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Tesla terminates employee and FSD Beta tester who shared drives on YouTube

Credit: AI Addict/YouTube

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A Tesla employee and FSD Beta tester has been terminated over what the company states is a conflict of interest. The employee in question, Jon Bernal, is also the owner of the AI Addict YouTube channel, which features both casual and stress tests of Full Self-Driving Beta in real-world situations. 

Over the past year, Bernal shared numerous videos of FSD Beta in action, and being one of the system’s users who typically pushes the advanced driver-assist system to its limits, some of his videos featured flaws and shortcomings in Full Self-Driving Beta’s capabilities. This included a rather dramatic video of FSD Beta 9 in downtown San Francisco, which featured several mistakes in the system’s maneuvers, as well as an actual accident involving FSD Beta 10.10 in downtown San Jose, which featured Bernal’s Model 3 hitting a traffic bollard

Following his termination from the company, Tesla opted to cut off Bernal’s access to FSD Beta. This, according to the former employee, was despite the fact that he has not encountered any safety strikes while using the system. Bernal’s 2021 Tesla Model 3 is still equipped with the company’s Full Self-Driving suite, however, which was given to him as a free perk when he purchased the vehicle as an employee. Tesla’s FSD suite is currently offered as a $12,000 option, though it was priced at $8,000 when Bernal took delivery of his Model 3 in December 2020. 

Bernal started his employment at Tesla in August 2020, working as a data annotation specialist in an office in San Mateo, California. As per records shared by the former employee to CNBC, he was later moved into the role of advanced driver assistance systems test operator. He was terminated from the company on the second week of February 2022. Prior to his dismissal, Bernal stated that managers verbally informed him that he “broke Tesla policy” and that his AI Addict YouTube channel was a “conflict of interest.” 

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While Bernal did previously admit in the comments section of one of his YouTube videos that he was a Tesla employee, the AI Addict channel does not prominently indicate or disclose that its host works for the EV maker. That being said, Bernal maintains that he has been transparent about his YouTube channel, even with his colleagues at Tesla. He also maintains that he has never disclosed anything in his videos that the company has not rolled out to the public. 

“The FSD Beta releases I was demonstrating were end-user consumer products,” the former Tesla employee said. 

While he cannot use his personal Model 3 for FSD Beta videos today, the former employee noted that he has attained access to other Teslas with FSD Beta. As such, Bernal noted that he should be able to continue his independent research and reviews. One such video has already been uploaded on the AI Addict YouTube channel, where Bernal briefly discussed his departure from Tesla before taking FSD Beta in his typical stress tests. 

Despite his experiences with the EV maker, Bernal has noted that he still cares a lot about the company and what it is attempting to accomplish with products like Autopilot and FSD Beta. “I still care about Tesla, vehicle safety, and finding and fixing bugs,” he said. 

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Bernal’s latest video, which includes his thoughts on his departure from Tesla, could be viewed below.

Don’t hesitate to contact us with news tips. Just send a message to simon@teslarati.com to give us a heads up.

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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Ferrari unveils its Luce EV, and its reception has been a disaster

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Credit: Ferrari

Ferrari unveiled its Luce EV over the weekend, and so far, its reception has been an absolute disaster, gathering negative reactions from a wide variety of people, including former executives.

The stock even took a hit on its first day of trading following the unveiling, dropping over 7 percent at one point.

Ferrari moving to EVs from its traditional V12s and mid-engine sports cars is a massive move. It was designed by Sir Jony Ive and Marc Newsom’s LoveFrom studio, which is known for design work for tech giant Apple. “Luce” means “light” in Italian, so Ferrari drew inspiration for its name from its sleek design, characterized by a smooth, sculpted body with rounded edges.

But its reception has been far from what Ferrari expected. The overall design has drawn some harsh criticism since its reveal, and it is simply stunning that such a storied company, with a rich history of beautiful, powerful cars has revealed a design that many are not a fan of.

Responses to the design were widely negative, with some saying, “Enzo is rolling in his grave,” and “This looks like a Nissan LEAF with a bad body kit.”

Former Ferrari Chairman Luca di Montezemolo said:

“If I said what I really think, I’d harm Ferrari. We’re risking the destruction of a myth, I’m very sorry about that. I hope they at least remove the Prancing Horse from that car.”

Ferrari has scaled back EV commitments in the past, primarily in response to weaker-than-expected demand for its electric powertrains.

