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Tesla’s FSD Beta has a new Speed Limit Cruise Control feature

Credit: James Locke | Twitter

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Tesla’s Full Self-Driving Beta has various new features that make driving a more personal and customizable experience for owners. One of the newest additions to the Beta is the ability to travel at a set speed over a speed limit, which gives drivers a more comfortable feel of how fast they’d like their car to navigate over the recommended rate of travel.

FSD Beta user and Model 3 owner James Locke has posted several photos and videos of his all-electric sedan with the new Self-Driving capabilities. One of the most interesting and personalized features has to do with a new “Speed Limit Offset” feature, which allows drivers to set either a fixed speed or percentage Miles Per Hour or Kilometers Per Hour rate over the speed limit. It is customizable up to 30% and gives a more realistic and customized feel for FSD users.

https://twitter.com/arctechinc/status/1321478198387855360

The “Fixed” setting would allow owners to choose how many MPH or km/h they would be comfortable traveling over. For example, if the speed limit is 35 MPH, and their fixed amount was set to 5 MPH, the FSD software would never travel above 40 MPH. This will adjust with the speed limit as it changes.

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However, the percentage function will allow owners to travel at faster set rates as the speed limit increases. As low as 5% and as high as 30%, this feature gives a truly customized driving experience, allowing for a controllable speed variation and a more comfortable ride for drivers and passengers. If the speed limit is 35 MPH, and the percentage is set to 20% above, the travel rate will increase by 7 MPH, and the car will not travel above 42 MPH. Locke also said that the speed could be adjusted with the scroll wheel on the steering wheel.

Traveling above the speed limit, of course, subjects owners to the possibility of being pulled over and receiving a ticket for speeding. However, many interstates and highways are full of cars traveling around 5-10 MPH above the speed limit. Keeping up with the rate of travel is expected when driving along a busy stretch of roadway, and usually, it is expected that most of the cars on the road will be operating at speeds slightly higher than what is posted.

https://twitter.com/arctechinc/status/1321479097210429446

To keep drivers aware that they are traveling above the posted speed recommendations, there is a setting for a “Speed Limit Warning” that will either chime or pop up on the car’s display.

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The customization doesn’t only benefit drivers, but pedestrians as well. The appropriate speeds for residential areas compared to highways are different and should be handled in separate manners. While driving on the highway above the posted speed limit is somewhat expected, residential areas with pedestrians are more suitably traveled at slower speeds. This makes the entire experience safer for everyone on, or near, the road.

Joey has been a journalist covering electric mobility at TESLARATI since August 2019. In his spare time, Joey is playing golf, watching MMA, or cheering on any of his favorite sports teams, including the Baltimore Ravens and Orioles, Miami Heat, Washington Capitals, and Penn State Nittany Lions. You can get in touch with joey at joey@teslarati.com. He is also on X @KlenderJoey. If you're looking for great Tesla accessories, check out shop.teslarati.com

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Ford is charging for a basic EV feature on the Mustang Mach-E

When ordering a new Ford Mustang Mach-E, you’ll now be hit with an additional fee for one basic EV feature: the frunk.

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Credit: Ford Motor Company

Ford is charging an additional fee for a basic EV feature on its Mustang Mach-E, its most popular electric vehicle offering.

Ford has shuttered its initial Model e program, but is venturing into a more controlled and refined effort, and it is abandoning the F-150 Lightning in favor of a new pickup that is currently under design, but appears to have some favorable features.

However, ordering a new Mustang Mach-E now comes with an additional fee for one basic EV feature: the frunk.

The frunk is the front trunk, and due to the lack of a large engine in the front of an electric vehicle, OEMs are able to offer additional storage space under the hood. There’s one problem, though, and that is that companies appear to be recognizing that they can remove it for free while offering the function for a fee.

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Ford is charging $495 for the frunk.

Interestingly, the frunk size varies by vehicle, but the Mustang Mach-E features a 4.7 to 4.8 cubic-foot-sized frunk, which measures approximately 9 inches deep, 26 inches wide, and 14 inches high.

