Tesla's response to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) directive has led to an update in their Autopilot system, impacting over 2 million vehicles. This development follows a meticulous two-year investigation by the NHTSA into incidents where Tesla vehicles, using the Autopilot feature, collided with stationary emergency vehicles.
The timing of the report is suspicious. It comes just days after the Washington Post published a scathing article against Autopilot. The story was so biased that Tesla took the rare step of responding directly to it.
Background of the NHTSA Investigation
The NHTSA's exhaustive probe centered on whether Tesla's safeguards within the Autopilot system were sufficient in preventing misuse. The inquiry, which scrutinized Tesla’s response to a series of collisions, concluded recently, leading to a recall notice without placing direct blame on the Autopilot system itself. Instead, the focus was on the potential inadequacy of feature controls to prevent driver misuse.
Tesla’s Response and Recall Details
Tesla initiated a voluntary safety recall affecting approximately 2,031,220 vehicles. All of the changes will be handled through an over-the-air update; this is not a physical recall and requires no hardware changes.
This recall includes specific Model S vehicles produced between October 5, 2012, and December 7, 2023, Model X vehicles from September 15, 2015, Model 3 vehicles from July 15, 2017, and Model Y vehicles from January 9, 2020. The recall involves the Autosteer feature of Tesla’s Autopilot system and addresses issues particularly relevant when misused by drivers who fail to maintain continuous and sustained responsibility for vehicle operation.
Addressing the Recall in Software Update 2023.44.30
The software update, version 2023.44.30 is scheduled to roll out shortly and is expected to introduce several key features. This update is also expected to include Tesla’s much anticipated Holiday Update, which will include various new features, such as Alternate Routes While Driving, Automatic Calls to 911, High Fidelity Park Assist, and more. According to NHTSA, these are the Autopilot changes:
Additional Controls and Alerts: Enhanced controls and alerts for Autosteer engagement are introduced to ensure drivers maintain continuous driving responsibility.
Visual Alert Prominence: Visual alerts on the user interface are made more prominent, improving driver awareness and compliance. These new improved alerts can be seen in the photo above, which moves Autopilot alerts to the top of the screen instead of toward the bottom.
Simplified Autosteer Engagement: Known as 'Single-Pull Autosteer', this feature was made available in a previous update, although it’s not available to everyone yet. The goal is to make the engagement and disengagement of Autosteer more intuitive.
Enhanced Checks and Limiting Use: The update includes additional checks during Autosteer engagement, especially when driving outside controlled access highways and approaching traffic controls. It’s unclear whether Tesla will limit the use of Autopilot on certain road types, although the recall document makes it sound like that may be a possibility here. An owner we’ve talked to who has the NHTSA changes, specifically said that Autosteer was not available at times, although it’s not clear whether these are additional limitations or whether Autopilot just didn’t have enough information to activate. FSD appears to be unaffected and the recall document by NTSHA does not refer to Tesla’s FSD specifically.
Suspension for Autopilot: In a move to enforce responsible use, drivers who repeatedly fail to adhere to continuous driving responsibility may face temporary suspension from using the Autosteer feature. In some images we’ve received, it appears that Tesla will apply its suspension system that’s used on FSD Beta to regular Autosteer as well.
This update reflects Tesla's dedication to addressing safety concerns while pushing the boundaries of autonomous driving technology. By collaborating with the NHTSA and proactively enhancing the Autopilot system, Tesla continues to set standards in the automotive industry. As autonomous technology evolves, Tesla's approach is a benchmark for integrating advanced safety features and balancing innovation and driver responsibility.
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Back in 2023, Tesla put together a rather unique Supercharger site idea - one with a CyberCanopy. This canopy is intended to provide solar power for Supercharging, helping to reduce the impact on the local grid while also providing a futuristic and Cybertruck-themed location that would set it apart.
Unfortunately, the plans never moved beyond the filing stage. Instead, Tesla opened a standard-looking Supercharger at the same Canton, Massachusetts location. However, the site is still well-situated just off the highway and benefits from natural tree cover in the parking area.
However, Tesla is at it again with a concept for another CyberCanopy with RGB lighting. Thanks to MarkoRP for spotting this. No April Fool’s this time.
We want to build a few Superchargers cool enough to be worthy of the trip itself. - Max de Zegher
CyberCanopy 2
This second Supercharger with CyberCanopy is set for Roswell, New Mexico, at the Whataburger in town. Featuring just eight stalls, this will be one of Tesla’s smaller Supercharger sites, but for what it lacks in size, it makes up for it in uniqueness. The charging stalls are covered from the rain by a futuristic, Cybertruck-themed canopy, which will have solar panels installed on the top of it.
