Connect with us

News

Tesla pickup truck will have better performance than a Porsche 911, says Elon Musk

Published

on

Elon Musk discussed several aspects of the upcoming Tesla Pickup Truck during the recently-held 2019 Annual Shareholder Meeting. During the event, Musk talked about the vehicle’s release date, its design, its towing capacity, and its performance, which the CEO noted would be comparable or even better than a base Porsche 911.

Musk noted that the pickup truck would likely see an unveiling near the end of summer 2019, which is in line with his previous forecasts for the vehicle. The CEO also stated that the Tesla Truck is one of the coolest vehicles he has ever seen, pointing out that it won’t be a conventional-looking pickup that just happens to be electric. “We know what that looks like,” Musk noted, seemingly referencing the Rivian R1T, which features a conventional pickup truck design in an all-electric package.

The Tesla Truck remains to be dubbed by Elon Musk as a “cyberpunk” vehicle, which all but confirms that it will be loaded to the teeth with tech. This means that the pickup will feature some trademark Tesla performance as well, which Musk confirmed in the event. Referring to the vehicle’s driving capabilities, the CEO stated that Tesla is designing the pickup truck in such a way that its performance will be better than a base Porsche 911.

The Porsche 911 is an iconic vehicle, and using it as a benchmark for the driving performance of the Tesla Truck is a bold move by the electric car maker. The 911, after all, is famed for its capability to be driven spiritedly on long, twisting roads. The legendary German sports car is also known for its quick acceleration, with more conservative variants like the 2017 Porsche 911 Carrera (M/T) still being capable of sprinting from 0-60 mph in 4.0 seconds.

Advertisement

While Elon Musk has all but confirmed that the Tesla Truck would be an incredibly quick vehicle, the CEO also pointed out that the upcoming pickup would be capable of towing heavy loads. Responding to an investor who inquired if the Tesla Truck will be capable of towing a trailer loaded with horses, Musk noted that “If the (Ford) F-150 can tow it, the Tesla truck can do it.”

There is no denying that Tesla’s pickup truck would likely be a showstopper when it gets unveiled later this year. It should also be noted that Elon Musk, as optimistic as he is, is known to be conservative with the specs of Tesla’s vehicles. Musk might have a strong tendency to overestimate his target timetables, but he is never one to exaggerate his vehicles’ capabilities. With this in mind, the Tesla community could be assured that the pickup truck will indeed live up to its name as a “cyberpunk” vehicle that will not look out of place in the Blade Runner franchise.

For all its tech and capabilities, the Tesla Pickup Truck will start at $49,000, according to Elon Musk in an appearance at owner-enthusiast Ryan McCaffrey’s Ride the Lightning podcast. During the podcast, Musk mentioned that the base pickup would have a starting price of $49,000 at most, though Tesla is working on offering the vehicle at an even lower cost. “You should be able to buy a really great truck for $49k or less,” Musk said.

Advertisement

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.

Advertisement
Comments

Elon Musk

Tesla Phone? Not quite, but close: analyst

Published

on

elon musk phone
Photo: Boss Hunting.com.au

For years, there have been images and videos across social media platforms that have reminded me of when I was a 15-year-old kid teased by “Xbox 720” videos on YouTube. These videos are of the supposed “Tesla Phone” that Elon Musk was secretly developing in between leading Tesla with its electric cars and SpaceX with its reusable rockets.

Although Musk has put those rumors to bed several times, it was never completely out of the realm that he could get involved in cell phones in some capacity. Think outside the box and more macro-level, though. Instead of reinventing the computer, Musk reinvented connectivity by developing Starlink with SpaceX.

It could be something similar, TD Cowen analyst Gregory Williams said in a note last week, where he hinted SpaceX could be gathering some steam to acquire T-Mobile.

Williams said it would be the “clear choice” for SpaceX if it decided to go through with a network acquisition. He also suggested AT&T.

The move would be possible through selling more of its own stock, which would help SpaceX raise the money to purchase T-Mobile, which would cost roughly $300 billion. It could be one of the moves SpaceX makes post-IPO in terms of an acquisition: it already acquired Cursor AI for $60 billion.

Other analysts, like Dan Ives of Wedbush, believe SpaceX and Tesla will eventually merge into one anyway, and that conglomeration could come as soon as this year, some have said.

