A new feature called “Driver Drowsiness Warning” is rolling out to cars in Europe that alerts drivers if they appear tired. It checks for facial cues and driving patterns that might indicate drowsiness using the inside camera and while not on Autopilot.
Until 2021, Tesla had only barebones driver monitoring involving steering wheel hand nudge checks while Autopilot was active.
Drivers could already see what stalls are occupied or broken, but with the new update (slowly) rolling out, Tesla now factors ETAs of drivers navigating to the same station and past activity data to predict wait times before arrival. It probably won’t factor in people taping cables to their cars, though.
In other charging news, Tesla is now deploying new V4 Superchargers in the US.
Elon Musk’s car company doesn’t officially support third-party apps, but developers can still use unofficial API documentation to make them. Tesla just made a small step in the direction of changing that.
Electrek reported last week that the company will deprecate its REST API by 2024, according to newly published documentation for its Tesla Vehicle Command SDK.
Earlier this year, Tesla teased an image of a Model 3 parked on top of what appeared to be a wireless charging pad. Speculation grew when it was reported that Tesla was acquiring Wiferion, a German wireless charging startup known for inductive charging technology for industrial robots and EVs. Now, just a few months later, Tesla has reportedly sold the company to another German company, PULS. Robot Report suggests it was an “acqui-hire” move, in which Tesla hires the engineers and then sells off the assets.
[The Robot Report]
V4 Superchargers feature a longer cable (which can reach the other side of a VW ID Buzz, as we’ve tested) and up to 350kW charging speeds — both of which are key to the US EV charging rollout as cars from more manufacturers start working with Tesla’s plugs.
The new DC fast-charging stations were spotted getting installed in Wilsonville, Oregon, and in Sparks, Nevada, as discovered by Tesla Motors Club users. One image shows it’ll have credit card terminals and “Magic Docks,” which can dispense a CCS dongle for non-Tesla EV compatibility.
Days after releasing a more affordable rear-wheel drive version of the Model Y in the US, Electrek reports that Tesla has also cut the prices of a number of different Model Y and Model 3 variants. Two Model Y variants received price cuts of $2,000, while three versions of the Model 3 saw prices drop between $1,250 and $2,250.
