Connect with us

News

Faraday Future Picks North Las Vegas For New $1B Factory

Published

on

Faraday Future Factory

Faraday Future Factory

Faraday Future and Nevada governor Brian Sandoval held a joint press conference Thursday to announce an agreement that will pave the way for a new 3 million square foot, $1 billion factory located in North Las Vegas. Faraday and Sandoval have been negotiating for almost a year, with Sandoval traveling to China earlier this year to meet with Faraday’s principal backer, Jia Yeuting.

Forbes ranks Yeuting #17 on its 2015 list of wealthy individuals. He was ranked #78 in 2014. Yeuting is a young entrepreneur who created LeTV, a Chinese marketer of electronic devices and online content that is often referred to as “the Netflix of China.” Its official name is Leshi Internet Information & Technology Beijing.

Governor Sandoval made the announcement together with Dag Reckhorn, Vice President of Manufacturing for Faraday Future. Reckhorn was previously the Director of Manufacturing for Tesla Motors and involved in creating the manufacturing plan for the Model S.

Faraday says it will produce “100% electric vehicles that offer seamless connectivity to the outside world. In addition to producing vehicles, the company plans to explore…unique ownership models, in-vehicle content and autonomous driving.” The public reveal for the car will take place at the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.

According to Business Insider, Nevada won out over California, Georgia and Louisiana, but the agreement between Faraday and Sandoval still requires legislative approval. Nevada has been hit hard by the economic downturn that began in 2008 and is anxious to attract new business to the state with significant sales and property tax concessions similar to the ones it granted Tesla for its Gigafactory.

Advertisement

Nothing is known yet about what the Faraday Future car will bring but they will face an uphill battle as the electric vehicle space continues to see entrants from major auto manufacturers. “I’m not saying they can’t succeed, but they’re not going to be first,” says Stephanie Brinley, senior analyst with IHS Automotive. “The challenge they’ll have as a startup is that it’s been done before, and they’ll be coming to market late.”

Elon Musk says he welcomes more electric car manufacturers to help expand the market for electric cars. Will Faraday be able to mount a successful challenge to Tesla? We should know more in about 3 weeks when Faraday Future takes stage at CES.

 

News

Sweden blocks Tesla FSD-style testing in Stockholm

It looks like FSD testing in Sweden would have to wait some time.

Published

on

Credit: Tesla AI/X

Tesla is putting a lot of effort into getting its Full Self Driving (FSD) system approved in territories outside North America. But while China seems to have embraced FSD fully, other countries like Sweden do not seem to be receiving Tesla’s automated driving system very well.

This became quite evident in a document from Stockholm City, which has started making the rounds online.

FSD Testing Rejected

The document, which was initially shared by X user @KRoelandschap, indicated that the Swedish Traffic Department in Stockholm had rejected Tesla’s request to start FSD testing in the city’s streets. Tesla has been demonstrating FSD in several areas across Europe, so it is not surprising that the company is also attempting to test its automated driving system in Sweden.

Unfortunately for Tesla, Sweden might prove to be a tough nut to crack. As per the City of Stockholm: 

“The Traffic Office is currently working on updating its approach to automation. At the same time, the city and the office are under heavy pressure from other ongoing innovation tests. Our ambition is to actively participate in and learn from the continued development in the field of automation. 

Advertisement

“Based on this, and in combination with the fact that the current test is the first of its kind, which entails certain risks for both infrastructure and third parties, and that it is planned to be carried out throughout the city, the City of Stockholm considers it is currently not possible to approve the implementation of the test.”

Tesla’s Other Swedish Troubles

Sweden’s FSD testing rejection is not the only roadblock facing Tesla in the country. Since October 2023, Swedish unions have been engaged in an active effort to disrupt Tesla’s operations. The unions’ efforts have been varied, with some resulting in Tesla having difficulty launching more Superchargers in Sweden. Despite this, Tesla has remained stubborn and has refused to bow to the unions’ demands.

