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Massive storm on Mars downs NASA’s Opportunity Rover after 14 years on the red planet
NASA recently held a press conference about the current status of the Opportunity Rover (or Oppy, as it is fondly called), which is weathering a massive storm covering a quarter of the Red Planet’s surface. According to NASA, communication with Opportunity remains down as of date, though the space agency is optimistic that the 14-year-old rover can still make it through the storm.
The massive storm currently affecting Mars covers 15.8 million square miles (41 million square kilometers), which is roughly the size of North America and Russia combined. The intensity of the storm has effectively blocked the sunlight on Mars’ surface, preventing Opportunity to charge its batteries. The rover is currently near the center of the storm, inside the Red Planet’s Perseverance Valley. NASA is under the assumption that Opportunity’s batteries have dipped below 24 volts, causing the machine to enter low power fault mode. In this state, all of Opportunity’s subsystems except its mission clock are turned off. During NASA’s press conference, John Callas, Opportunity’s project manager, stated that the rover’s present state invokes concern.
“The analogy I would use right now is it’s like you have a loved one in a coma in the hospital. The doctors are telling you that you’ve just got to give it time and she’ll wake up, all the vital signs are good, so it’s just waiting it out — but you know, if it’s your 97-year-old grandmother you’re going to be very concerned. And we are. By no means are we out of the woods here,” he said.
Opportunity has been on the Red Planet for close to 15 years, far more than the duration of its original 90-day mission. As of January 2018, the rover has managed to cover a distance of 45.09 kilometers (28.02 miles), studying Mars’ terrain and laying the foundations for missions to come. Opportunity was sent to the Red Planet with its sister rover, Spirit. While both machines were able to last far beyond their initial 90-day mission, Spirit ultimately fell silent in 2010, six years into its exploration of the Martian landscape.
Overall, it would be truly sad to lose Opportunity after such a long and storied life, but the near future will be filled with many new robotic Martians striving to uncover the Red Planet’s mysteries. After all, Opportunity, as well as Spirit and the larger, nuclear-powered Curiosity rover (which is also experiencing reduced solar energy due to the massive storm), have all but laid the foundations for further and more ambitious missions on the Red Planet. Plans are already underway to develop and launch Mars 2020, a rover based on Curiosity, and ExoMars, a rover from Europe — both of which would be tasked to find signs of life. Mars Insight, a robotic lander designed to study the interior of the Red Planet, has also been launched last May and is expected to land sometime in November.
Despite the challenge facing Opportunity right now, however, Jim Watzin, the director of NASA’s Mars Exploration Program, stated that NASA is still hoping the nearly 15-year-old rover will somehow survive.
“We’re all pulling for Opportunity. As you know, it’s been a remarkably resilient rover, lasting 15 years — well beyond its original design life of just 90 days. Its longevity has taught us much about operating on the surface of Mars. But regardless of how this turns out, this little rover has proven to be an invaluable investment that has greatly increased our ability to explore the Red Planet,” he said.
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Tesla Full Self-Driving shows stunning maneuver in Europe to silence skeptics
In a striking demonstration of autonomous driving prowess, Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) system recently showcased its capabilities on the narrow rural roads of the Netherlands. Captured in two in-car videos, the system encountered scenarios that would challenge even the most experienced human drivers.
Tesla Full Self-Driving, fresh on the heels of its approval for operation on European roads for the first time, showed off a stunning maneuver that will certainly silence any skeptics on the continent.
Fresh off its approval in the Netherlands, Full Self-Driving is working toward a significant expansion into more parts of Europe.
In a striking demonstration of autonomous driving prowess, Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) system recently showcased its capabilities on the narrow rural roads of the Netherlands. Captured in two in-car videos, the system encountered scenarios that would challenge even the most experienced human drivers.
In the first clip, a wide tractor occupied more than half the lane on a tight two-way road. Rather than braking abruptly or forcing a collision risk, FSD smoothly edged the vehicle onto the adjacent bike path—using the extra space with precision—before seamlessly returning to the lane once clear.
The second clip was equally demanding: while overtaking a group of cyclists, an oncoming car approached at speed.
FSD maintained a safe, minimal buffer to the cyclists while timing the pass perfectly, avoiding any swerve or hesitation that could unsettle passengers or other road users.
People wonder if FSD is safe on narrow European roads. Well have a look what it did when a tractor took up more than half of the road or when overtaking bicycles with fast oncoming traffic. pic.twitter.com/z37Csa09sP
— Chanan Bos (@ChananBos) April 14, 2026
This maneuver highlights FSD’s advanced spatial reasoning and predictive planning. On roads often under three meters wide, with no room for error, the system calculated available clearance in real time, incorporated shoulder and path geometry, and executed a controlled deviation without compromising safety.
It treated the bike path as a legitimate extension of navigable space, something many drivers might hesitate to do, while respecting Dutch road norms and cyclist priority.
Such feats align closely with a growing library of impressive FSD maneuvers documented on camera worldwide.