Priced at roughly $640,000 in the U.S., it is tough to see how this car will ever truly live up to the massive expectations many had for it. It almost feels like, to a certain extent, Ferrari is looking for a way to get out of building EVs.

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Tesla unveils juicy new detail on the Roadster and hints at new unveil timeline

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A red Tesla Roadster driving around a turn
(Credit: Tesla)

Tesla unveiled a juicy new detail on the Roadster, its long-delayed supercar project, and additionally hinted at a new unveiling timeline, as it appears yet another month will pass without seeing the capabilities of the vehicle.

Vice President of Vehicle Engineering at Tesla, Lars Moravy, revealed on the Ride the Lightning podcast that the Roadster will be built at Gigafactory Texas, adding that “you’ll start to see a lot of things unfold in the next months.”

While we get a good detail on the plant of manufacture, we also get another letdown, as it appears the unveiling event will not take place in May, as CEO Elon Musk hinted during the Earnings Call.

The Roadster was first unveiled back in 2017, alongside the Semi, which entered production earlier this year. It was Tesla’s attempt at a true supercar; it would be rare, expensive, and lightning quick, among other incredible capabilities, like potentially hovering for a short period thanks to a collaboration project with SpaceX.

However, the vehicle was set to be delivered in 2020. Parts and supply chain issues due to the COVID-19 pandemic started these delays, and since then, Tesla, and specifically Musk, have wanted to push the capabilities of the Roadster to somewhere the human mind may not be able to currently comprehend.

Both Chief Designer Franz von Holzhausen and Moravy have said many things about the Roadster over the past few years, hinting that the car truly could be worth the wait. However, the continuous delays we’ve seen have undoubtedly been discouraging.

With that being said, it’s not like Tesla has been doing nothing. Instead, the company has been focusing on revamping current models, phasing out others, and working on developing the cars of the future, specifically, the Cybercab, which entered production at Giga Texas in April.

Despite the Roadster’s delays, there is still a ton of anticipation for the vehicle to be released. It will have a steering wheel, as Musk said it will be “the best of the last of the human-driven cars.”

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NASA just gave SpaceX more crew missions because Boeing can’t certify

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NASA has filed a procurement notice announcing its intent to add six post-certification missions to SpaceX’s existing Commercial Crew Transportation Capability contract. The agency said it would order up to three of those missions immediately upon adding them to the contract, with the remaining three available as needed through the end of the International Space Station’s planned operations in 2030.

The reason for the expansion is straightforward. NASA cited recently shortened ISS mission durations, technical issues and schedule delays encountered by Boeing, the allocation of missions between Boeing and SpaceX, and the ongoing technical challenges of maintaining a reliable crew transportation capability as the driving factors behind the decision. Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner has still not been certified for crewed flights, and a cargo-only Starliner mission was not included on NASA’s most recent mission manifest. With Boeing effectively sidelined for the foreseeable future, SpaceX is the only American company capable of rotating crews to the station.

SpaceX Board has set a Mars bonus for Elon Musk

The history behind this contract tells the fuller story of how SpaceX got here. NASA originally awarded SpaceX its Commercial Crew contract in 2014 for $2.6 billion. In 2022 NASA modified the contract to add five missions covering Crew-10 through Crew-14, worth $1.436 billion, bringing the total contract value at that point to $4.9 billion. The recent May 18 filing by NASA extends that runway further, with Crew-12 currently docked at the station and Crew-13 assigned and targeting a mid-September 2026 launch.

According to a report by SpaceNews, NASA stated in its filing: “It is necessary to award additional PCMs to SpaceX given the recently shortened ISS mission durations, technical issues and schedule delays encountered by Boeing, the allocation of missions between Boeing and SpaceX, NASA’s projections for when an alternative crew transportation system may become available, and the ongoing technical challenges of maintaining a reliable capability for crewed flights to ISS.”

No dollar value for the new six missions has been publicly confirmed yet, but based on the 2022 precedent of roughly $287 million per mission, the new block could represent close to $1.7 billion in additional contract value. With SpaceX simultaneously preparing Starship as NASA’s Artemis lunar lander, filing its S-1 for a June IPO, and now absorbing more ISS crew rotation work, the company’s role as the primary contractor for American human spaceflight is no longer a matter of circumstance. It is NASA policy.

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