When cave dwellers invented spears for hunting, they also invented the hunting accident. When automobiles came into use, the auto accident was invented. Most auto accidents are caused by a driver doing the wrong thing. That can happen if a Tesla driver puts too much faith in Autopilot and doesn't pay attention to the road ahead.
The Associated Press reported a sadly fatal auto accident in Fontana, California. The driver of the Tesla had been posting video of himself driving without his hands on the wheel. When his final accident happened, he was probably not paying attention to the road because he crashed into an overturned truck.
This wasn't the sort of unavoidable accident where a truck crashes and the following car is too close to stop. This truck was on the ground long enough for a driver of another vehicle to stop and render aid to the truck driver. Then the Tesla hit the truck, killing the Tesla's driver and injuring the person rendering aid to the trucker. The fault was not with Autopilot. The driver was at fault.
There seem to be people who ignore the fact that Tesla warns all its drivers Autopilot is not the same as autonomous. Any Tesla driver who is paying attention will observe that the Tesla Autopilot doesn't distinguish between trucks lying on their side across the road and signs above the road that traffic can pass under.
My own Tesla has not seen trucks crossing a road at a ninety degree angle. The reason I am still alive is that I was paying attention, and I stepped on the brake.
I thought about how to prevent this type of accident. There are two ways.
Tesla should implement it's internal camera and bring the car safely to a stop when it sees the driver not paying attention to the road. Other drivers should report misbehaving Tesla drivers to the police.
It also looks like Tesla may now be adding additional checks whether the driver is paying attention, beyond just checking whether torque is beyond applied to the steering wheel. According to Tesla enthusiast @greentheonly on Twitter, one of the most recent firmware updates may include detecting and possibly even disabling Autopilot if the driver vacates the driver's seat.
For the first time in quite a while, Tesla has increased the price of one of its vehicle offerings. The Model S Long Range and the Model S Plaid have both received a hefty price increase. However, not all is bad - as Tesla also added a new benefit for buyers.
Price Increase
The price increase for the Model S is $5,000 - currently only in the United States. This price increase will likely impact other markets, including Canada, in the coming days.
The Model S Long Range now starts at $79,990, while the Model S Plaid now starts at $94,990. The Model S and Model X now have the same starting price. Interestingly, that’s also the same pricing point for the Cybertruck AWD and Cyberbeast Trimotor non-Foundation Series.
The vehicle configuration does not appear to have changed, so the new pricing is simply an increase rather than the addition or removal of features. Tesla previously cut the price of the Model S and Model X by 15% in 2023, so this could simply be an adjustment to ensure that the vehicle pricing stays in line with inflation and other factors.
Free Lifetime Supercharging
For those on the fence about ordering a Model S, Tesla has brought back Free Lifetime Supercharging when you order a new Model S on or after December 13, 2024. As always, Free Lifetime Supercharging is restricted to the buyer’s Tesla account and to that specific vehicle. It cannot be transferred to another vehicle or another owner after ownership transfer. It’s worth noting, that it also doesn’t exclude the owner from receiving Supercharger idle fees or congestion fees. There is currently no end date for this promotion.
There are currently no changes to the Model X, neither a price increase nor the addition of Lifetime Superchargering. However, when Tesla makes changes to one of their premium vehicles, it usually affects the other one as well. So be on the lookout for potential changes to the Model X offering in the coming days.
We’ve seen Tesla value Lifetime Supercharging at $5,000, so this falls in line with the price increase we’re seeing. It’s possible that Tesla will begin to bring back Lifetime Supercharging as a perk for buying into their more premium Model S and Model X cars, or this could be another temporary promotion to get buyers who are on the fence to go ahead and make their purchase while this promotion lasts.
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.
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.
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