Tesla has been told to drop the Autopilot brand name, which it uses to promote its driver-assistance software, in Germany.
The Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) confirmed it had told Tesla to scrap the “misleading” term.
It said the term gave customers “incorrect expectations” that they could stop concentrating on the road and let Autopilot take over completely.
Tesla said it had always told drivers to keep their hands on the wheel.
Tesla will unveil something on Monday October 17, according CEO and founder Elon Musk. It’ll be a new product, he said in a Tweet on Sunday, which will be “unexpected by most,” and which will be separate from a Tesla/SolarCity product unveiling on the 28th.
Musk previously teased the October 28 event, saying it would include the unveiling of joint products from both the electric car and the solar energy companies, including a solar roof, along with an integrated second generation of the Tesla Powerwall energy storage solution, and a Tesla EV charger.
Tesla just put a cheaper version of its Model X SUV on the market. Don’t get too excited, though. The Model X is a luxury SUV and it still costs like one. Prices for the new Model X 60D start at $74,000.
That would be $66,500 after a $7,500 federal tax credit, which is how Tesla usually prefers to talk about its prices.
Tesla (TSLA) boasts on its website that it comes to just $768 a month after “estimated savings,” including the much lower cost of electricity compared to gasoline.
The 60D has a 60 kilowatt hour battery for an estimated driving range, on a full charge, of 200 miles. That’s compared to 237 miles for the $83,000 Model X 75D or 257 miles in the $95,500 90D.
“We need your help,” Tesla wrote in a Feb. 19 e-mail to its customers in Indiana. The state legislature was about to move forward with a bill that would have forced the electric-car maker to find a franchisee to operate its one showroom in the state, setting a precedent that would make it harder for Tesla to open others elsewhere. The company claimed the legislation reflected the interests and influence of one rival: General Motors. “Don’t let GM tell you that your only option is to buy a car from a traditional franchised dealer by shutting out Tesla,” the e-mail continued. Tesla asked recipients to contact their lawmakers.
Tesla shares are getting clobbered: they’re down almost 20% this year after dropping another 3% Tuesday to $191. That’s a far cry from their 2014 peak of nearly $300.
The latest dip is being chalked up to a research note from JP Morgan’s Ryan Brinkman, in which his team reduced its expectations for Tesla’s fourth-quarter earnings. (Compared with the rest of Wall Street JP Morgan is relatively bearish on Tesla: Brinkman’s target price is $180)
Tesla’s Autopilot set of features — the one that basically let your Tesla drive itself (though you should still keep your hands on the steering wheel) — was initially only approved in the U.S., but now it’s ready to roll out globally.
Company CEO Elon Musk said as much in a tweet Saturday, claiming Tesla has received regulatory approvals to launch Autopilot in “all countries” except Japan, which is “under review.”
A $2,500 upgrade for owners whose Tesla was built after September 2014, Autopilot has several features that improve the car’s autonomy on the road. These include letting the car steer itself on the freeway, automatic lane changing and overtaking slower vehicles and automatic parking.
The features received a warm welcome from the media (read our review here), but Tesla hasn’t been resting on its laurels. In another tweet Saturday, Musk promised several new features in an upcoming version of Autopilot: “curve speed adapftion, controller smoothness, better lane holding on poor roads, improved fleet learning”.
Last week, Tesla Motors announced an ambitious new product line: batteries to power homes or businesses.
The idea is that homes and businesses powered by solar panels could harvest and store energy during the day that could be used to run homes at night, or be used as a backup during a power outage.
“Our goal is to fundamentally change the way the world uses energy,” the company’s founder, Elon Musk, said at a news conference April 30. [Creative Genius: The World’s Greatest Minds]
Although the exact technology involved in the battery, called Powerwall, is a closely guarded secret, it probably isn’t based on revolutionary concepts, said Jordi Cabana, a chemistry professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago who studies new battery materials.
“Just looking at the specs that they publicize, it doesn’t look very different — in terms of the cost — to what they’re putting in their cars,” Cabana told Live Science.
Upstart automaker Tesla Motors TSLA +3.05% won’t sell as many cars this year as Chevrolet sells in 3 days, but its early success with the all-electric Model S sedan is already keeping the competition up at night. An examination of sales data from across the U.S. and in California for the first half of 2013 paints a picture of just why that is. While Tesla delivered right around 10,000 cars through two quarters, those sales appear to be coming at the expense of BMW, Mercedes, Lexus and Porsche. And Tesla’s sales are remarkably — though perhaps not surprisingly — concentrated in California thus far, with nearly half winding up in the Golden State. As the automaker continues to open new sales and service locations across the country while simultaneously growing its network of high-speed Supercharger stations, things are likely to get a bit worse for the imports.
Dispatches From The Front 