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Tesla Model Y showcases new tech that could revolutionize cabin designs [Feature]

(Credit: Dirac)

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During the IAA Mobility Show this year in Germany, Dirac and Trèves showcased revolutionary technology using a Tesla Model Y. Trèves’ new Sonified technology paired with Dirac OPTEO tuning teased the future of the car cabin at the event in Munich. 

The Tesla Model Y’s journey with Trèves’ Sonified technology starts with a unique exciter design. Audio exciters are audio processing tools that manipulate sounds through synthesizing harmonics/harmonic distortion, usually in the high-frequency range. The new design was so exciting, Mark Cooper— Trèves Sr. VP of Global Sales and Product Lines—joked with Teslarati that the company considered spelling everything with a capital “X” as in eXciter.

Cooper knew Trèves developed something special with its new eXciter. Ironically, exciters aren’t that exciting in the automotive audio realm—despite their names. It would take someone with experience to realize the potential of Trèves’ unique eXciter design. Enter Dirac. 

Hendrik Herman, Dirac’s Vice President of Automotive, shared his first experience and initial shock with Trèves Sonified technology. 

“And so at one point, you know, we met, and I had the chance to listen to one of the demo cars in an earlier revision. And I need to admit [I] was a bit biased because exciters, in essence, have been around for audio reproduction in the past. But they never excited anyone—to be honest—because the performance back in the days or by, let’s say, competitors out there—setups that we had seen over the last maybe five to 10 years—simply were not what you were looking for.

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“So as I said, I was very biased first meeting with Mark and team about, you know, having exciters, and I was like, ‘Yeah, well, not the exciter story again.’ But then I was astonished and surprised [at] how well it was working. I mean, it was perfectly integrated. And it was a completely different experience,” Herman told us. 

What is so different about the Trèves eXciter?

So what actually makes the Trèves eXciter revolutionary? Essentially, Trèves reimagined the design of an audio exciter—sort of like Tesla reimagined the idea of a car to develop its electric vehicles today—and started from the ground up. 

“The head of innovation was working with a friend on what [we could] do with these fabulous exciters but differently. And that’s what we’ve done: basically, rather than have the exciter stuck on a piece of hard trim that rattles, it’s inside the soft trim. And that’s where it’s easy to understand the difference: soft trim doesn’t rattle,” Cooper shared. 

The difference between Trèves’s eXciter design and other companies’ designs appears to start from their perspectives. Typically, new eXciter designs would come from companies specializing in audio. They usually focused on replacing the loudspeaker with new audio exciters and placing them in the same places in cars. 

Cooper explained that exciters would be placed on surfaces fixed onto car bodies with screws and pop rivets. Over time, the exciters would shake the surface, and the screws and pop rivets would come loose, resulting in a buzzing noise and terrible audio. 

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Trèves’s mother company, Trev, does not specialize in audio—hardware or software. It specializes in NVH and interior trim, providing a unique perspective to audio exciters. The Trèves eXciter is decoupled from the hard surfaces of a car’s body, effectively eliminating the buzzing noises and rattling caused by regular exciters. But it doesn’t end there. The redesigned eXciter also changes how sound is released, creating a new audio experience since loudspeakers were first placed in cars. 

“So whether it’s been the Dirac guys or some of the other audio specialists when they’ve heard our cars, they said it sounds different from an out speaker. And that’s got people excited because loudspeakers have been in cars for like 50, 60 years. So we all know what they sound like,” stated Cooper. 

What’s so exciting about the Trèves eXciter?

Better sound quality is not what makes the Trèves eXciter different—even though it does deliver better audio. What’s so exciting about the Trèves eXciter is how the sound travels out of it, creating a distinct sound experience and many possibilities for cabin car designs. Cooper summed the new eXciter’s unique capability the best.

“If you can imagine the loudspeaker, it’s [a] cone, and it creates like a column of air. And as the air moves, it makes the pressure in your ears. And that’s how the sound is transmitted, right. So you’ve got a column or a piston of air coming off the loudspeaker,” he said, guiding us through a mental experience of Trèves Sonified technology.

“What [Trèves does] is we have a plate of composite material, which is about the size of a hand, for example, in a headrest or under the seat. And as we move that whole surface together, the sound doesn’t come up in a piston; it sort of spills over the edge.

“Okay, so the actual source of the sound is not easily identifiable. And that’s where the audio industry is saying, for emissivity, which is exactly what Hendrik was talking about at the beginning. This is great because it allows us to put the source of the sound closer to the ear without making it directional. And that’s what’s got everyone so excited right now,” explained Cooper. 

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Trèves Sonified technology allows designers to reimagine a vehicle’s cabin since traditional loudspeakers could only be placed in certain areas of a car. The Trèves eXciter can be placed in other cabin areas, creating numerous possibilities—especially for automakers seeking to create cabins with better entertainment features. 

Trèves and Dirac plan to team up again on another Tesla vehicle for CES 2024 in Las Vegas. 

The Teslarati team would appreciate hearing from you. If you have any tips, contact me at maria@teslarati.com or via X @Writer_01001101.

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.

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Elon Musk

Elon Musk argues lidar and radar make self driving cars more dangerous

The CEO is not just stating that using sensors like lidar is unnecessary to achieve self-driving.

