows a more accurate representation of the Cybertruck's range.

In the image, MKBHD shows the steering wheel of the Cybertruck with a glimpse of the screen in the corner. The screen displays the Cybertruck has a current range of 265 miles. According to the slashes, which is the way the Cybertruck will display the battery level, you can tell all the slashes are filled in, except for one. The last one appears almost fully depleted, leading us to believe the Cybertruck is at about 90-92 percent charged.

The calculations lead to a final range of between 288 miles (if it's charged to 92%), to 294 miles (charged to 90%). If this is the dual-motor variant, that's right on par with Tesla's original announcement, however, if it's the tri-motor trim, then it leaves quite a bit to be desired.

Regardless of the trim level, these figures appear to line up well with the calculations from the previous video.

A Mysterious Encounter in Mojave

That number would also line up with speculation after that chance encounter at a Supercharger in Mojave, CA. A Cybertruck was facing charging issues while awaiting a tow. A Tesla engineer told a member of the Cybertruck Owners Club that it could match the Tesla Model X, which boasts an EPA-estimated range of 333 to 348 miles.

For context, the competition Rivian R1T offers a range of 270 to 410 miles, depending on the model. The Ford F-150 Lightning ranges from 240 to 320 miles, based on battery and motor configuration.

As the delivery event nears, range anxiety will continue to grow. With high expectations and a competitive market, Tesla's Cybertruck stands at a critical juncture, ready to either revolutionize the electric pickup segment or face the challenges of meeting lofty promises. The upcoming event promises to be a significant moment for Tesla, with much at stake in terms of both technological innovation and market positioning.

Tesla’s Optimus Robot Learns to Walk Without Vision [VIDEO]

December 13, 2024

By Karan Singh

Optimus Falls - but catches itself!

Not a Tesla App

Tesla recently showed off a demo of Optimus, its humanoid robot, walking around in moderately challenging terrain—not on a flat surface but on dirt and slopes. These things can be difficult for a humanoid robot, especially during the training cycle.

Daily walks help clear your mind pic.twitter.com/dUsW58trS6
— Tesla Optimus (@Tesla_Optimus) December 9, 2024

A Look Behind the Curtain

Most interestingly, Milan Kovac, VP of Engineering for Optimus, clarified what it takes to get Optimus to this stage. Let’s break down what he said.

Optimus is Blind

Optimus is getting seriously good at walking now - it can keep its balance over uneven ground - even while walking blind. Tesla is currently using just the sensors, all powered by a neural net running on the embedded computer.

Essentially, Tesla is building Optimus from the ground up, relying on as much additional data as possible while it trains vision. This is similar to how they train FSD on vehicles, using LiDAR rigs to validate the vision system’s accuracy. While Optimus doesn’t have LiDAR, it relies on all those other sensors on board, many of which will likely become simplified as vision takes over as the primary sensor.

Today, Optimus is walking blind, but it’s able to react almost instantly to changes in the terrain underneath it, even if it falls or slips.

What’s Next?

Next up, Tesla AI will be adding vision to Optimus - helping complete the neural net. Remember, Optimus runs on the same overall AI stack as FSD - in fact, Optimus uses an FSD computer and an offshoot of the FSD stack for vision-based tasks.

Milan mentions they’re planning on adding vision to help the robot plan ahead and improve its walking gait. While the zombie shuffle is iconic and a little bit amusing, getting humanoid robots to walk like humans is actually difficult.

There’s plenty more, too - including better responsiveness to velocity and direction commands and learning to fall and stand back up. Falling while protecting yourself to minimize damage is something natural to humans - but not exactly natural to something like a robot. Training it to do so is essential in keeping the robot, the environment around it, and the people it is interacting with safe.

We’re excited to see what’s coming with Optimus next because it is already getting started in some fashion in Tesla’s factories.

Is Tesla Close to Licensing FSD? GM Quits Cruise, BMW Praises Tesla

December 13, 2024

By Karan Singh

Not a Tesla App

In a relatively surprising move, GM announced that it is realigning its autonomy strategy and prioritizing advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) over fully autonomous vehicles.

GM is effectively closing Cruise (autonomous) and focusing on its Super Cruise (ADAS) feature. The engineering teams at Cruise will join the GM teams working on Super Cruise, effectively shuttering the fully autonomous vehicle business.

End of Cruise

GM cites that “an increasingly competitive robotaxi market” and “considerable time and resources” are required for scaling the business to a profitable level. Essentially - they’re unable to keep up with competitors at current funding and research levels, putting them further and further behind.

Cruise has been offering driverless rides in several cities, using HD mapping of cities alongside vehicles equipped with a dazzling array of over 40 sensors. That means that each cruise vehicle is essentially a massive investment and does not turn a profit while collecting data to work towards Autonomy.

Cruise has definitely been on the back burner for a while, and a quick glance at their website - since it's still up for now - shows the last time they officially released any sort of major news packet was back in 2019.

Competition is Killer

Their current direct competitor - Waymo, is funded by Google, which maintains a direct interest in ensuring they have a play in the AI and autonomy space.

Interestingly, this news comes just a month after Tesla’s We, Robot event, where they showed off the Cybercab and the Robotaxi network, as well as plans to begin deployment of the network and Unsupervised FSD sometime in 2025. Tesla is already in talks with some cities in California and Texas to launch Robotaxi in 2025.

GM Admits Tesla Has the Right Strategy

As part of the business call following the announcement, GM admitted that Tesla’s end-to-end and Vision-based approach towards autonomy is the right strategy. While they say Cruise started down that path, they’re putting aside their goals towards fully autonomous vehicles for now and focusing on introducing that tech in Super Cruise instead.

NEWS: GM just admitted that @Tesla’s end-to-end approach to autonomy is the right strategy.

“That’s where the industry is pivoting. Cruise had already started making headway down that path. We are moving to a foundation model and end-to-end approach going forward.” pic.twitter.com/ACs5SFKUc3
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) December 10, 2024

With GM now focusing on Super Cruise, they’ll put aside autonomy and instead focus solely on ADAS features to relieve driver stress and improve safety. While those are positive goals that will benefit all road users, full autonomy is really the key to removing the massive impact that vehicle accidents have on society today.

In addition, Super Cruise is extremely limited, cannot brake for traffic controls, and doesn’t work in adverse conditions - even rain. It can only function when lane markings are clear, there are no construction zones, and there is a functional web connection.

The final key to the picture is that the vehicle has to be on an HD-mapped and compatible highway - essentially locking Super Cruise to wherever GM has time to spend mapping, rather than being functional anywhere in a general sense, like FSD or Autopilot.

Others Impressed - Licensing FSD

Interestingly, some other manufacturers have also weighed into the demise of Cruise. BMW, in a now-deleted post, said that a demo of Tesla’s FSD is “very impressive.” There’s a distinct chance that BMW and other manufacturers are looking to see what Tesla does next.

BMW chimes in on a now-deleted post. The Internet is forever, BMW!

Not a Tesla App

It seems that FSD has caught their eyes after We, Robot - and that the demonstrations of FSD V13.2 online seem to be the pivot point. At the 2024 Shareholder Meeting earlier in the year, Elon shared the fact that several manufacturers had reached out, looking to understand what was required to license FSD from Tesla.

There is a good chance 2025 will be the year we’ll see announcements of the adoption of FSD by legacy manufacturers - similar to how we saw the surprise announcements of the adoption of the NACS charging standard.