Tag: vehicles
Tesla is now building Model 3 and Model Y vehicles without ultrasonic sensors
Tesla is removing ultrasonic sensors from Model 3 and Model Y vehicles, the next step in CEO Elon Musk’s plan to only use cameras and software to support its advanced driver assistance system and other active safety features. Starting this month, all Model 3 and Model Y vehicles built for North America, Europe, the Middle […]
Tesla is now building Model 3 and Model Y vehicles without ultrasonic sensors by Kirsten Korosec originally published on TechCrunch
Tesla set a new record with 343,830 electric vehicles delivered in the third quarter
Deliveries, meanwhile, increased 42 percent year over year from 241,300 models to 343,830 models. It is a new quarterly record for the EV maker despite falling short of analysts’ expectations. Refinitiv analysts expecting 359,162 deliveries and those with Street Account were anticipating 364,660 deliveries.
Tesla delivered a record 343,830 vehicles during the third quarter of 2022
Tesla delivered a record 343,830 vehicles in the third quarter of 2022, a sign that the Elon Musk-owned company has bounced back from a slower second quarter related to COVID-related factory shutdowns.
In a report on the automaker’s site, Tesla says the Model S and X made up 18,672 of its quarterly deliveries, while the Model 3 and Y accounted for 325,158. Tesla made a total of 365,923 cars during the quarter, leaving about 20,000 cars in its inventory.
The automaker clarifies that some of these electric vehicles (EVs) were “in transit at the end of the quarter,” adding that they “have been ordered and will be delivered to customers upon arrival at their destination.” Tesla also notes that it had been difficult to “secure vehicle…
Tesla built 365,923 electric vehicles in Q3, up 42 percent from Q2
After pandemic-related disruptions in Q2, Tesla ramped up its manufacturing capacity again last quarter, leading the company to make a record number of deliveries between July 1st and September 30th. The company built 365,923 electric vehicles during the period. That marks a year over-year production increase of nearly 54 percent, as Tesla manufactured 237,823 cars in Q3 2021. Production was also up by 41.5 percent from Q2 2022, when the automaker built 258,580 vehicles.
The company produced 19,935 Model S and Model X cars in Q3 and delivered 18,672. For the Model 3 and Model Y, those figures were 345,988 and 345,988, respectively. In total, Tesla says it was able to deliver 343,830 vehicles in Q3, the most it has delivered in any quarter to date. However, that was below expectations, according to Reuters. On average, analysts anticipated that Tesla would deliver 359,162 EVs during the quarter.
Tesla built around 20,000 more vehicles that it was able to deliver during Q3. “As our production volumes continue to grow, it is becoming increasingly challenging to secure vehicle transportation capacity and at a reasonable cost during these peak logistics weeks,” Tesla said in a statement.
CEO Elon Musk noted last year that Tesla sees a significant increase in deliveries at the end of every quarter. That’s because the Shanghai Gigafactory, which recently built its 1 millionth car, manufactures EVs bound for Europe and other countries in the first half of each quarter, “then cars for far away parts of China, then cars for nearby parts of China,” Musk said.
“In Q3, we began transitioning to a more even regional mix of vehicle builds each week, which led to an increase in cars in transit at the end of the quarter,” Tesla said. “These cars have been ordered and will be delivered to customers upon arrival at their destination.”
The number of cars Tesla manufactured and delivered dropped dramatically in Q2 2022. It was forced to suspend work at the Shanghai factory in March due to a COVID-19 outbreak in China. Production at the plant has resumed, while recently opened Gigafactories in Berlin and Texas have helped the company significantly improve its manufacturing numbers. We’ll learn more about what the uptick in production and deliveries means for Tesla’s bottom line when the company announces its Q3 financial results on October 19th.
Apple Responds to Video Testing Crash Detection Feature With Junkyard Vehicles
Stern recruited Michael Barabe to crash his demolition derby car with a heavy-duty steel frame into two unoccupied vehicles parked in a junkyard — a 2003 Ford Taurus and a 2008 Dodge Caravan. The results were mixed, with the iPhone and Apple Watch only detecting some of the crashes, which Apple said was the result of the testing conditions in the junkyard failing to provide enough “signals” to trigger the feature every time.
When I contacted Apple with the results, a company spokesman said that the testing conditions in the junkyard didn’t provide enough signals to the iPhone to trigger the feature in the stopped cars. It wasn’t connected to Bluetooth or CarPlay, which would have indicated the car was in use, and the vehicles might not have traveled enough distance prior to the crash to indicate driving. Had the iPhone received those extra indicators—and had its GPS shown the cars were on a real road—the likelihood of an alert would have been greater, he said.
