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Tesla India: The Three Directors leading Tesla into new lands

Credit: Reddit | u/Coolioj

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Tesla has officially received a business license in India that will allow the automaker to function as a full-fledged car manufacturer in one of the world’s most populous countries. Without a team of highly-experienced executives who are versed in international business, financials, and manufacturing, Tesla wouldn’t have a chance at being successful anywhere, let alone in India. Therefore, the company has called upon three executives to start the operation as they have been listed on India’s Ministry of Corporate Affairs website as the three Directors who will lead Tesla into India, an unfamiliar territory.

Tesla has had India in its plans for corporate expansion for several years. Musk met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2015, where the politician expressed his support for Tesla’s mission and it’s all-electric products. But since then, Tesla has been met with nothing but roadblocks and delays. It has finally made some headway in its effort to establish a production facility or Research and Development center in the country.

Because of import taxes, Tesla’s vehicles are a rarity in India. Nearly doubling the cost of the vehicle due to getting it into the country from Fremont, California, Teslas are only driven around by the extremely wealthy. With limited charging options available in the country, it makes them even less appealing. However, the coming expansion incites consumer excitement among Indian fans of the electric carmaker, who have pushed for Elon Musk to attempt to drive his company into their country. Now it’s finally happening.

Tesla gains India business license, stock soars over 6%

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David Feinstein

David Feinstein has been with Tesla for 8 years and 9 months, according to his LinkedIn page. His job title has always been related to Global and International business. When he started with Tesla in 2012, he was the Manager of Global Trade Compliance for its supply chain. After that, Feinstein became the Senior Manager of Global Trade, then the Director of Global Trade & New Markets. He was appointed to the Senior Director of Global Trade & New Markets in February 2020, and now his biggest project yet has been passed onto him: getting Tesla up and running in India.

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Feinstein’s global trade experience will be beneficial for Tesla’s entrance into the market. Since India is one of the few countries with such a heavy import tax, which has really neutralized Tesla’s presence in the country until now, it will be interesting to see what he can do moving forward.

Vaibhav Taneja

Vaibhav Taneja is the Chief Accounting Officer for Tesla, and he has held that position for 1 year and 11 months. He started with Tesla four years ago in February 2017 as the Assistant Corporate Controller and then moved to the Corporate Controller position. Controllers are responsible for the accuracy and timeliness of a company’s accounting department. They control the company’s cash flow and oversee the production of financial reports.

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Prior to Tesla, Taneja acted as the VP and Corporate Controller of Solar City until Tesla absorbed the company, his LinkedIn states. He also has close ties with India, as he is a graduate of Delhi University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Commerce. He also attended the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and is a Certified Public Accountant.

Taneja will likely work to solve financial challenges as Tesla moves forward with its Indian inclusion. His proven track record with Tesla makes him a great fit for the job, and his roots in India certainly don’t hurt, either.

Venkatrangam Sreeram

Venkatrangam Sreeram is the co-founder of ClearQuote, an app that uses computer vision to assess car damage. Before that, he was Managing Director of Xenon Automotive and spent nearly two years as a Project manager for Tesla’s China operation from July 2012 to May 2014. As a Project Manager, he states that he was involved in the set up of wholesales in retail operations in the country. He had automotive experience before his post at Tesla. He worked as a Project Manager and a VP of Sales Operations for Jaguar Land Rover, and an Assistant General Manager for Tata Motors in Mumbai and London.

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Venkat, as he is referred to, is based in Karnataka as well, the southwest state in India that will be home to Tesla’s Indian initiative.

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What do you think? Leave a comment down below. Got a tip? Email us at tips@teslarati.com or reach out to me at joey@teslarati.com

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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Elon Musk reveals date of Tesla Full Self-Driving’s next massive release

Initially planned for a January or February release, v14.3 aims to add some reasoning and logic to the decisions that Full Self-Driving makes, which could improve a lot of things, including Navigation, which is a major complaint of many owners currently.

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Tesla CEO Elon Musk revealed the date of Full Self-Driving’s next massive release: v14.3.

For months, Tesla owners with Hardware 4 have been utilizing Full Self-Driving v14.2 and subsequent releases. Currently, the most up-to-date FSD version is v14.2.2.5, which has definitely brought out mixed reviews. With releases, some things get better, and other things might regress slightly.

For the most part, things are better in terms of overall behavior.

However, many owners have been looking forward to the next release, which is v14.3, about which Musk has said many great things. Back in November, Musk said that v14.3 “is where the last big piece of the puzzle lands.”

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He added:

“We’re gonna add a lot of reasoning and RL (reinforcement learning). To get to serious scale, Tesla will probably need to build a giant chip fab. To have a few hundred gigawatts of AI chips per year, I don’t see that capability coming online fast enough, so we will probably have to build a fab.”

Initially planned for a January or February release, v14.3 aims to add some reasoning and logic to the decisions that Full Self-Driving makes, which could improve a lot of things, including Navigation, which is a major complaint of many owners currently.

Tesla Full Self-Driving v14.2 is a considerable improvement from early versions of the suite, but we have written about the somewhat confusing updates that have come with recent versions.

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Tesla Full Self-Driving v14.2.2.5 might be the most confusing release ever

They’ve been incredibly difficult to gauge in terms of progress because some things have gotten better, but there seems to be some real regression on a handful of things, especially with confidence and assertiveness.

