

News
Ford BlueCruise, GM SuperCruise ranked as best Driver Assistance systems, Tesla Autopilot ranks 7th
Ford’s BlueCruise and General Motors’ SuperCruise were ranked in the top two spots in Consumer Reports’ recent analysis of twelve Active Driving Assistance Systems, while Tesla Autopilot was ranked seventh.
Among the manufacturers involved in the study, Ford and GM performed better than Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Toyota/Lexus, Volkswagen/Audi, Tesla, Rivian, Nissan/Infinity, Honda/Acura, Volvo/Polestar, and Hyundai/Kia/Genesis. Ford and GM’s driver monitoring systems were also lauded during CR’s 2022 testing.
Systems were tested around a track at CR’s Auto Test Center and on a 50-mile loop on public roads from September to December 2022. Each system had forty separate tests, and was evaluated in five specific categories: capability and performance, keeping the driver engaged, ease of use, clear when safe to use, and unresponsive driver.
According to the report directly from CR, Ford and GM’s ADAS options use “direct driver monitoring systems,” or DDMS, that require driver eyes to remain on the road, even while actions like steering, acceleration, and braking are being automated by the vehicles. These systems are crucial in CR’s grading scale, and the firm said it awards extra points to options that hold drivers accountable with DDMS. Additionally, systems that do not have DDMS will have points deducted.
Ford BlueCruise (Credit: Ford)
Here are the gradings and ratings:
- Ford BlueCruise/Lincoln ActiveGlide – 84
- Chevrolet/GMC/Cadillac/General Motors Super Cruise – 75
- Mercedes-Benz Driver Assistance – 72
- BMW Driving Assistance Professional – 69
- Toyota Safety Sense 3.0/Lexus Safety System+ 3.0 – 65
- Volkswagen Travel Assist/Audi Adaptive Cruise Assist – 62
- Tesla Autopilot – 61
- Rivian Highway Assist – 59
- Nissan/Infiniti ProPILOT Assist – 58
- Honda Sensing/Acura AcuraWatch – 58
- Volvo/Polestar Pilot Assist – 53
- Hyundai/Kia/Genesis Highway Driving Assist – 47
The Elephant in the Room: Where Tesla Fell Short, according to CR
Tesla was given the following grades in the five categories that were assessed:
- Capabilities and Performance – 9/10
- Keeping Driver Engaged – 3/10
- Ease of Use – 5/10
- Clear When Safe to Use – 3/10
- Unresponsive Driver – 4/10
CR said that Tesla has fallen from its second-place spot in 2020 to mid-pack because the automaker “hasn’t changed Autopilot’s basic functionality much since it first came out, instead just adding more features to it.”
“After all this time, Autopilot still doesn’t allow collaborative steering and doesn’t have an effective driver monitoring system,” Jake Fisher of CR said. “While other automakers have evolved their ACC (adaptive cruise control) and LCA (lane-centering assistance) systems, Tesla has simply fallen behind.”
One portion of the testing where CR was most critical was when Tesla and Mercedes-Benz’s systems allowed the vehicle to drive down the highway completely hands-free for roughly thirty seconds before audible alerts were given. Kelly Funkhouser, CR’s Manager of Vehicle Technology, estimated that it was roughly a half mile on a highway before the vehicles alerted the driver to pay attention to the road.
Tesla does have cabin cameras that monitor driver inattentiveness. The Model Y Owners Manual says the following:
“The cabin camera can determine driver inattentiveness and provide you with audible alerts, to remind you to keep your eyes on the road when Autopilot is engaged. By default, images and video from the camera do not leave the vehicle itself and are not transmitted to anyone, including Tesla, unless you enable data sharing. If you enable data sharing and a safety critical event occurs (such as a collision), Model Y shares short cabin camera video clips with Tesla to help us develop future safety enhancements and continuously improve the intelligence of features that rely on the cabin camera.”
In May 2021, Tesla activated camera-based driver monitoring. “The cabin camera above your rearview mirror can now detect and alert driver inattentiveness while Autopilot is engaged,” Tesla said in the notes. Tests of Tesla’s driver monitoring tests showed the system was effective in some instances, especially when looking at cell phones, with alerts coming in 15 seconds.
Tesla was complemented with its lane centering, as it gave smooth steering inputs and kept the car near the center of the lane on straight and curved roads.
However, more compliments came from CR with Tesla’s Adaptive Cruise Control. “The ACC function of Tesla’s Autopilot system is capable of stopping the car, such as at a red light behind another vehicle, for an unlimited amount of time before resuming again. But without an adequate driver monitoring camera,” Funkhouser said,” this is potentially unsafe as there’s no way to know whether the driver is paying attention when the vehicle starts moving again.”
Tesla’s system apparently differs from GM and Ford’s in the sense that BlueCruise and Super Cruise as “both point infrared cameras at driver faces and sound an alert if the driver stops paying attention to the road, even if just for a few seconds.”
You can read Consumer Reports’ full report here.
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News
Tesla Giga Berlin seems to be using FSD Unsupervised to move Model Y units
Tesla may be doing something quite special in the Giga Berlin-Brandenburg complex.

