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Elon Musk’s Israel visit linked to Tesla’s interest in AI company [Updated]

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Reports have emerged that Elon Musk’s recent visit to Israel is connected to Tesla’s rumored upcoming partnership with Cortica, an autonomous AI company based in the country. Cortica’s expertise lies in using artificial intelligence to augment self-driving systems, such as Tesla’s Autopilot 2.0 suite.

Citing unnamed sources, Israeli business news site Globes stated that Musk is currently engaged in talks about a possible collaboration with the AI company. Cortica, after all, is an artificial intelligence company that has managed to take significant steps in the development of refined self-driving software. Since being founded in 2007, Cortica has raised $70 million and filed roughly 200 patents on its autonomous AI technology.

Updated Tuesday @ 10:21am PST: A Tesla spokesperson has denied claims that Musk was in Israel to discuss a company collaboration with Cortica.

Cortica’s tech is noteworthy since the company designed it to be fully compatible with existing self-driving platforms. In a video presentation of Cortica’s AI posted on YouTube last year, the Israel-based company emphasized how its system could be used by any car maker to augment hardware and software that is already installed on vehicles.

“By translating video to light signature files, the Cortica AI can analyze and understand the vehicle’s surroundings. Its precise perception and sensing platform lets the car fully comprehend its environment. Cortica’s AI software can easily be integrated into existing architecture and operates with very low power consumption. No additional hardware or supercomputer is needed.”

The Israel-based publication further stated that Tesla might be looking to acquire Cortica. Neither Tesla nor Cortica, however, have issued statements about these reports. Considering a previous interview with Cortica CEO Igal Raichelgauz back in December 2017, however, it seems like a partnership with Tesla would be more likely.

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“We are looking for strategic partnerships with major players, preferably tier 1, who will give us the ability to implement the technology in products that will be integrated into vehicles,” the Cortica CEO said, according to Globes.

As we noted in a previous report, Tesla has recently rolled out Autopilot 2.0 v.2018.10.4 to rave reviews from Model S and Model X owners. With the latest update, Tesla’s fleet of AP2.0 vehicles exhibited a huge improvement in their capabilities on the road, such as refined lane-keeping, buttery-smooth lane-changing, and the ability to traverse low-visibility roads without any issues. Experiments from Tesla owners have also shown that Autopilot 2.0 v.2018.10.4 could function even with most of the vehicle’s cameras compromised.

These improvements, of course, are primarily due to improvements in Tesla’s AI and neural net, which enables the electric cars to learn and evolve as the number of Teslas on the road increase. Further improvements for Tesla’s AP2.0 are expected to be rolled out in the coming months as well, especially since Tesla is planning on conducting a coast-to-coast autonomous drive within this year.

With the date for Tesla’s planned coast-to-coast drive steadily approaching, a partnership with an autonomous AI company such as Cortica definitely seems like a logical choice for the Elon Musk-led electric car maker. An overview of Cortica’s AI could be viewed below. 

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Simon is an experienced automotive reporter with a passion for electric cars and clean energy. Fascinated by the world envisioned by Elon Musk, he hopes to make it to Mars (at least as a tourist) someday. For stories or tips--or even to just say a simple hello--send a message to his email, simon@teslarati.com or his handle on X, @ResidentSponge.

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Elon Musk

Tesla Phone? Not quite, but close: analyst

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elon musk phone
Photo: Boss Hunting.com.au

For years, there have been images and videos across social media platforms that have reminded me of when I was a 15-year-old kid teased by “Xbox 720” videos on YouTube. These videos are of the supposed “Tesla Phone” that Elon Musk was secretly developing in between leading Tesla with its electric cars and SpaceX with its reusable rockets.

Although Musk has put those rumors to bed several times, it was never completely out of the realm that he could get involved in cell phones in some capacity. Think outside the box and more macro-level, though. Instead of reinventing the computer, Musk reinvented connectivity by developing Starlink with SpaceX.

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It could be something similar, TD Cowen analyst Gregory Williams said in a note last week, where he hinted SpaceX could be gathering some steam to acquire T-Mobile.

Williams said it would be the “clear choice” for SpaceX if it decided to go through with a network acquisition. He also suggested AT&T.

The move would be possible through selling more of its own stock, which would help SpaceX raise the money to purchase T-Mobile, which would cost roughly $300 billion. It could be one of the moves SpaceX makes post-IPO in terms of an acquisition: it already acquired Cursor AI for $60 billion.