According to the plans, the CyberCanopy boasts 20.88kW of solar panels on its roof, providing shelter from the elements while also providing some power back to the grid.
RGB Lighting
At nighttime, the Supercharger will make a big statement. Tesla intends to light the long edges of the canopy, which will not only look amazing, but it’ll actually make finding the Supercharger easier in a large parking lot.
The lighting coming off the edge of the canopy reminds us a lot of the lightbar on the Cybertruck and now the new Model Y. It’s definitely the direction Tesla is moving for all their models, so expect all future models to have it, including the new Roadster and the next-gen model.
Tesla’s Max de Zegher also took to X after the plans for the new Supercharger were found and shared the image above. He stated that Tesla wants to build a few cool Superchargers that will be worth stopping at, even if they’re out of the way a little bit. So it seems like this isn’t just a concept, but an idea that Tesla wants to expand to several areas around the country or world.
We want to build a few Superchargers cool enough to be worthy of the trip itself. Wish we could have kept it under wraps for longer, but submittal was needed for Planning Approval. We can't hide anything from @MarcoRPi1! 🙂 pic.twitter.com/X2WaKDd408
This particular site doesn't have a Megapack or other form of energy storage, unlike the upcoming Harris Ranch Supercharger site in California. That means that Tesla won’t be storing the solar energy gained from this site, but instead will be either offsetting the immediate grid impact or serving energy back to the grid when the site isn’t actively charging.
Tesla will likely be incorporating V4 Superchargers, including both V4 posts and the new, more powerful V4 Cabinets, as the permit states that Tesla will be redesigning the site internally before beginning construction. For Cybertruck owners, 500kW charging may be around the corner.
We’re hoping Tesla continues to deploy these kinds of Supercharger sites around the world - they make a stylistic statement about Tesla’s futurism, like the Shell gas station that was upcycled into a Supercharger site earlier this year in Spain.
They also make a big impact for ownership because it is a far more comfortable charging experience when you stop at a site that’s shaded from the elements - and one that’s better for the environment with offset emissions.
It was a rainy April 1st when a news-searching author went on a delve into the depths of April Fools to find fact from falsehood. And while we found a lot of fantastic jokes, we also found some good ideas.
So, with a shoutout to MarcoRP on X, whose April Fool’s Joke gave us a good run for our money for a couple of minutes, we thought to ourselves - what would a Cybercab Charging Station / Cleaning Hub really look like?
Cybercab Wireless Charging Sites
Now, before continuing, we’d like to point out that the image up top is a joke from Marco - it isn’t an accurate or real site map submission from Tesla. However, it gave us the impetus to think critically about what is required for a Robotaxi fleet, based primarily on the Cybercab, to be able to service a city.
Requirements
Tesla will likely need to charge a small fleet of Cybercabs at a single time and in a single place. That means that the site needs to be large enough to cover a major metro area while also still being compact enough to not cost too much money to build out.
In addition, we need to factor in charge times. The Cybercab is likely to launch with a battery around 50 kWh, which will result in a range of approximately 300 miles. With that much range, the average Cybercab may not need to charge more than once or at all during daytime shifts, so instead, most of the vehicles will charge overnight.
MarcoRP
Math and Charge Times
The overnight charging means that most of these vehicles could be charged slowly. When we did some back-of-the-napkin math last year, we determined that Tesla’s wireless charger will likely peak around 17 kW (for comparison, Tesla’s Wall Connector at 32 amps charges at about 7 kW). If we scale Tesla’s wireless charger down slightly to 10 kW, accounting for some energy loss and the potential size of the site, that means a Cybercab will be able to charge in about 5 hours.
Tesla’s upcoming V4 Supercharger unit can currently handle 1.5MW per cabinet, but this slower-speed charging is A/C, not DC, which means there is a step-down loss of about 3-5%. Let’s make that a comfortable 10% for any other overages, but we can estimate around 1.35MW of power. That 1.3MW will easily handle charging up to 100 Cybercabs at once - all wirelessly, using Tesla’s unique beam-forming and beam-steering technology to keep efficiency high at every single stall.
Within about 5 hours, a whole fleet of 100 Cybercabs could be charged overnight when electricity rates are cheaper and still be out in time for the morning commute.
While this is all just hypothetical, it really does make sense that Tesla will be establishing these sites that won’t require much space or a ton of energy.
Tesla recently curtained off a large section of the parking garage at Giga Texas, as well as some of their chargers on the eastern end of the facility, leading us to believe they may just be testing this at scale internally.
There’s a lot to look forward to with Tesla’s V4 Supercharger deployment coming this year and with Robotaxi launching in just a couple of months.