In urban Amsterdam, for instance, FSD has navigated the world’s densest cyclist environments, weaving through hundreds of unpredictable bike movements on canal-side streets with tram tracks and pedestrians.
One uncut drive showed it yielding smoothly at crossings, overtaking where needed, and even handling a near-perfect auto-park in a tight residential spot, demonstrating the same low-speed precision seen in the rural clips.
Teslas using FSD have tackled turbo roundabouts in the Netherlands, complex multi-lane circles notorious for geometry challenges, merging confidently while yielding to traffic. Similar clips depict smooth handling of construction zones, emergency vehicle pull-overs, and gated parking barriers, where the car stops precisely, waits for clearance, and proceeds without driver input.
Collectively, these examples illustrate FSD’s evolution toward handling the unpredictable.
The rural Netherlands maneuvers aren’t isolated. Instead, they reflect a pattern of spatial awareness, cyclist deference, and traffic anticipation seen from city streets to highways.
As FSD continues refining through real-world data, videos like this one are certainly building a compelling case for its readiness on Europe’s varied roads.
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Tesla utilizes its ‘Rave Cave’ for new awesome safety feature
Part of the massive interior overhaul of both the Model 3 “Highland” and Model Y “Juniper” was the addition of interior accent lighting to help bring out the mood of the vehicle, increase the customization of the interior, and to create a unique listening experience.
Tesla is utilizing its ‘Rave Cave’ for an awesome new safety feature that will arrive with the upcoming Spring Update for 2026.
Part of the massive interior overhaul of both the Model 3 “Highland” and Model Y “Juniper” was the addition of interior accent lighting to help bring out the mood of the vehicle, increase the customization of the interior, and to create a unique listening experience.
Tesla added a Sync Lights feature that will strobe the accent strips with the beat of the music.
It is one of the most unique and one of the coolest non-functional features of a Tesla, as it does not improve the driving of the vehicle, but makes it a cool and personal addition to the interior.
However, Tesla is going to take it one step further, as the Rave Cave lights will now be used for blind spot recognition. This feature will be added as the Spring 2026 Update starts to roll out.
A lot of CRAZY new features coming with Tesla’s 2026 Spring Update, including a new FSD app!
– Self-Driving App (AI4 hardware): New app in App Launcher > Self-Driving for one-tap FSD subscriptions, activation guides, and ongoing stats.
– “Hey Grok”: Voice-activated Grok with… https://t.co/ljeYPlq9Qt— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) April 13, 2026
Tesla writes:
“Accent lights now turn red when an object is in your blind spot and your turn signal is engaged, or when an approaching object is detected while parked.”
This neat new safety feature will now increase the likelihood of a driver, who is operating their Tesla manually, of seeing the blind spot warnings that are currently available on the A pillar and on the center touchscreen.
These new alerts will now warn drivers of cross traffic as they back out of a parking space with little to no visibility of what is coming. It is a great new addition that will only increase the safety of the vehicles, while also utilizing something that is already installed in these specific Model 3 and Model Y units.
The Model 3 and Model Y were the central focus of the Spring 2026 Update, especially considering the fact that the Model S and Model X are basically gone, with only a few hundred units left. Additionally, Tesla included new Immersive Sound and Car Visualization for the Model 3 and Model Y specifically in this new update.
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Tesla parked 50+ Cybercabs outside its Texas Factory with some crash tested
Dozens of Tesla Cybercabs have been spotted at Giga Texas crash testing facility ahead of launch.
Drone footage captured by longtime Giga Texas observer Joe Tegtmeyer shows over 50 units of Tesla Cybercab at the Austin factory campus, including several units clustered by Tesla’s on-site crash testing facility.
The outbound lot at Gigafactory Texas sits just outside the factory exit and serves as the primary staging area where finished vehicles are held before being loaded onto transport carriers or dispatched for validation testing. On any given day, the lot holds a mix of Model Y and Cybertruck units alongside the growing Tesla Cybercab fleet, as can be seen in the drone footage captured by Joe Tegtmeyer.
Roughly 50 Cybercab units are visible across the campus, parked in tight organized rows. Most of the units visible still carry steering wheels and pedals, temporary additions Tesla included to satisfy current safety regulations while the vehicles accumulate real-world data ahead of full regulatory approval for a steering wheel-free design. Tesla operates dedicated Crash Labs at both its Giga Texas and Fremont facilities that are purpose-built for controlled structural crash tests. Historically, automakers begin intensive crash testing roughly one to two months before volume production kicks off. The Cybertruck followed almost exactly that pattern. The Cybercab appears to be on the same track facility that we first saw back in October 2025. The first production Cybercab rolled off the Giga Texas line on February 17, 2026. Volume production is now targeted for April. Musk previously wrote on X that “the early production rate will be agonizingly slow, but eventually end up being insanely fast,” and separately stated Tesla is targeting at least 2 million Cybercab units per year. Commercial robotaxi service in Austin is targeted for late 2026.





