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Tesla Model Y showcases new tech that could revolutionize cabin designs [Feature]
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.
“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.
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.
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.
Elon Musk
Tesla’s new Robotaxi geofence shape is an FU by Elon Musk to the competition
Maybe it’s all pareidolia. But maybe it’s not. After all, Tesla embraced the first geofence expansion for what it appeared to be.

Tesla expanded its Robotaxi geofence in Austin once again early Sunday morning. The new shape seems to be somewhat of a proverbial, and potentially literal, middle finger to the competition.
If you thought the first expansion was a message to the competition and doubters of the company’s ride-hailing service, you probably will believe the second expansion is an even stronger gesture.
Tesla’s first expansion did not go unnoticed, as its shape was particularly recognizable. The company has always operated with a sense of humor, and it embraced what it did. Some, including me, took it as a message to competitors: We can expand in any direction, in any size, at any time. We’ll prove it.”
They picked a shape and went with it:
Tesla’s Robotaxi expansion wasn’t a joke, it was a warning to competitors
It is evident that Tesla is keeping its humor up to continue to show a few things. The first is that it really can expand in any direction it wants and that’s how it is choosing to show it.
The second, well, maybe it’s an edgier way to show doubters that it is really executing on Robotaxi:
Tesla has expanded the Austin RoboTaxi network.
Looks like a giant middle finger.
Giant F U to the competition? 🤷🏻♂️ pic.twitter.com/tcaIxdQk10
— Farzad (@farzyness) August 3, 2025
all I see is Tesla giving the middle finger pic.twitter.com/P4otjxSCQm
— Daniel Harding (@ArchamusDK) August 3, 2025
Maybe it’s all pareidolia. But maybe it’s not. After all, Tesla embraced the first geofence expansion for what it appeared to be. This might be a similar occurrence, and it might be sending another message to the competition, critics, and doubters.
The expansion was a near-doubling of the geofence Tesla offered previously. After the initial geofence covered just about 20 square miles, Tesla was able to more than double it to 42 square miles with the first growth. This new geofence shape was just under double, and is about 80 square miles.
Tesla’s rapid expansion has impressed many, especially considering the service area has roughly doubled for the second time in well under two months. The Robotaxi service was first offered on June 22.
Elon Musk
Tesla executes ‘a must’ with Musk as race to AI supremacy goes on: Wedbush
Dan Ives of Wedbush says Tesla made the right move getting Elon Musk his pay package.

Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) executed what Wedbush’s Dan Ives called “a must” this morning as it finalized a new pay package for its CEO Elon Musk.
The move helped give Musk his first meaningful compensation at Tesla since 2017, when the company offered a pay package that was based on performance and proven growth. That package was approved by shareholders on two separate occasions, but was denied to Musk both times by the Delaware Chancery Court.
On Monday, Tesla announced on X that it had created a new package that would give 96 million shares of restricted stock to Musk to compensate him for the “immense value generated for Tesla and all our shareholders.”
🚨 BREAKING: Tesla has announced that its Board has unanimously approved a recommendation from the Special Committee of the Board to grant Elon an award of restricted stock equal to approximately one-third of the compensation he earned under the 2018 CEO Performance Award.
The… https://t.co/g7RKrTymDL pic.twitter.com/dnvkILlz6H
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) August 4, 2025
The details of the pay package are designed to retain Musk, who has voiced some concerns about his control of Tesla, as “activist shareholders” have used lawsuits to disrupt the previously approved package.
You can read all the details of it here:
Tesla rewards CEO Elon Musk with massive, restricted stock package
Ives says Musk’s retention is ‘a must’
Ives said in a note to investors on Monday that with the raging AI talent war that Tesla made a smart move by doing what it could to retain Musk.
He wrote:
“With the AI talent war now fully underway across Big Tech, we believe this was a strategic move to keep TSLA’s top asset, Musk, would stay focused at the company with his priority being to bolster the company’s growth strategy over the coming years. With this interim award increasing Musk’s voting rights upon this grant, which Musk honed in on and mentioned was increasingly important to incentivize him to stay focused on the matters at hand, this was a strategic move by the Board to solidify Musk as CEO of Tesla over the coming years with this framework for Musk’s pay package and greater voting control removing a major overhang on the story.”
He went on to say:
“While the groundwork is now in place for the next few years, it will be critical for the Tesla Board of Directors to get this long-term compensation strategy in place prior to the company’s November 6th shareholder meeting which would address the elephant in the room and remove a significant overhang on the stock.”
Wedbush maintained its Outperform rating and its $500 price target on the stock.
Elon Musk
Tesla CEO Elon Musk reveals ideal timeline for insane self-driving feature
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has extremely optimistic expectations for Full Self-Driving progress by the end of 2025.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has revealed his ideal timeline for what would likely be the most insane self-driving feature: the ability for drivers to play video games at the wheel.
There are a handful of videos out there of drivers already performing this task. Nobody using Tesla’s Full Self-Driving suite should perform these activities, as the company maintains the system is not fully autonomous.
Drivers are responsible for the vehicle and should be prepared to take over.
Tesla has put a lot of faith in its development of Full Self-Driving and has made tremendous strides over the past few years. Capabilities have gotten more refined and accurate through various methods, including data collection and hardware improvements.
Tesla kicks Robotaxi geofence expansion into high gear in Austin
It has gotten so good that Tesla launched a Robotaxi platform in Austin, Texas, on June 22. Passengers can hop in the back of a Model Y and will be transported around the city in a confined geofence that is about 90 square miles in size. There is nobody in the driver’s seat, but there is a Safety Monitor in the passenger’s seat.
Tesla launched a similar experience in California’s Bay Area last week, but the company has placed the Safety Monitor in the driver’s seat for that region for the time being.
Eventually, Tesla will get to a point where no monitor is needed, and the vehicles will be able to drive themselves. Many believe that it is a few years away, but Musk believes Tesla could achieve it very soon.
After a video of someone playing Grand Theft Auto in their Cybertruck while operating Full Self-Driving was shared on the social media platform X, Musk said this capability would be available in “probably 3 to 6 months, depending on regulatory approval in your city and state.”
Probably 3 to 6 months, depending on regulatory approval in your city and state
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 3, 2025
It is important to remember that Musk has been very optimistic regarding autonomy timelines with Tesla projects. We heard for many years that the company would have self-driving vehicles “by the end of the year,” and those projects did not come to fruition.
While there was progress, there were no fully autonomous vehicles or software versions for customers.
With that being said, Tesla has made tremendous strides in its quest for autonomous vehicles this year, and launching a Robotaxi platform was a huge step in the right direction.
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