Apple says its crash detection feature relies on “advanced Apple-designed motion algorithms trained with over a million hours of real-world driving and crash record data.” Stern outlined the various hardware sensors and software algorithms that assist with detecting a crash on supported iPhone and Apple Watch models:
• Motion sensors: All the devices have a three-axis gyroscope and high-g force accelerometer, which samples motion more than 3,000 times a second. It means the devices can detect the exact moment of impact and any change in motion or trajectory of the vehicle.
• Microphones: The mics are used to detect loud sound levels that might indicate a crash. The microphones are only turned on when driving is detected, and no actual sound is recorded, Apple says.
• Barometer: If the air bags deploy when the windows are closed, the barometer can detect a change in air pressure.
• GPS: Readings can be used to detect speeds prior to a crash and any sudden lack of movement, as well as inform the device that it’s traveling on a road.
• CarPlay and Bluetooth: When connected, these give the algorithms another signal that the phone is on board a car, so it knows to look out for a crash.
Crash detection is enabled by default on the iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Plus, iPhone 14 Pro, iPhone 14 Pro Max, Apple Watch Series 8, second-generation Apple Watch SE, and Apple Watch Ultra. The feature can be found in the Settings app under Emergency SOS → Call After Severe Crash and is not available on older iPhone and Apple Watch models.
Apple’s website says that the crash detection feature is designed to detect “severe” car crashes, such as “front-impact, side-impact, and rear-end collisions, and rollovers” involving “sedans, minivans, SUVs, pickup trucks, and other passenger cars.” Apple warns that the feature “cannot detect all car crashes,” so it is not failproof.
When a severe car crash is detected, a supported iPhone or Apple Watch displays an alert and sounds an alarm, according to Apple. If a user is able, they can call emergency services by swiping the Emergency Call slider on the iPhone or Apple Watch, or dismiss the alert. If they do not respond to the alert after 10 seconds, the device begins another 10-second countdown. If they still haven’t responded, the device calls emergency services.
Apple says if a severe car crash is detected, users will interact with the Apple Watch if they are wearing one. Otherwise, users interact with the iPhone.
All in all, while Stern said her test was not exactly scientific, it is reassuring that the feature detected some of the crashes. However, tests involving stationary vehicles in a controlled environment can never truly replicate an on-street collision.
This article, “Apple Responds to Video Testing Crash Detection Feature With Junkyard Vehicles” first appeared on MacRumors.com
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New York follows California in mandating zero-emission vehicles by 2035
Tesla to recall more than a million vehicles over pinchy windows
More than a million Tesla owners will have yet another recall notice to deal with in the coming weeks. On Tuesday the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration filed a safety recall notice for numerous late model vehicles from across the EV maker’s lineup because “the window automatic reversal system may not react correctly after detecting an obstruction,” and as such, “a closing window may exert excessive force by pinching a driver or passenger before retracting, increasing the risk of injury,” per the notice.
The following models and years are impacted: 2017-22 Model 3s as well as 2020-21 Model Y, X and S vehicles. Tesla has until mid-November to contact affected owners and plans to push an OTA software update to correct the issue.
I have the exact same problem and have had two service appointments for it. It’s still happening. Tesla service says they don’t have a fix for it. Are you kidding me?
— Taylor Ogan (@TaylorOgan) May 5, 2021
Per the Associated Press, Tesla first identified the issues during product testing in August and has incorporated the update into newly built vehicles since September 13th. However, multiple Twitter users have sounded off in response to Tuesday’s announcement, noting that their vehicles have been having nearly identical issues since at least 2021.
This is far from Tesla’s first safety recall. Over the last two years alone, Teslas have been recalled on account of overheating infotainment systems, camera and trunk defects, separating front suspensions, their “full self driving” ADAS, their pedestrian warning sounds, their seatbelt chimes, software glitches in their brakes, and sundry touchscreen failures. And that’s just in the US. In Germany this past July, Tesla got popped trying to pass off painted-over frame damage on its Model 3s too.
NTSB calls for all new vehicles to leverage tech to prevent drunk driving and speeding
The recommendation comes after an investigation into a New Year’s Day 2021 crash in Avenal, California, that killed nine people including seven children. According to the NTSB report, an SUV traveling between 88 and 98 mph crossed the center line into ongoing traffic and collided with a pickup occupied by…
Nvidia Unveils Drive Thor, One Chip To Rule All Software-Defined Vehicles
“If we look at a car today, advanced driver assistance systems, parking, driver monitoring, camera mirrors, digital instrument cluster and infotainment are all different computers distributed throughout the vehicle,” said Nvidia’s vice president of automotive, Danny Shapiro, at a press briefing Monday. “In 2025, these functions will no longer be separate computers. Rather, Drive Thor will enable manufacturers to efficiently consolidate these functions into a single system, reducing overall system cost.” One chip to rule them all. One chip to help automakers build software-defined autonomous vehicles. One chip to continuously upgrade over-the-air. Further reading: Nvidia Announces Next-Gen RTX 4090 and RTX 4080 GPUs
Read more of this story at Slashdot.