Fortunately for Tesla, it seems like its numbers are still strong. Despite the company’s decline in several European countries, the new Model Y is starting to see strong sales figures in Sweden. In early May alone, the new Model Y became the country’s most popular electric vehicle—a notable accomplishment considering the unions’ active efforts to disrupt Tesla.

Continue Reading

News

Tesla firmware shows new Model Y seat configuration is coming

Tesla could be adding another seating configuration beside the seven-seater to the Model Y lineup later this year.

Published

on

Credit: Tesla

Tesla firmware has been a great place for some to reveal what the company has in the pipeline, and a new seating configuration for the best-selling Model Y looks to be on the way.

Last week, we reported that Tesla was already hinting toward a 7-seater configuration of the Model Y in a promotional email it sent to those on its contact list.

However, firmware revealed by Tesla hacker greentheonly is showing that a new seating configuration is on the way — a six-seater:

Green says the configuration would not be available in China-only, and will be potentially for sale in other markets as well.

The six-seat and seven-seat configurations of the Model Y were available in the Legacy version of the vehicle, but were met with mixed reviews, as many complained about the lack of legroom in the third row.

This was something that was a real concern for many of those owners who needed something larger than the traditional five-seat variant, but did not want to buy the much more pricey Model X.

We’ve covered the size of that third row on several occasions.

Some owners even took the idea of having a seven-seater into their own hands:

Tesla Model Y third row seat test explores options for a comfortable 7-seat setup

Tesla did not explicitly announce a six-seater configuration of the Model Y, but Lars Moravy, the company’s VP of Vehicle Engineering, said the seven-seater would come to production later in 2025.

Continue Reading

News

Tesla confirms massive hardware change for autonomy improvement

Tesla has confirmed that a recent change made to some of its recently refreshed vehicles is, in fact, a strategy it will use to improve its suite as it continues to work toward autonomy.

Published

on

Credit: Tesla

Tesla has confirmed that a recent change made to some of its recently refreshed vehicles is, in fact, a strategy it will use to improve its suite as it continues to work toward autonomy.

Tesla first introduced a front-facing camera on the front bumper with the Cybertruck.

Then, the Model Y “Juniper” received the hardware update. The Model S and Model X both received the front-facing camera with its latest update, which was officially revealed last week.

Tesla used new language with the release of the front-facing cameras on the Model S and Model X, confirming they will assist with several things, including “using Autopilot and Actually Smart Summon capabilities”:

“Enhanced visibility when parking or using Autopilot and Actually Smart Summon capabilities.”

This tiny feature on the new Tesla Model Y is perhaps its biggest addition

This is the first time Tesla has used this sort of language, as it was a completely different description with the launch of the new Model Y in January.

When Tesla launched this vehicle, it said the front bumper camera “provides a wider field of view for automatic assisted driving and advanced Smart Summon.”

Tesla switched from using cameras and sensors to only cameras with the launch of Tesla Vision several years ago. The company’s utilization of cameras comes from Tesla’s belief that Ultrasonic Sensors (USS) are not needed for self-driving efforts:

“Along with the removal of USS, we simultaneously launched our vision-based occupancy network – currently used in Full Self-Driving (FSD) (Supervised) – to replace the inputs generated by USS. With today’s software, this approach gives Autopilot high-definition spatial positioning, longer range visibility and the ability to identify and differentiate between objects. As with many Tesla features, our occupancy network will continue to improve rapidly over time.”

CEO Elon Musk has said that sensors were only a crutch and that self-driving would be solved through the use of cameras:

“When your vision works, it works better than the best human because it’s like having eight cameras, it’s like having eyes in the back of your head, beside your head, and has three eyes of different focal distances looking forward. This is — and processing it at a speed that is superhuman. There’s no question in my mind that with a pure vision solution, we can make a car that is dramatically safer than the average person.”

Continue Reading

Trending