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NHTSA adds incidents to preliminary probe into Waymo

Credit: Waymo | YouTube

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The top U.S. safety regulator has widened its preliminary investigation into the self-driving software from Waymo, after the agency initially reported opening a probe into the company earlier this month.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) sent a letter to Waymo on Thursday notifying the company of additional incidents relating to the probe opened into the Alphabet-owned company’s fifth-generation automated driving system (ADS). In the letter, the NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) writes that it has added an additional nine incidents to the 22 in the initial announcement, as observed in videos online.

The traffic incidents in both include instances in which Waymo’s self-driving Jaguar I-Pace units disobeyed traffic laws or drove into stationary objects. The investigation specifically looks at Waymo’s 5th generation software, and will help the agency decide if it needs to escalate the probe.

Waymo driverless rides to reach seven new Bay Area cities

“ODI is concerned that ADS-equipped vehicles exhibiting such unexpected driving behaviors may increase the risk of crash, property damage, and injury,” the agency writes in the letter. “Although this office is unaware of injury allegations, several of the incidents involved collisions with clearly visible objects that a competent driver would be expected to avoid.

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“A number of these incidents also occurred in the proximity of other road users, including pedestrians.”

Waymo must provide responses about its Gen 5 Waymo software to the agency’s numbered questions by June 11, 2024.

The agency observed the listed incidents on multiple social media platforms, with most of them either including the company’s robotaxis colliding with stationary objects or otherwise violating traffic laws in ways that would be particularly easy for a human driver to handle.

Check out the NHTSA’s letter to Waymo announcing the additional incidents here.

Waymo was approved to expand its driverless testing operations to additional areas of the Bay Area and to Los Angeles in March. However, the decision was immediately protested by five different municipalities and organizations. Waymo operations could also be threatened by a bill proposed in January that could give individual communities, cities, and counties more power to decide where and how driverless vehicles can operate, if at all.

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What are your thoughts? Let me know at zach@teslarati.com, find me on X at @zacharyvisconti, or send us tips at tips@teslarati.com.

Zach is a renewable energy reporter who has been covering electric vehicles since 2020. He grew up in Fremont, California, and he currently lives in Colorado. His work has appeared in the Chicago Tribune, KRON4 San Francisco, FOX31 Denver, InsideEVs, CleanTechnica, and many other publications. When he isn't covering Tesla or other EV companies, you can find him writing and performing music, drinking a good cup of coffee, or hanging out with his cats, Banks and Freddie. Reach out at zach@teslarati.com, find him on X at @zacharyvisconti, or send us tips at tips@teslarati.com.

Elon Musk

Tesla to offer Full Self-Driving gifting program: here’s how it will work

Tesla executive Raj Jegannathan said the company would be shipping the gifting program out before the holidays, making a great gift for owners just in time for Christmas.

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla will soon offer a gifting program for its Full Self-Driving (Supervised) suite, allowing people to gift a subscription to the semi-autonomous driving software for a variety of timeframes.

The idea would allow people to gift Full Self-Driving as a trial, potentially shifting them to subscribe or even buy the software outright if they find it useful.

Tesla is overhauling its Full Self-Driving subscription for easier access

FSD is a pretty difficult thing to not use once you have it, and while you still have to pay attention, and it has its shortcomings, it takes a lot of the stressors out of driving.

Tesla executive Raj Jegannathan said the company would be shipping the gifting program out before the holidays, making a great gift for owners just in time for Christmas.

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Full Self-Driving is Tesla’s semi-autonomous driving platform that is currently among the most robust options on the market. As a personal user, I find it to be an extremely beneficial feature that I use on a daily basis.

While Tesla does offer gift cards, this would be a great option to choose the present you’re giving to a family member or friend.

Tesla offers a subscription to Full Self-Driving in the United States for $99 per month; it gives people an opportunity to try the suite for a month and is more affordable in the short term for those who cannot swing the current $8,000 fee to purchase it outright.

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CEO Elon Musk has advised every Tesla owner to purchase the suite outright. In 2020, he confirmed that a subscription program would be released, but he said, “It will be economically better to have bought FSD.”

