Tag Archives: automakers

Tesla Workers Shared Videos From Customers’ Cars

Reuters reports: Tesla Inc assures its millions of electric car owners that their privacy “is and will always be enormously important to us.” The cameras it builds into vehicles to assist driving, it notes on its website, are “designed from the ground up to protect your privacy.” But between 2019 and 2022, groups of Tesla employees privately shared via an …

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Feds Probe Tesla Over Steering Wheels Coming Off

The Associated Press reports: U.S. auto safety regulators have opened an investigation into Tesla’s Model Y SUV after getting two complaints that the steering wheels can come off while being driven. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says the probe covers an estimated 120,000 vehicles from the 2023 model year. The agency says in both cases the Model Ys were …

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Tesla Shareholders Sue Musk Over Self-Driving Claims

The Guardian reports: Elon Musk is facing yet another lawsuit as shareholders of Tesla accuse the chief executive and his company of overstating the effectiveness and safety of their electric vehicles’ autopilot and full self-driving technologies. Shareholders have alleged in the proposed class-action lawsuit that Tesla defrauded them over four years with false and misleading statements that concealed how its …

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Musk Expected To Unveil Plan For Inexpensive Tesla

Reuters reports: Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk has for years teased the world with his dream of an affordable electric car. This week, fans hope, he will explain what he has in mind – and perhaps how he can afford to build it. Musk said last year he shelved the plan for a $25,000 car, known as Model 2, and …

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NTSB Questions Tesla On Fatal Crash Into CA Fire Truck

Bloomberg News reports: The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration asked Tesla Inc. for more information about one of its vehicles colliding with a fire truck in a fatal crash in the San Francisco Bay area. The agency reached out to the manufacturer after the incident in Contra Costa County during the Presidents’ Day holiday weekend. The county fire department …

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Tesla To Recall 362,000 Cars With “Full Self-Driving”

The New York Times reports: Tesla is recalling more than 362,000 cars equipped with its Full Self-Driving driver-assistance system after government regulators found it increased the risk of accidents. The company’s technology, which can steer, accelerate, brake and change lanes on its own, allows vehicles to travel above legal speed limits and through intersections in “an unlawful or unpredictable manner,” …

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Elon Musk Prevails In Civil Trial Over Tesla Tweets

Bloomberg News reports: A jury cleared Elon Musk of claims by Tesla Inc. investors that he defrauded them when he tweeted 4 1/2 years ago that he was considering taking the company private and had “funding secured” to make the deal happen. The verdict in San Francisco federal court rejects allegations that the electric-car maker’s CEO violated securities laws and …

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Musk Personally Oversaw Staged Self-Driving Demo

Bloomberg News reports: Elon Musk oversaw the creation of a 2016 video that exaggerated the abilities of Tesla Inc.’s driver-assistance system Autopilot, even dictating the opening text that claimed the company’s car drove itself, according to internal emails viewed by Bloomberg. Musk wrote to Tesla’s Autopilot team after 2 a.m. California time in October 2016 to emphasize the importance of …

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Virginia Gov Halts Ford Plant Over “Chinese Influence”

The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports: Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s decision to halt plans for a $3.5 billion Ford Motor Co. battery plant over his concerns about Chinese influence cost one of the poorest areas of Virginia a reported 2,500 jobs with potential for more. If Ford finalized the project, the plant would have gone in the Southern Virginia Mega Site at Berry …

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Today: Jury Selection Begins In Elon Musk’s Tesla Trial

The Associated Press reports: Elon Musk claimed in a August 7, 2018 tweet that he had lined up the financing to pay for a $72 billion buyout of Tesla, which he then amplified with a follow-up statement that made a deal seem imminent. But the buyout never materialized and now Musk will have to explain his actions under oath in …

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Tesla “Dramatically” Slashes Prices As Stock Plummets

Axios reports: The company overnight “dramatically” cut prices of its Model 3 and Model Y in the U.S. by a weighted average of about $10,000, or 16%, according to Evercore ISI analysts. Tesla has experienced a sharp drop in its stock price over the last several months as Musk’s Twitter management led to criticism of his leadership — and as …

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Tesla Issues 19th Vehicle Recall So Far This Year

Yahoo Finance reports: There are more headaches for Tesla as the automaker revealed it is recalling 321,000 vehicles due to a safety issue. In a filing posted over the weekend on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration website, the automaker said some Tesla Model 3 sedans and Model Y SUVs had an issue that caused the tail lamps to “intermittently …

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Mercedes-Benz To Withdraw From Russian Market

Reuters reports: Mercedes-Benz said on Wednesday it would withdraw from the Russian market and sell shares in its industrial and financial services subsidiaries to a local investor, becoming the latest carmaker to exit the country. Japan’s Nissan this month took a $687 million loss in handing over its business in Russia to a state-owned entity for one euro, mirroring an …

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Tesla Recalls 1.1M Cars Over Non-Reversing Windows

The Associated Press reports: Tesla is recalling nearly 1.1 million vehicles in the U.S. because the windows can pinch a person’s fingers when being rolled up. Tesla says in documents posted Thursday by U.S. safety regulators that the automatic window reversal system may not react correctly after detecting an obstruction. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says that’s a violation …

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Lawyer: Musk Admitted Tesla’s Fault In Fatal Crash

Bloomberg News reports: Elon Musk told the father of a teenager who died in a Tesla Model S crash that the carmaker made a mistake in removing a speed limiter from the vehicle without the father’s permission, a lawyer for the family said in court. Curtis Miner, the attorney, told a jury Thursday that the billionaire chief executive officer of …

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Tesla Workers Told To Return To The Office Or Resign

From Elon Musk’s email to Tesla employees: Everyone at Tesla is required to spend a minimum of 40 hours in the office per week. Moreover, the office must be where your actual colleagues are located, not some remote pseudo office. If you don’t show up, we will assume you have resigned. The more senior you are, the more visible must …

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Senators Seek FTC Probe Into Tesla’s “Autopilot” Costs

The Verge reports: Senators Ed Markey (D-MA) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) have asked new Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan to investigate Tesla’s marketing of its advanced driver assistance system, Autopilot. The Senators are particularly concerned with how Tesla has been charging customers thousands of dollars for what it refers to as “Full Self-Driving capability,” despite the fact that buying …

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Feds Probe Tesla After Series Of “Autopilot” Crashes

The Wall Street Journal reports: U.S. auto safety regulators are investigating Tesla Inc.’s advanced driver-assistance system known as Autopilot after a series of crashes involving emergency vehicles. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in a document made public Monday that it had identified 11 crashes since early 2018 in which a Tesla vehicle using the company’s driver-assistance system struck …

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NY International Auto Show Canceled For Second Year

The Verge reports: The 2021 New York International Auto Show has been canceled as the delta variant of COVID-19 continues to spread throughout the United States. The show was supposed to run from August 20th to August 29th at the Jacob K. Javits Center in New York City. The show’s organizers announced the cancellation Wednesday “with great disappointment,” according to …

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VW Accidentally Posts New Name In US: “Voltswagen”

USA Today reports: Volkswagen’s American division appears poised to change its name to “Voltswagen,” switching the “k” to a “t” in a nod toward the automaker’s investment in electric vehicles. The German automaker’s announcement on the change appeared briefly on its media site Monday before it was removed, having apparently been released before it was ready for an official rollout. …

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