Tesla may be doing something quite special in the Giga Berlin-Brandenburg complex. Based on observations from a recent drone flyover of the site, it appears that Tesla may also be using FSD Unsupervised to move freshly produced Model Y vehicles to the factory’s staging area.
New Drone Footage
Recent footage of the Giga Berlin complex from longtime Tesla watcher Tobias Lindh included several interesting updates around the Model Y factory. These include a new warehouse that is currently being built, as well as a tunnel is currently being constructed. More interestingly, the drone operator observed that some cars now seem to be moving to Giga Berlin’s distribution area without human drivers.
If the drone operator’s observations prove accurate, it would be quite an impressive accomplishment for Tesla. FSD Unsupervised, after all, has only been confirmed in vehicles that are produced at the Fremont Factory and Gigafactory Texas.
Potential Next Steps
If Giga Berlin is now using FSD Unsupervised to transport some Model Y units from the factory building to the site’s staging area, it might only be a matter of time before Tesla also implements a similar system for Gigafactory Shanghai. The Shanghai-based Tesla plant, after all, is the company’s largest factory by volume, and it also serves as a primary vehicle export hub. FSD Unsupervised could then pave the way for Giga Shanghai to operate in an even more optimal manner.
FSD Unsupervised is the cornerstone of Tesla’s robotaxi business, which is expected to start rolling out in Austin, Texas, next month. Previous reports have suggested that Tesla is pushing hard in its preparations to roll out its robotaxi service this June. Tesla has reportedly even worked and trained with Austin’s first responders from the fire and police departments as part of its robotaxi service preparations.
Check out a recent flyover of the Tesla Giga Berlin complex in the video below.
Investor's Corner
Tesla welcomes Chipotle President Jack Hartung to its Board of Directors
Tesla announced the addition of its new director in a post on social media platform X.

Tesla has welcomed Chipotle president Jack Hartung to its Board of Directors. Hartung will officially start his tenure at the electric vehicle maker on June 1, 2025.
Tesla announced the addition of its new director in a post on social media platform X.
Jack Hartung’s Role
With Hartung’s addition, the Tesla Board will now have nine members. It’s been a while since the company added a new director. Prior to Hartung, the last addition to the Tesla Board was Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia back in 2022. As noted in a Reuters report, Hartung will serve on the Tesla Board’s audit committee. He will also retire from his position as president and chief strategy officer at Chipotle, and transition into a senior advisor’s role at the restaurant chain, next month.
Hartung has had a long career in the Mexican grill, joining Chipotle in 2002. He held several positions in the company, most recently serving as Chipotle’s President and Chief Strategy Officer. Tesla highlighted Hartung’s accomplishments in a post on its official account on X.
“Over the past 20+ years under Jack’s financial leadership, Chipotle has seen significant growth with over 3,700 restaurants today across the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates. Jack was named ‘CFO of the Year’ by Orange County Business Journal and Best CFO in the restaurant category by Institutional Investor,” Tesla wrote in its post on X.
Tesla Board and Musk
Tesla is a controversial company with a controversial CEO, so it is no surprise that the Board of Directors tend to get flak as well. Two weeks ago, for example, Tesla Board Chair Robyn Denholm slammed The Wall Street Journal for publishing an article alleging that company directors had considered a search for a potential successor to Elon Musk. Denholm herself has also been criticized for offloading her TSLA shares.
More recently, news emerged suggesting that the Tesla Board of Directors had formed a special committee aimed at exploring a new pay package for CEO Elon Musk. The committee is reportedly comprised of Tesla board Chair Robyn Denholm and independent director Kathleen Wilson-Thompson, and they would be exploring alternative compensation methods for Musk’s contributions to the company.
News
Tesla posts FSD demonstrations in Australia and France
Tesla is expected to roll out a robotaxi service that uses FSD Unsupervised in Austin, Texas sometime next month.

Tesla definitely seems determined to prove that its Full Self-Driving (FSD) system is capable of operating safely anywhere. This was highlighted by the company in a couple of videos posted on social media platform X, which showed the self-driving system in action in Australia and France.
Tesla is expected to roll out a robotaxi service that uses FSD Unsupervised in Austin, Texas sometime next month.
New FSD Unsupervised Demonstrations
To start off Tesla’s recent demonstrations, the Tesla AI Team posted a video of FSD Supervised being tested in Melbourne, Australia. The video was nearly two minutes long, and it featured FSD navigating the city’s busy inner streets. FSD handled the drive without any issues, even performing Australia’s infamous hook turn at one time. The demonstration was received warmly by the EV community, especially since FSD accomplished all this while operating an RHD vehicle.
Another FSD demonstration, this time posted by the official Tesla Europe & Middle East X account, featured the Supervised self-driving system navigating France’s complicated Arc de Triomphe. The area is challenging, considering that it’s one of the largest roundabouts in the country. FSD Supervised, however, expertly handled the roundabout, pausing for cars as needed and maintaining a safe distance from other vehicles.
Tesla did place a disclaimer on its recent test videos, stating that “FSD (Supervised) engineering test drive in a prototype vehicle driven by a safety driver. For demonstration purposes only. FSD (Supervised) is a hands-on feature that requires driver control of the vehicle and attention on the road at all times. Future activation and use subject to development and regulatory approval.”
FSD Unsupervised
Tesla is not yet rolling out FSD Unsupervised to consumer vehicles. The company, however, has been using the system to transport cars from the Fremont Factory and Giga Texas’ production lines to their respective staging areas. In Giga Texas, freshly produced Model Y units drive completely driverless for 1.4 miles before reaching its staging lot. The Cybertrucks, on the other hand, navigate a Boring Company tunnel on their way to their staging area.
Tesla is planning on releasing a dedicated robotaxi service using Model Y vehicles equipped with FSD Unsupervised in Austin, Texas this June. Previous reports also suggest that Tesla is hard at work preparing for the rollout of its robotaxi service, with the company reportedly testing 300 vehicles around Austin over the past months. Tesla has reportedly also conducted safety tests and training sessions with Austin’s first responders from the fire department and police as part of its robotaxi service preparations.
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