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Tesla patent outlines system to actively monitor improper seatbelt use

Credit: Teslarati via @BlakeM in San Francisco

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Seatbelts have saved countless lives since they were introduced, especially after Swedish engineer Nils Bohlin invented the now-ubiquitous three-point seatbelt in 1958. Inasmuch as seatbelts are a proven safety system, however, it is still very easy to misuse them. One such example was demonstrated by Consumer Reports recently when the magazine decided to show exactly how drivers could trick Tesla’s Autopilot driver-monitoring systems. 

In Consumer Reports‘ demonstration, the magazine’s testers tricked Tesla’s driver-monitoring system by buckling in the driver’s seatbelt without a person in the seat. After this, the magazine’s testers simply sat on top of the buckled seatbelt, effectively fooling the Model Y into thinking that its driver was wearing his seatbelt properly. Fortunately, it appears that Tesla is working on a way to prevent such tricks from happening. This was hinted at in a recently-granted patent that outlines a system that detects improper seatbelt use. 

Credit: US Patent Office

Published in 2019 and granted earlier this year, Tesla’s patent for “Improper Seatbelt Usage Detection” provides a good way for the company’s vehicles to accurately determine if its occupants are belted in properly. Tesla acknowledged the issue of drivers not wearing their seatbelts properly in the patent’s background. 

“For safety-belt systems to be effective, seatbelts must be worn as intended. However, occupants do not always wear the seatbelts as intended. For example, occupants have been observed wearing the shoulder belt portion belt behind their backs, the shoulder belt portion under their arms, or hold another occupant on their lap. Current monitoring systems cannot determine whether an occupant is properly using a seatbelt. Thus, there is a need for a system that detects improper use of seatbelt,” Tesla wrote. 

Tesla’s patent utilizes sensor modules to ensure that occupants are wearing their seatbelts correctly. These sensor modules could comprise more than one sensor, and they could be embedded within a vehicle’s seats. Some sensor modules also utilize inertial sensors or radio-frequency (RF) beacons, which would allow vehicles to determine if seatbelts are being used as designed. A controller that receives signals from the sensors and determines proper or improper seatbelt usage is also mentioned in the patent. This, as hinted at by Tesla’s illustrations in the patent, is extremely pertinent for vehicles that could operate without active human input. 

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Credit: US Patent Office

In the patent’s discussion, Tesla notes that the system’s controller includes an associated memory that can store data regarding the vehicle’s use. This data includes occupant profiles, such as information on weight, height, and general posture, among others. What is rather remarkable is that Tesla’s patent is designed to detect even casual improper seatbelt use, such as when drivers place the shoulder belt under their arm, or when passengers hold a non-belted occupant on their lap. The EV maker outlined what happens in the vehicle if improper seatbelt use is determined. 

“After determining improper usage of seatbelt 306, controller 404 may issue a warning, a notification, sound an alarm, or may even not allow to operate vehicle 100 until seatbelt 306 is used properly. A warning may be a text message displayed on display system of vehicle infotainment system, or an alarm sounding on vehicle infotainment system, a text message to registered mobile number of occupant, etc. Controller 404 may perform any other type of follow up actions as well to ensure proper usage of seatbelt 306 while driving vehicle 100. The present disclosure is not limited by any such follow up actions in any manner,” Tesla wrote. 

With such systems in place, Tesla could highlight its place as the maker of the world’s safest vehicles. Teslas are already safe to begin with, thanks to their all-electric design that gives them a low center of gravity and generous crumple zones. But with a slew of systems such as Autopilot and improper seatbelt detection systems, perhaps it would not be long before professional auto testers like Consumer Reports can no longer trick Tesla’s safety features successfully. 

Tesla’s patent for its improper seatbelt monitoring system could be accessed below. 

Tesla Improper Seatbelt Usage Detection Patent by Simon Alvarez on Scribd

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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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Lucid unveils Lunar Robotaxi in bid to challenge Tesla’s Cybercab in the autonomous ride hailing race

Lucid’s Lunar robotaxi is gunning for Tesla’s Cybercab in the autonomous ride hailing race

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Lucid Lunar robotaxi concept [Credit: Rendering by TESLARATI]

Lucid Group pulled back the curtain on its purpose-built autonomous robotaxi platform dubbed the Lunar Concept. Announced at its New York investor day event, Lunar is arguably the company’s most ambitious concept yet, and a direct line of sight toward the autonomous ride haling market that Tesla looks to control.

At Lucid Investor Day 2026, the company introduced Lunar, a purpose-built robotaxi concept based on the Midsize platform.

A comparison to Tesla’s Cybercab is unavoidable. The concept of a Tesla robotaxi was first introduced by Elon Musk back in April 2019 during an event dubbed “Autonomy Day,” where he envisioned a network of self-driving Tesla vehicles transporting passengers while not in use by their owners. That vision took another major step in October 2024 when, Musk unveiled the Cybercab at the Tesla “We, Robot” event held at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, California, where 20 concept Cybercabs autonomously drove around the studio lot giving rides to attendees.