The implications of SpaceX purchasing T-Mobile are massive. A combined entity would create a truly ubiquitous network: T-Mobile’s terrestrial 5G towers and Starlink’s growing constellation of Direct-to-Cell satellites. This would essentially eliminate dead zones across the U.S. and potentially globally.

SpaceX would instantly become a full-scale facilities-based carrier with satellite differentiation; a huge advantage. This would pressure AT&T and Verizon heavily.

There are also concerns like a potential reduction in long-term competition, and of course, a deal of that size would face intense scrutiny from government agencies.

The strategic fit is compelling due to the existing Starlink–T-Mobile partnership and complementary technologies (space + terrestrial). It could create a dominant integrated communications player. However, the regulatory, financial, and execution hurdles are enormous — this remains highly speculative with no indication SpaceX is actively pursuing it right now.

Continue Reading

News

Tesla reveals huge Cybercab detail in new guide for First Responders

Published

on

Credit: Tesla

Tesla revealed a major new Cybercab detail in a guide it released for First Responders, showing new territory in its beliefs and intentions for the ride-hailing-focused vehicle that entered production in April.

The First Responders Guide is released to give fire departments, paramedics, and other emergency personnel the proper guidance on what to do in the event of an accident, entrapment, or other situation that would require immediate attention.

On one of the pages of the First Responders Guide, Tesla revealed a stark detail about the Cybercab, which could help personnel enter the vehicle more easily in case of an emergency.

Tesla Cybercab has one important piece that AI4 cars might need for FSD

It shows Tesla has no intention of releasing any Cybercab units that were initially proposed for ride-hailing services for the general public with any manual controls, meaning a steering wheel or pedals:

“A Cybercab equipped with steering wheel, brake pedal, and an acceleration pedal is typically an engineering or test vehicle, and operates at SAE Level 2 autonomy. Cybercab is not typically equipped with a steering wheel or acceleration and brake pedals.”

This is a major development for those who continue to believe Tesla planned to release the Cybercab with any sort of manual controls so that passengers could take over if needed. However, when Tesla started manufacturing production versions of the Cybercab in Giga Texas earlier this year, they were spotted without a steering wheel or pedals.

It essentially confirms the company has no intentions of bringing manual controls to the car’s production versions. Some have argued that the likelihood of Tesla having something

There still are some Cybercab units out there with a steering wheel and pedals, and as Tesla said, these cars are engineering or test vehicles, which have Safety Monitors on board to help the car out of a precarious situation or emergency.

Continue Reading

News

Tesla Full Self-Driving v14 ‘Lite’ Release Notes: new capabilities and features

Published

on

(Credit: Megan Gale/Twitter)

Tesla released the Full Self-Driving v14 ‘Lite’ suite to owners of Hardware 3 or AI3 vehicles today, adding several new features to the vehicles that were once believed to be capable of unsupervised self-driving.

Now, Tesla has released this modified suite to older Tesla vehicles, adding plenty of new features and capabilities.

Here are the full release notes for the suite:

  • Distilled the intelligence from HW4 V14 into HW3. This allows HW3 to directly learn how to handle scenarios using HW4 V14 as a guide. This process unlocks the improvements that have been made to HW4 including Reinforcement Learning (RL) and offline models for HW3.
  • Improved both proactive and reactive responsiveness across a wide variety of categories including navigation handling, merges and forks, pedestrian interactions, traffic lights, and vehicle cut-in scenarios.
  • Improved general comfort in nominal scenarios through fewer false slowdowns, smoother steering and more consistent lane centering.
  • Introduced parking, unparking, and reversing capabilities.
  • Added Arrival Options for you to select where FSD should park: in a Parking Lot, on the Street, in a Driveway, or at the Curbside.
  • Speed Profiles are now available at all times, to further customize driving style preference.

These improvements, according to Tesla’s Head of AI, Ashok Elluswamy, help distill the driving behavior from AI4’s v14 series into both the camera and compute configurations of AI3.

Tesla Full Self-Driving v14 ‘Lite’ for older cars finally gets released

He added:

“It includes destination options and speed profiles on city roads, but more importantly significantly improved safety. We hope you’ll enjoy it, once the build ships wide.”

Tesla will continue to roll out the v14 Lite suite more widely in the coming weeks, the company said.

Continue Reading