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Porsche Taycan prototypes spotted with less camo, updated tail lights, aero-focused wheels

[Credit: CarPix/Facebook]

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Porsche has taken a step forward in its road tests for the Taycan, as prototypes of the German automaker’s first all-electric car were recently sighted sporting less camouflage, new tail lights, new headlight accents, and new wheels. The new Taycan prototypes look more refined and production-ready than the previous test mules the legacy automaker has been utilizing in its road and track tests for the upcoming vehicle.

The updated Taycan prototypes were recently photographed by CarPix, a group that tracks vehicles that are currently under development. Immediately noticeable in the new Taycan images is the reduced amount of camouflage used the cars. The headlights of some of the prototypes, for one, appear to still be covered with stickers, but the tail lights of the electric cars were already connected with an illuminated horizontal strip between them. This makes the updated prototypes’ rear appear very similar to that of the Mission E sedan concept car.

The Porsche Taycan’s new test mules, showing the vehicle’s updated tail lights and aero wheels. [Credit: CarPix/Facebook]

Also notable in the updated Taycan test mules were the vehicles’ wheels, which seem to be bigger and more aero-focused than before. Auto publication Top Speed, which claimed to have gained information about the prototypes, stated that they were informed the aero-focused wheels would likely make it to the production model. That being said, offering aero wheels for the Taycan makes perfect sense for Porsche, considering that they could optimize the range of the electric car. Tesla’s Aero Wheels for the Model 3, for one, is capable of increasing the sedan’s efficiency by ~10%.

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Perhaps the most peculiar aspect of the updated Taycan prototypes were its fake exhausts. Being an all-electric car, the Taycan does not need an exhaust at all, and over the past months, it was thought that the test mules’ dummy exhaust pipes were just fitted on the vehicle to throw off onlookers. The updated Taycan prototypes still featured faux exhaust outlets, and what’s more, some cars actually had different types of exhaust outlets.

The Porsche Taycan’s new test mules, showing the vehicle’s updated tail lights and aero wheels. [Credit: CarPix/Facebook]

The Porsche Taycan is the German automaker’s long-awaited response to the Tesla Model S sedan. The all-electric car is equipped with two permanently excited synchronous motors (PSM), which are expected to produce up to 600 hp. Porsche notes that the Taycan would feature a 0-60 mph time of 3.5 seconds and a top speed of 155 mph. While these figures fall below the performance stats of the Tesla Model S P100D, Porsche notes that the Taycan would be capable of being driven hard on the track for extended periods of time.

Porsche expects to start the production of the Taycan sometime next year, with deliveries likely hitting their stride in 2020. To prepare for the all-electric car’s rollout, Porsche is building a network of Charging Parks, which are similar to Tesla’s Supercharger Network, that would allow drivers to charge their vehicles rapidly. Porsche plans to produce the Taycan at its Zuffenhausen facilty — the same factory that manufactures the Porsche 911, 718 Boxster, as well as the 718 Cayman. The company is aiming to manufacture 20,000 Taycans every year

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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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