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When the vehicle was first released, Ford marketed the frunk as the ultimate tailgating feature, showing it off as a perfect place to store and serve cold shrimp cocktail.

Ford Mach-E frunk is perfect for chowders and chicken wings, and we’re not even joking

It appears the decision to charge for what is a simple advantage of an EV is not going over well, as even Ford loyal customers say the frunk is a “basic expectation” of an EV. Without it, it seems as if fans feel the company is nickel-and-diming its customers.

It will be pretty interesting to see the Mach-E without a frunk, and while it should not be enough to turn people away from potentially buying the vehicle, it seems the decision to add an additional charge to include one will definitely annoy some customers.

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Tesla to improve one of its best features, coding shows

According to the update, Tesla will work on improving the headlights when coming into contact with highly reflective objects, including road signs, traffic signs, and street lights. Additionally, pixel-level dimming will happen in two stages, whereas it currently performs with just one, meaning on or off.

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Credit: @jojje167 on X

Tesla is looking to upgrade its Matrix Headlights, a unique and high-tech feature that is available on several of its vehicles. The headlights aim to maximize visibility for Tesla drivers while being considerate of oncoming traffic.

The Matrix Headlights Tesla offers utilize dimming of individual light pixels to ensure that visibility stays high for those behind the wheel, while also being considerate of other cars by decreasing the brightness in areas where other cars are traveling.

Here’s what they look like in action:

As you can see, the Matrix headlight system intentionally dims the area where oncoming cars would be impacted by high beams. This keeps visibility at a maximum for everyone on the road, including those who could be hit with bright lights in their eyes.

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There are still a handful of complaints from owners, however, but Tesla appears to be looking to resolve these with the coming updates in a Software Version that is currently labeled 2026.2.xxx. The coding was spotted by X user BERKANT:

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According to the update, Tesla will work on improving the headlights when coming into contact with highly reflective objects, including road signs, traffic signs, and street lights. Additionally, pixel-level dimming will happen in two stages, whereas it currently performs with just one, meaning on or off.

Finally, the new system will prevent the high beams from glaring back at the driver. The system is made to dim when it recognizes oncoming cars, but not necessarily objects that could produce glaring issues back at the driver.

Tesla’s revolutionary Matrix headlights are coming to the U.S.

This upgrade is software-focused, so there will not need to be any physical changes or upgrades made to Tesla vehicles that utilize the Matrix headlights currently.

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xAI’s Grok approved for Pentagon classified systems: report

Under the agreement, Grok can be deployed in systems handling classified intelligence analysis, weapons development, and battlefield operations. 

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Credit: xAI

Elon Musk’s xAI has signed an agreement with the United States Department of Defense (DoD) to allow Grok to be used in classified military systems.

Previously, Anthropic’s Claude had been the only AI system approved for the most sensitive military work, but a dispute over usage safeguards has reportedly prompted the Pentagon to broaden its options, as noted in a report from Axios.

Under the agreement, Grok can be deployed in systems handling classified intelligence analysis, weapons development, and battlefield operations. 

The publication reported that xAI agreed to the Pentagon’s requirement that its technology be usable for “all lawful purposes,” a standard Anthropic has reportedly resisted due to alleged ethical restrictions tied to mass surveillance and autonomous weapons use.

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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is scheduled to meet with Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei in what sources expect to be a tense meeting, with the publication hinting that the Pentagon could designate Anthropic a “supply chain risk” if the company does not lift its safeguards. 

Axios stated that replacing Claude fully might be technically challenging even if xAI or other alternative AI systems take its place. That being said, other AI systems are already in use by the DoD. 

Grok already operates in the Pentagon’s unclassified systems alongside Google’s Gemini and OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Google is reportedly close to an agreement that will result in Gemini being used for classified use, while OpenAI’s progress toward classified deployment is described as slower but still feasible. 

The publication noted that the Pentagon continues talks with several AI companies as it prepares for potential changes in classified AI sourcing.

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