Connect with us
Stellantis-employee-share-purchase-plan Stellantis-employee-share-purchase-plan

News

Stellantis US dealers reprimand CEO Tavares in letter

(Credit: Stellantis)

Published

on

The US National Dealer Council sent a scathing letter to Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares, emphasizing concerns about the automaker’s past decisions and future plans. 

The Chairman of the Council, Kevin Farrish, stated in the letter that the US dealer network has warned Stellantis for over two years about the repercussions it would face if it continued its course. 

“The reckless short-term decision-making to secure record profits in 2023 has had devastating yet entirely predictable, consequences in the US market. Those consequences include the rapid degradation of our iconic American brands—brands like Jeep, Dodge, Ram, and Chrysler that have over a century of history  in America.”

In August, Stellantis received a proposal to buy back Chrysler, Dodge, and Plymouth/Mopar brands, citing similar reasons. The proposal was requested by the great-grandson of the founder of the Chrysler Corporation on behalf of the newly formed Chrysler/Dodge, LLC Rhodes group. Stellantis rejected the proposal.

Advertisement

The letter also mentioned Tavares engineered a record year of profitability for Stellantis last year, which ultimately led to a drastic market share downturn, hinting that the company focused more on a passing win than long-term victories. Those short-term wins have yielded disastrous results, affecting Stellantis executives and employees alike in the United States.

“The market share of your brands has been slashed nearly in half, Stellantis stock price is tumbling, plants are closing, layoffs are rampant, and key executives [are] fleeing the company. Investor lawsuits, supplier lawsuits, strikes—the fallout is mounting. Your own distribution network, your dealer body, has been left in an anemic and diminished state.”

The US National Dealer Council demands Tavares to work alongside Stellantis executives in America, starting with attending the next Council meeting on October 15, 2024, at the Auburn Hills headquarters. 

Tavares took responsibility for the degradation of Stellantis’ operations in North America, especially in the United States. In August, he visited Detroit to inspect the state of Stellantis factories and develop a strategy to fix issues hampering progress. 

On September 11, 2024, Stellantis announced a $406 million investment to renovate and enhance three of its factories in Michigan. It also released details for a multi-energy strategy, outlining Stellantis’ plans to produce electric vehicles and new vehicle architecture in MI factories. 

Advertisement

Read the US National Dealer Council’s full letter to Stellantis below.

Stellantis Faces Backlash from US Dealers:Letter 2024 by Maria Merano on Scribd

If you have any tips, contact me at maria@teslarati.com or via X @Writer_01001101.

Advertisement

Maria--aka "M"-- is an experienced writer and book editor. She's written about several topics including health, tech, and politics. As a book editor, she's worked with authors who write Sci-Fi, Romance, and Dark Fantasy. M loves hearing from TESLARATI readers. If you have any tips or article ideas, contact her at maria@teslarati.com or via X, @Writer_01001101.

Advertisement
Comments

News

Tesla begins probing owners on FSD’s navigation errors with small but mighty change

Previously lumped under “Other,” these incidents made it harder for Tesla’s AI team to isolate and prioritize map-related issues in their reinforcement learning models. There was a lot of disagreement on how certain interventions should be reported.

Published

on

Tesla has started probing owners on how often its Full Self-Driving suite has Navigation errors with a small but mighty change last night.

In its latest Software Update, which is Version 2026.2.9.9 featuring Full Self-Driving (Supervised) v14.3.2, Tesla has introduced a targeted improvement to how owners will report interventions.

With the initial rollout of v14.3.2, Tesla introduced a new Intervention Menu that appears when a disengagement occurs. It allowed owners to choose from four different categories: Preference, Comfort, Critical, or Other.

Tesla has voided the Other option and replaced it with a new “Navigation” choice, which seems much more ideal given the complaints owners have had about navigation. This seemingly minor UI tweak, rolled out widely in recent days, marks another step in Tesla’s ongoing effort to refine its autonomous driving stack through precise, crowdsourced data.

Tesla made this change in direct response to longstanding community feedback. For years, FSD users have noted that navigation errors—such as incorrect speed limits, suboptimal routes, or directing the vehicle to a building’s rear entrance instead of the main one—frequently force interventions.

Previously lumped under “Other,” these incidents made it harder for Tesla’s AI team to isolate and prioritize map-related issues in their reinforcement learning models. There was a lot of disagreement on how certain interventions should be reported:

By adding a dedicated “Navigation” label, the company can now tag disengagements more accurately, feeding cleaner data into its neural networks. This supports faster iteration on routing algorithms, map accuracy, and intent-aware navigation.

Community consensus around Tesla’s navigation system has been consistent and candid. While the end-to-end AI driving behavior in v14.x earns widespread acclaim for smoothness and safety, navigation remains FSD’s clearest Achilles’ heel.

Owners frequently cite outdated map data, failure to learn from repeated corrections, and routing decisions that feel less intuitive than Google Maps or Apple Maps. Common complaints include phantom speed-limit changes, inefficient local roads, and poor point-of-interest handling.

Tesla Summon got insanely good in FSD v14.3.2 — Navigation? Not so much

Many drivers report intervening on navigation far more often than on core driving maneuvers, with some estimating it accounts for the majority of disengagements outside of edge cases.