Musk confirmed today on X that Tesla is already testing v14.3 internally right now. It will hit a wide release “in a few weeks,” so we should probably expect it by late April.

Overall, there are high hopes that v14.3 could be a true game changer for Tesla Full Self-Driving, as many believe it could be the version that Robotaxis in Austin, Texas, some of which are driverless and unsupervised, are running.

It could also include some major additions, including “Banish,” also referred to as “Reverse Summon,” which would go find a parking spot after dropping occupants off at their destination.

What Tesla will roll out, and when exactly it arrives, all remain to be seen, but fans have been ready for a new version as v14.2.2.5 has definitely run its course. We have had a lot of readers tell us their biggest request is to fix Navigation errors, which seem to be one of the most universal complaints among daily FSD users.

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Chattanooga Charge: Tesla and EV fans ready for the Southeast’s wildest Tesla party

From Cybertruck Convoys to Kid-Friendly Fun Zones: The Chattanooga Charge Has Something for Everyone

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Hundreds of like-minded Tesla and EV enthusiasts are descending on Chattanooga Charge this weekend for the largest Tesla meet in the Southeast. Taking place on March 20–22, 2026 at the stunning Tennessee Riverpark.

If you were there last year, you’ll know that it’s the ultimate experience to see the wildest Teslas in action, see the best in EV tech, and arguably the most fun – finally put a name to the face and connect with those social media buddies IRL! Oh, and that epic night time Tesla light show is a once-in-a-lifetime experience that will transform the Riverpark into something out of a sci-fi film that’s remarkably unforgettable and must be seen in person.

This year’s event takes everything up a notch, with over 100 Cybertrucks expected to be on display, many sporting jaw-dropping modifications and custom wraps that push the boundaries of what these stainless steel beasts can look like.

Whether you’re a diehard Tesla fan, EV supporter, or just EV-mod-curious, the sheer spectacle is worth the drive.

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The Chattanooga Charge doesn’t wait until Saturday morning to get started. The weekend technically kicks off Friday, March 20th, and the venue sets the tone immediately. Come share roadtrip stories over drinks at the W-XYZ Rooftop Bar on the top floor of the Aloft Chattanooga Hamilton Place Hotel, with sunset views over the city.

Come morning, nurse your hangover with a some good coffee, and convoy with hundreds of other Tesla and EV drivers through Chattanooga to the event for some morning meet and greets before the speaker panel starts and the food trucks fire up.

Tesla owner clubs travel from across the country to be here, not just to show off their vehicles,, but to connect, share, and celebrate a shared passion for the future of driving.

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Sounds like a plan to me. See you there, guys. Don’t miss it. Get your tickets at ChattanoogaCharge.com and join the charge. 🔋⚡

Chattanooga Charge is a premier Tesla and EV gathering inspired by the X Takeover, known as one of the largest Tesla event gatherings. What began as a bold idea from the team at DIY Wraps/TESBROS, hosted in their hometown of Chattanooga, Tennessee, the event quickly became a movement across social media. The first annual Chattanooga Charge united over 16 Tesla clubs from 16 states, proof that the EV community was hungry for something big in the South. Year after year, the event has grown in scale, ambition, and heart.

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Tesla Full Self-Driving gets latest bit of scrutiny from NHTSA

The analysis impacts roughly 3.2 million vehicles across the company’s entire lineup, and aims to identify how the suite’s degradation detection systems work and how effective they are when the cars encounter difficult visibility conditions.

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Credit: Tesla

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has elevated its probe into Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (Supervised) suite to an Engineering Analysis.

The analysis impacts roughly 3.2 million vehicles across the company’s entire lineup, and aims to identify how the suite’s degradation detection systems work and how effective they are when the cars encounter difficult visibility conditions.

The step up into an Engineering Analysis is often required before the NHTSA will tell an automaker to issue a recall. However, this is not a guarantee that a recall will be issued.

The NTHSA wants to examine Tesla FSD’s ability to assess road conditions that have reduced visibility, as well as detect degradation to alert the driver with sufficient time to respond.

The Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) will evaluate the performance of FSD in degraded roadway conditions and the updates or modifications Tesla makes to the degradation detection system, including the timing, purpose, and capabilities of the updates.

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Tesla routinely ships software updates to improve the capabilities of the FSD suite, so it will be interesting to see if various versions of FSD are tested. Interestingly, you can find many examples from real-world users of FSD handling snow-covered roads, heavy rain, and single-lane backroads.

However, there are incidents that the NHTSA has used to determine the need for this probe, at least for now. The agency said:

“Available incident data raise concerns that Tesla’s degradation detection system, both as originally deployed and later updated, fails to detect and/or warn the driver appropriately under degraded visibility conditions such as glare and airborne obscurants. In the crashes that ODI has reviewed, the system did not detect common roadway conditions that impaired camera visibility and/or provide alerts when camera performance had deteriorated until immediately before the crash occurred.”

It continues to say in its report that a review of Tesla’s responses revealed additional crashes that occurred in similar environments showed FSD “did not detect a degraded state, and/or it did not present the driver with an alert with adequate time for the driver to react. In each of these crashes, FSD also lost track of or never detected a lead vehicle in its path.”

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The next steps of the NHTSA Engineering Analysis require the agency to gather further information on Tesla’s attempts to upgrade the degradation detection system. It will also analyze six recent potentially related incidents.

The investigation is listed as EA26002.

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