Other analysts, like Dan Ives of Wedbush, believe SpaceX and Tesla will eventually merge into one anyway, and that conglomeration could come as soon as this year, some have said.

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The implications of SpaceX purchasing T-Mobile are massive. A combined entity would create a truly ubiquitous network: T-Mobile’s terrestrial 5G towers and Starlink’s growing constellation of Direct-to-Cell satellites. This would essentially eliminate dead zones across the U.S. and potentially globally.

SpaceX would instantly become a full-scale facilities-based carrier with satellite differentiation; a huge advantage. This would pressure AT&T and Verizon heavily.

There are also concerns like a potential reduction in long-term competition, and of course, a deal of that size would face intense scrutiny from government agencies.

The strategic fit is compelling due to the existing Starlink–T-Mobile partnership and complementary technologies (space + terrestrial). It could create a dominant integrated communications player. However, the regulatory, financial, and execution hurdles are enormous — this remains highly speculative with no indication SpaceX is actively pursuing it right now.

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Tesla reveals huge Cybercab detail in new guide for First Responders

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla revealed a major new Cybercab detail in a guide it released for First Responders, showing new territory in its beliefs and intentions for the ride-hailing-focused vehicle that entered production in April.

The First Responders Guide is released to give fire departments, paramedics, and other emergency personnel the proper guidance on what to do in the event of an accident, entrapment, or other situation that would require immediate attention.

On one of the pages of the First Responders Guide, Tesla revealed a stark detail about the Cybercab, which could help personnel enter the vehicle more easily in case of an emergency.

Tesla Cybercab has one important piece that AI4 cars might need for FSD

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It shows Tesla has no intention of releasing any Cybercab units that were initially proposed for ride-hailing services for the general public with any manual controls, meaning a steering wheel or pedals:

“A Cybercab equipped with steering wheel, brake pedal, and an acceleration pedal is typically an engineering or test vehicle, and operates at SAE Level 2 autonomy. Cybercab is not typically equipped with a steering wheel or acceleration and brake pedals.”

This is a major development for those who continue to believe Tesla planned to release the Cybercab with any sort of manual controls so that passengers could take over if needed. However, when Tesla started manufacturing production versions of the Cybercab in Giga Texas earlier this year, they were spotted without a steering wheel or pedals.

It essentially confirms the company has no intentions of bringing manual controls to the car’s production versions. Some have argued that the likelihood of Tesla having something

There still are some Cybercab units out there with a steering wheel and pedals, and as Tesla said, these cars are engineering or test vehicles, which have Safety Monitors on board to help the car out of a precarious situation or emergency.

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Tesla Full Self-Driving v14 ‘Lite’ Release Notes: new capabilities and features

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(Credit: Megan Gale/Twitter)

Tesla released the Full Self-Driving v14 ‘Lite’ suite to owners of Hardware 3 or AI3 vehicles today, adding several new features to the vehicles that were once believed to be capable of unsupervised self-driving.

Now, Tesla has released this modified suite to older Tesla vehicles, adding plenty of new features and capabilities.

Here are the full release notes for the suite:

  • Distilled the intelligence from HW4 V14 into HW3. This allows HW3 to directly learn how to handle scenarios using HW4 V14 as a guide. This process unlocks the improvements that have been made to HW4 including Reinforcement Learning (RL) and offline models for HW3.
  • Improved both proactive and reactive responsiveness across a wide variety of categories including navigation handling, merges and forks, pedestrian interactions, traffic lights, and vehicle cut-in scenarios.
  • Improved general comfort in nominal scenarios through fewer false slowdowns, smoother steering and more consistent lane centering.
  • Introduced parking, unparking, and reversing capabilities.
  • Added Arrival Options for you to select where FSD should park: in a Parking Lot, on the Street, in a Driveway, or at the Curbside.
  • Speed Profiles are now available at all times, to further customize driving style preference.

These improvements, according to Tesla’s Head of AI, Ashok Elluswamy, help distill the driving behavior from AI4’s v14 series into both the camera and compute configurations of AI3.

Tesla Full Self-Driving v14 ‘Lite’ for older cars finally gets released

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He added:

“It includes destination options and speed profiles on city roads, but more importantly significantly improved safety. We hope you’ll enjoy it, once the build ships wide.”

Tesla will continue to roll out the v14 Lite suite more widely in the coming weeks, the company said.

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