Long-term users note that the same mapping glitches persist across years and software versions, despite thousands of collective miles of feedback. Yet the addition of the “Navigation” option has been met with optimism. It signals Tesla’s commitment to data-driven progress and suggests navigation improvements could arrive sooner.

For a community that already logs millions of FSD miles monthly, this small change could unlock meaningful gains in reliability and user trust—potentially accelerating the path to unsupervised autonomy.

Continue Reading

News

Tesla expands Robotaxi in a way that was long anticipated

Instead, it has to do with the consumer base it offers Robotaxi to, because it has not offered it to everyone in the past.

Published

on

Credit: Grok Imagine

Tesla has expanded Robotaxi in a way that was long anticipated, and it does not have to do with a new, larger geofence in a city where it already offered its partially autonomous ride-hailing suite, or a new city altogether.

Instead, it has to do with the consumer base it offers Robotaxi to, because it has not offered it to everyone in the past.

Tesla has taken a major step forward in its autonomous ride-hailing ambitions with the official launch of the Tesla Robotaxi app for Android users. Released on the Google Play Store on April 24. Titled simply “Tesla Robotaxi,” the app is now available to download directly from Tesla.

This rollout fulfills a long-anticipated expansion that opens the service to hundreds of millions of Android smartphone users who were previously unable to access it on iOS alone.

The app delivers a streamlined, driverless ride experience powered by Tesla’s automated driving technology.

Users sign in with a Tesla Account, view the current service area map within the app, enter a destination, and receive an estimated fare and arrival time before confirming the ride. When a Model Y from the Robotaxi fleet arrives, riders confirm the license plate, enter the vehicle, fasten their seatbelt, and tap “Start Ride” on either the app or the vehicle’s touchscreen.

During the trip, passengers have access to all the same controls that iOS users do, and can adjust climate settings, seat positions, and music while tracking progress on an in-app map. The interface also allows drop-off changes or support requests if needed. After the ride, users exit, close the doors, and submit feedback.

This Android availability directly broadens the rider base for Robotaxi in its initial service areas. Unfortunately, Android users are used to being subject to delayed launches of new features available to Tesla owners.

By removing the iOS-only barrier, Tesla instantly expands the addressable market, enabling far more people to summon and use the autonomous vehicles already operating on public roads.

The move is a foundational requirement for scaling ride volume and gathering the real-world data needed to refine the unsupervised Full Self-Driving system that powers every trip.

For the Robotaxi program itself, the launch signals steady operational progress. It prepares the service for higher utilization rates as the fleet grows and supports the transition from limited early deployments to a more robust network.

Tesla expands Unsupervised Robotaxi service to two new cities

Tesla has indicated that users outside current service areas can sign up at the company’s website for future notifications, pointing to a deliberate, phased geographic rollout.

Looking ahead, the company plans to incorporate Cybercab vehicles to increase fleet capacity and efficiency while continuing to expand service territories. With the Android app now live, Tesla has removed a key adoption hurdle and positioned Robotaxi for the next phase of growth in autonomous urban transportation.

The infrastructure is now in place to support significantly larger rider demand as production and deployment accelerate.

Continue Reading

News

UPDATE: SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy that launched a Tesla into space is back on a mission

SpaceX Falcon Heavy returns after 18 months away to deliver a satellite that only it could carry.

Published

on

By

UPDATE: 10:29 a.m. et: SpaceX is standing down from today’s Falcon Heavy launch of the ViaSat-3 F3 mission due to unfavorable weather. A new target date will be shared once confirmed.

After an 18-month absence, SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy is returning to mission on Monday morning when it’s scheduled to lift off from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center at 10:21 a.m. EDT.

The mission is called ViaSat-3 F3, and the heavy satellite payload needs to reach geostationary orbit, sitting 22,236 miles above Earth where its speed matches the planet’s rotation. Getting a satellite that heavy to that altitude demands more thrust than a single-core Falcon 9 can deliver.

This marks the Falcon Heavy’s 12th flight overall since its debut in February 2018, and its first since NASA’s Europa Clipper mission in October 2024.

Arguably, the most exciting element for spectators will be watching the booster recoveries in action when the two side boosters, B1072 and B1075, will attempt simultaneous landings at Landing Zone 2 and the newer Landing Zone 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, while the center core will be expended over the ocean.

SpaceX wins its first MARS contract but it comes with a catch

Following satellite deployment, expected roughly five hours after launch, ViaSat-3 F3 will spend several months traveling to its final orbital slot before undergoing in-orbit testing, with service entry expected by late summer 2026

As Teslarati reported, NASA awarded SpaceX a $175.7 million contract on April 16, 2026, to launch the ESA Rosalind Franklin Mars rover aboard a Falcon Heavy no earlier than late 2028, which would mark the first time SpaceX has ever sent a payload to Mars. That contract came on top of an already deep pipeline that includes the Roman Space Telescope, the Dragonfly Saturn mission, and multiple national security payloads.

SpaceX executed 165 missions in 2025 and now accounts for approximately 85% of all global orbital launches. With Starlink surpassing 10 million subscribers and an IPO targeting a $1.75 trillion valuation still ahead, Monday’s launch is one more data point in a company that has quietly become the backbone of both commercial and government space access worldwide.

Continue Reading