He continued in 2021, stating that “buying FSD will still be a better long-term deal than subscription.

He has also said that the monthly subscription price could rise as FSD goes to wide release, but that has yet to happen. In fact, it was originally $199 a month, but Tesla decreased the price to $99. We’re hopeful it doesn’t get more expensive.

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Elon Musk

Elon Musk just roasted Sam Altman’s Tesla Roadster cancellation

“And you forgot to mention act 4, where this issue was fixed and you received a refund within 24 hours.

But that is in your nature.”

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Elon Musk has responded to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s decision to cancel his Tesla Roadster reservation, which he revealed on X on Thursday.

We reported on Altman’s decision, which he called “A tale in three acts,” showing his confirmation email from Tesla back in 2018, an email requesting his $50,000 deposit back after canceling his order, and a notification from Google that the email he sent was not delivered.

Musk did not take too kindly to the post from his tech rival, first referencing his position with OpenAI, and then confirming that Altman received his reservation deposit back within 24 hours:

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OpenAI was started by Musk, Altman, and others back in 2015, and was geared toward being a non-profit company that would develop safe artificial intelligence that would be accessible to people.

However, Musk and Altman did not agree on the future of the company. Musk left, and Altman turned OpenAI into a for-profit company. This led to a variety of lawsuits and some very public spats between the two. Musk has called out Altman for turning the company into a for-profit, which has been his main source of criticism for his former colleague.

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The Roadster has been hanging in the balance of Tesla’s manufacturing plans for seven years, but the company has made more indications that it will be unveiled later this year and will have some insane technologies.

Musk said on Friday in an episode of the Joe Rogan Experience Podcast that Tesla is “getting close to demonstrating the prototype.”

He said:

“Whether it’s good or bad, it will be unforgettable. My friend Peter Thiel once reflected that the future was supposed to have flying cars, but we don’t have flying cars. I think if Peter wants a flying car, he should be able to buy one…I think it has a shot at being the most memorable product unveil ever. [It will be unveiled] hopefully before the end of the year. You know, we need to make sure that it works. This is some crazy technology in this car. Let’s just put it this way: if you took all the James Bond cars and combined them, it’s crazier than that.”

Musk hinted that the vehicle could fly and would have “crazy technology” that would put James Bond’s vehicles to shame. It will be interesting to see what Tesla will unveil when the event happens and if it can come through on this mind-blowing teaser.

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SpaceX successfully launches 100th Starlink mission of 2025

With 100 Starlink missions completed for 2025, space enthusiasts have noted that SpaceX has successfully launched 2,554 Starlink satellites so far this year.

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(Credit: Starlink)

SpaceX achieved its 100th Starlink mission of the year on Friday, October 31, marking another milestone for 2025. 

A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 28 Starlink broadband satellites successfully lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 4:41 p.m. ET, carrying another 28 Starlink satellites to Low Earth Orbit (LEO).

Falcon 9 booster’s 29th flight

Roughly 8.5 minutes after liftoff, the Falcon 9’s first stage touched down on the drone ship Of Course I Still Love You in the Pacific Ocean. This marked the booster’s 29th flight, which is approaching SpaceX’s reuse record of 31 missions.

This latest mission adds to SpaceX’s impressive 138 Falcon 9 launches in 2025, 99 of which were dedicated to Starlink, according to Space.com. The company’s focus on reusing boosters has enabled this breakneck pace, with multiple launches each week supporting both Starlink’s expansion and external customers.

Starlink’s network continues massive global expansion

Starlink remains the largest active satellite constellation in history, with more than 10,000 satellites launched, nearly 8,800 of which are currently active. SpaceX recently achieved Starlink’s 10,000-satellite milestone. With 100 Starlink missions completed for 2025, space enthusiasts have noted that SpaceX has successfully launched 2,554 Starlink satellites so far this year.

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Starlink, which provides high-speed, low-latency internet connectivity even to the world’s most remote areas, has been proven to be life-changing technology for people across the globe. The service is currently operational in about 150 countries, and it currently has over 5 million subscribers worldwide. From this number, 2.7 million joined over the past year.

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