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Credit: Tesla/YouTube

Elon Musk is taking a firmer stance in the vision vs lidar debate for autonomous driving. In his more recent comments, the CEO is not just stating that using sensors like lidar is unnecessary to achieve self-driving. 

Musk is stating that using lidar actually makes self-driving cars more dangerous. 

Uber CEO’s comments

During a recent interview, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi shared his thoughts on the autonomy race. As per the CEO, he is still inclined to believe that Waymo’s approach, which requires outfitting cars with equipment such as lidar and radar, is necessary to achieve superhuman levels of safety for self-driving cars. 

“Solid state LiDAR is $500. Why not include lidar as well in order to achieve super human safety. All of our partners are using a combination of camera, radar and LiDAR, and I personally think that’s the right solution, but I could be proven wrong,” the Uber CEO noted.

Elon Musk’s rebuttal

In response to the Uber CEO’s comments, Elon Musk stated that lidar and radar, at least based on Tesla’s experience, actually reduce safety instead of improving it. As per the Tesla CEO, there are times when sensors such as lidar and radar disagree with cameras. This creates sensor ambiguity, which, in turn, creates more risk. Musk then noted that Tesla has seen an improvement in safety once the company focused on a vision only approach. 

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“Lidar and radar reduce safety due to sensor contention. If lidars/radars disagree with cameras, which one wins? This sensor ambiguity causes increased, not decreased, risk. That’s why Waymos can’t drive on highways. We turned off the radars in Teslas to increase safety. Cameras ftw,’ Musk wrote.

Musk’s comments are quite notable as Tesla was able to launch a dedicated Robotaxi pilot in Austin and the Bay Area using its vision-based autonomous systems. The same is true for FSD, which is quickly becoming notably better than humans in driving. 

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Tesla Model Y L sold out for September 2025

This was hinted at in Tesla China’s configurator for the all-electric crossover.

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Credit: Tesla China

It appears that the Tesla Model Y L has been sold out in China for September 2025. This was hinted at in Tesla China’s configurator for the all-electric crossover.

Model Y L deliveries

Since the Model Y L’s official launch earlier this month, Tesla has been pretty consistent in the idea that the extended wheelbase variant of its best-selling vehicle will see its first deliveries sometime in September. This was quite an impressive timeframe for Tesla, considering that the Model Y L has only been launched this August. 

Nevertheless, both Tesla China’s Model Y configurator and comments from company executives have noted that the vehicle will see its first customer deliveries in September. “Tesla cars are fun to drive alone, whether you have children or how many children, this car can meet all your needs. We will deliver in September and wait for you to get in the car,” Tesla China VP Grace Tao wrote on Weibo.

Credit: Tesla China

October 2025 deliveries

A look at Tesla China’s order page as of writing shows that the earliest deliveries for the Model Y L, if ordered today, would be October 2025 instead. This suggests that the six-seat Model Y variant has effectively been sold out for September. This bodes well for the vehicle, and it suggests that it is a variant that may be able to raise Tesla’s sales numbers in China, as well as territories where the Model Y L could be exported.

Rumors of the Model Y L’s strong sales have been abounding. After the vehicle’s launch, industry watchers estimated that Tesla China has received over 35,000 orders for the Model Y L in just one day. Later estimates suggested that the Model Y L’s orders have breached the 50,000 mark.

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Starship Flight 10 rescheduled as SpaceX targets Monday launch

SpaceX said it is now targeting Monday evening for Starship’s 10th flight test.

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Credit: SpaceX/X

SpaceX stood down from its planned Starship Flight 10 on Sunday evening, citing an issue with ground systems. 

The launch attempt was scheduled during a one-hour window that opened at 7:30 p.m. ET, but it was called off just 17 minutes before the window opened. SpaceX said it is now targeting Monday evening for Starship’s 10th flight test.

Flight 10 rescheduled

A lot of excitement was palpable during the lead up to Starship Flight 10’s first launch window. After the failures of Starship Flight 9, many were interested to see if SpaceX would be able to nail its mission objectives this time around. Starship itself seemed ready to fly, with the upper stage being loaded with propellant as scheduled. Later on, SpaceX also noted that Starship’s Super Heavy booster was also being loaded with propellant.

However, 17 before the launch window opened, SpaceX noted that it was “standing down from today’s tenth flight of Starship to allow time to troubleshoot an issue with ground systems.” Elon Musk, in a post on X, further clarified that a “ground side liquid oxygen leak needs to be fixed.” Musk did state that SpaceX will attempt Flight 10 again on Monday, August 25, 2025.

Starship and SpaceX’s development goals

The fully integrated Starship system is the tallest and most powerful rocket ever built, standing over 400 feet when stacked. Composed of the reusable Super Heavy booster and the Starship upper stage, the vehicle is central to SpaceX’s long-term ambitions of lunar and Martian missions. NASA has already selected Starship as the crewed lunar lander for Artemis, with its first astronaut landing mission tentatively set for 2027, as noted in a Space.com report.

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So far, Starship has flown nine times from Starbase in Texas, with three launches this year alone. Each flight has offered critical data, though all three 2025 missions encountered notable failures. Flight 7 and Flight 8 ended in explosions less than 10 minutes after launch, while Flight 9 broke apart during reentry. Despite setbacks, SpaceX has continued refining Starship’s hardware and operations with each attempt. Needless to say, a successful Flight 10 would be a significant win for the Starship program.

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