Tesla unveils the Robovan at ‘We, Robot’ event

Fast forward to today, and Tesla’s ambitions are finally materializing, but not without friction. As we recently reported, the Cybercab is being spotted with increasing frequency on public roads and across the grounds of Gigafactory Texas, suggesting that the company’s road testing and validation program is ramping meaningfully ahead of mass production. Tesla already operates a small scale robotaxi service in Austin using supervised Model Ys, but the Cybercab is designed from the ground up for high-volume, low-cost production, with Musk stating an eventual goal of producing one vehicle every 10 seconds.

At Lucid Investor Day 2026, the company introduced Lunar, a purpose-built robotaxi concept based on the Midsize platform.

Into this landscape steps Lucid’s Lunar. Built on the company’s all-new Midsize EV platform, which will also underpin consumer SUVs starting below $50,000. The Lunar mirrors the Cybercab’s core philosophy of having two seats, no driver controls, and a focus on fleet economics. The platform introduces Lucid’s redesigned Atlas electric drive unit, engineered to be smaller, lighter, and cheaper to manufacture at scale.

Unlike Tesla’s strategy of building its own ride hailing network from scratch, Lucid is partnering with Uber. The companies are said to be in advanced discussions to deploy Midsize platform vehicles at large scale, with Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi publicly backing Lucid’s engineering credentials and autonomous-ready architecture.

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In the investor day event, Lucid also outlined a recurring software revenue model, with an in-vehicle AI assistant and monthly autonomous driving subscriptions priced between $69 and $199. This can be seen as a nod to the software revenue stream that Tesla has long championed with its Full Self-Driving subscription.

Tesla’s Cybercab is targeting a price point below $30k and with operating costs as low as 20 cents per mile. But with regulatory hurdles still ahead, the window for competition is open. Lucid’s Lunar may not have a launch date yet, but it arrives at a pivotal moment, and when the robotaxi race is no longer viewed as hypothetical. Rather, every serious EV player needs to come to bat on the same plate that Tesla has had countless practice swings on over the last seven years.

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Brazil Supreme Court orders Elon Musk and X investigation closed

The decision was issued by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes following a recommendation from Brazil’s Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet.

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Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court has ordered the closure of an investigation involving Elon Musk and social media platform X. The inquiry had been pending for about two years and examined whether the platform was used to coordinate attacks against members of the judiciary.

The decision was issued by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes following a recommendation from Brazil’s Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet.

According to a report from Agencia Brasil, the investigation conducted by the Federal Police did not find evidence that X deliberately attempted to attack the judiciary or circumvent court orders.

Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet concluded that the irregularities identified during the probe did not indicate fraudulent intent.

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Justice Moraes accepted the prosecutor’s recommendation and ruled that the investigation should be closed. Under the ruling, the case will remain closed unless new evidence emerges.

The inquiry stemmed from concerns that content on X may have enabled online attacks against Supreme Court justices or violated rulings requiring the suspension of certain accounts under investigation.

Justice Moraes had previously taken several enforcement actions related to the platform during the broader dispute involving social media regulation in Brazil.

These included ordering a nationwide block of the platform, freezing Starlink accounts, and imposing fines on X totaling about $5.2 million. Authorities also froze financial assets linked to X and SpaceX through Starlink to collect unpaid penalties and seized roughly $3.3 million from the companies’ accounts.

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Moraes also imposed daily fines of up to R$5 million, about $920,000, for alleged evasion of the X ban and established penalties of R$50,000 per day for VPN users who attempted to bypass the restriction.

Brazil remains an important market for X, with roughly 17 million users, making it one of the platform’s larger user bases globally.

The country is also a major market for Starlink, SpaceX’s satellite internet service, which has surpassed one million subscribers in Brazil.

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FCC chair criticizes Amazon over opposition to SpaceX satellite plan

Carr made the remarks in a post on social media platform X.

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Credit: @SecWar/X

U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr criticized Amazon after the company opposed SpaceX’s proposal to launch a large satellite constellation that could function as an orbital data center network.

Carr made the remarks in a post on social media platform X.

Amazon recently urged the FCC to reject SpaceX’s application to deploy a constellation of up to 1 million low Earth orbit satellites that could serve as artificial intelligence data centers in space.

The company described the proposal as a “lofty ambition rather than a real plan,” arguing that SpaceX had not provided sufficient details about how the system would operate.

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Carr responded by pointing to Amazon’s own satellite deployment progress.

“Amazon should focus on the fact that it will fall roughly 1,000 satellites short of meeting its upcoming deployment milestone, rather than spending their time and resources filing petitions against companies that are putting thousands of satellites in orbit,” Carr wrote on X.

Amazon has declined to comment on the statement.

Amazon has been working to deploy its Project Kuiper satellite network, which is intended to compete with SpaceX’s Starlink service. The company has invested more than $10 billion in the program and has launched more than 200 satellites since April of last year.

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Amazon has also asked the FCC for a 24-month extension, until July 2028, to meet a requirement to deploy roughly 1,600 satellites by July 2026, as noted in a CNBC report.

SpaceX’s Starlink network currently has nearly 10,000 satellites in orbit and serves roughly 10 million customers. The FCC has also authorized SpaceX to deploy 7,500 additional satellites as the company continues expanding its global satellite internet network.

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