“Tesla Recharged” gives customers year-end insights in the Tesla app for stats such as how often users’ homes are powered off-grid.
As Not a Tesla App reports, Tesla Energy users get trophies like “Solar Punk” if they’re in the top 25 percent generating solar energy for the year or “Team Player” for being in the top 1 percent of sending electricity back to the grid.
The company has been trading emails with the city’s autonomous vehicle taskforce about deploying a robotaxi service next year, according to Bloomberg. Texas has fewer regulatory hurdles for autonomous vehicle operators than California. But there are still a lot of unanswered questions. Austin residents: be on the lookout for driverless Teslas hopping curbs and rear-ending other cars.
The self-driving computer in some new Teslas is apparently failing, according to Electrek:
The problem is linked to a new version of Tesla’s HW4 (sometimes called AI4) onboard self-driving computer. Internally, some refer to the new version as AI4.1. The computers are short-circuiting. The cause is still being investigated, but one source told Electrek that one of the possible causes is the low-voltage battery short-circuiting the computer during the camera calibration process.
The full report has more, including that remedies could include a computer replacement or a potential software patch that Electrek says would “help temporarily.”
Zheng Gao worked at Tesla for eight years, most recently as head of autopilot hardware design. He also spent nine years at Apple on its connector and input device product design team. At Zoox, he’ll lead the hardware engineering team, where he’ll be under pressure to meet the Amazon-owned company’s deadline to launch a commercial robotaxi service in 2025. Zoox’s co-founder has previously dinged Tesla for promoting self-driving technology that “doesn’t work.”
The satellite radio service has been available in the Model S and X since 2020 but was conspicuously absent from Tesla’s two best-selling models and electric truck.
Like the Apple Watch app, it’s part of Tesla’s 2024 holiday update, and SiriusXM’s offering a one-month free trial. Of course, Tesla Premium Connectivity ($9.99/month) or an active Wi-Fi connection is also required.
