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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.
News
Tesla Model Y and Model 3 named safest vehicles tested by ANCAP in 2025
According to ANCAP in a press release, the Tesla Model Y achieved the highest overall weighted score of any vehicle assessed in 2025.
The Tesla Model Y recorded the highest overall safety score of any vehicle tested by ANCAP in 2025. The Tesla Model 3 also delivered strong results, reinforcing the automaker’s safety leadership in Australia and New Zealand.
According to ANCAP in a press release, the Tesla Model Y achieved the highest overall weighted score of any vehicle assessed in 2025. ANCAP’s 2025 tests evaluated vehicles across four key pillars: Adult Occupant Protection, Child Occupant Protection, Vulnerable Road User Protection, and Safety Assist technologies.
The Model Y posted consistently strong results in all four categories, distinguishing itself through a system-based safety approach that combines structural crash protection with advanced driver-assistance features such as autonomous emergency braking, lane support, and driver monitoring.
This marked the second time the Model Y has topped ANCAP’s annual safety rankings. The Model Y’s previous version was also ANCAP’s top performer in 2022.
The Tesla Model 3 also delivered a strong performance in ANCAP’s 2025 tests, contributing to Tesla’s broader safety presence across segments. Similar to the Model Y, the Model 3 also earned impressive scores across the ANCAP’s four pillars. This made the vehicle the top performer in the Medium Car category.
ANCAP Chief Executive Officer Carla Hoorweg stated that the results highlight a growing industry shift toward integrated safety design, with improvements in technologies such as autonomous emergency braking and lane support translating into meaningful real-world protection.
“ANCAP’s testing continues to reinforce a clear message: the safest vehicles are those designed with safety as a system, not a checklist. The top performers this year delivered consistent results across physical crash protection, crash avoidance and vulnerable road user safety, rather than relying on strength in a single area.
“We are also seeing increasing alignment between ANCAP’s test requirements and the safety technologies that genuinely matter on Australian and New Zealand roads. Improvements in autonomous emergency braking, lane support, and driver monitoring systems are translating into more robust protection,” Hoorweg said.
News
Tesla Sweden uses Megapack battery to bypass unions’ Supercharger blockade
Just before Christmas, Tesla went live with a new charging station in Arlandastad, outside Stockholm, by powering it with a Tesla Megapack battery.
Tesla Sweden has successfully launched a new Supercharger station despite an ongoing blockade by Swedish unions, using on-site Megapack batteries instead of traditional grid connections. The workaround has allowed the Supercharger to operate without direct access to Sweden’s electricity network, which has been effectively frozen by labor action.
Tesla has experienced notable challenges connecting its new charging stations to Sweden’s power grid due to industrial action led by Seko, a major Swedish trade union, which has blocked all new electrical connections for new Superchargers. On paper, this made the opening of new Supercharger sites almost impossible.
Despite the blockade, Tesla has continued to bring stations online. In Malmö and Södertälje, new Supercharger locations opened after grid operators E.ON and Telge Nät activated the sites. The operators later stated that the connections had been made in error.
More recently, however, Tesla adopted a different strategy altogether. Just before Christmas, Tesla went live with a new charging station in Arlandastad, outside Stockholm, by powering it with a Tesla Megapack battery, as noted in a Dagens Arbete (DA) report.
Because the Supercharger station does not rely on a permanent grid connection, Tesla was able to bypass the blocked application process, as noted by Swedish car journalist and YouTuber Peter Esse. He noted that the Arlandastad Supercharger is likely dependent on nearby companies to recharge the batteries, likely through private arrangements.
Eight new charging stalls have been launched in the Arlandastad site so far, which is a fraction of the originally planned 40 chargers for the location. Still, the fact that Tesla Sweden was able to work around the unions’ efforts once more is impressive, especially since Superchargers are used even by non-Tesla EVs.
Esse noted that Tesla’s Megapack workaround is not as easily replicated in other locations. Arlandastad is unique because neighboring operators already have access to grid power, making it possible for Tesla to source electricity indirectly. Still, Esse noted that the unions’ blockades have not affected sales as much.
“Many want Tesla to lose sales due to the union blockades. But you have to remember that sales are falling from 2024, when Tesla sold a record number of cars in Sweden. That year, the unions also had blockades against Tesla. So for Tesla as a charging operator, it is devastating. But for Tesla as a car company, it does not matter in terms of sales volumes. People charge their cars where there is an opportunity, usually at home,” Esse noted.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk’s X goes down as users report major outage Friday morning
Error messages and stalled loading screens quickly spread across the service, while outage trackers recorded a sharp spike in user reports.
Elon Musk’s X experienced an outage Friday morning, leaving large numbers of users unable to access the social media platform.
Error messages and stalled loading screens quickly spread across the service, while outage trackers recorded a sharp spike in user reports.
Downdetector reports
Users attempting to open X were met with messages such as “Something went wrong. Try reloading,” often followed by an endless spinning icon that prevented access, according to a report from Variety. Downdetector data showed that reports of problems surged rapidly throughout the morning.
As of 10:52 a.m. ET, more than 100,000 users had reported issues with X. The data indicated that 56% of complaints were tied to the mobile app, while 33% were related to the website and roughly 10% cited server connection problems. The disruption appeared to begin around 10:10 a.m. ET, briefly eased around 10:35 a.m., and then returned minutes later.
Previous disruptions
Friday’s outage was not an isolated incident. X has experienced multiple high-profile service interruptions over the past two years. In November, tens of thousands of users reported widespread errors, including “Internal server error / Error code 500” messages. Cloudflare-related error messages were also reported.
In March 2025, the platform endured several brief outages spanning roughly 45 minutes, with more than 21,000 reports in the U.S. and 10,800 in the U.K., according to Downdetector. Earlier disruptions included an outage in August 2024 and impairments to key platform features in July 2023.
Tesla Model Y and Model 3 named safest vehicles tested by ANCAP in 2025
Tesla Sweden uses Megapack battery to bypass unions’ Supercharger blockade
