News
Tesla Sentry Mode needed to help solve attempted murder of politician
Tesla owners who use the company’s Sentry Mode in Norway are being summoned by a Mayor in the town of Sandefjord, located in the Southeastern portion of the country, to help solve a crime that is being treated as an attempted murder case.
After Mayor Bjørn Ole Geditsch smelled gasoline and flames late Sunday night, he quickly rose from his house and escaped with no injuries. However, the case has gone cold, and local police have no suspects at the time. Because of the lack of security cameras in the Mayor’s neighborhood, authorities are requesting help from Tesla owners who live near Mayor Geditsch.
Tesla’s Sentry Mode feature is a security characteristic that can be used by owners to capture instances of vandalism or hit and runs while the car is parked. When a Tesla has Sentry Mode activated, the vehicle will begin recording its surroundings using external body cameras if a threat is detected near the car.
Sentry Mode captures the video and saves it to the storage device that the driver has plugged into the USB slots within the vehicle. The clips can be watched inside of the car with the Dashcam Viewer feature that was added earlier in 2020. The feature is responsible for solving several instances of keying and other acts of vandalism.
However, the case with the Norwegian Mayor is arguably more severe, considering law enforcement agencies are identifying the crime to be attempted murder.
“I think this is an attack on local democracy,” Mayor Gleditsch told Norweigan media outlet Dagbladet on Monday, the day after the attack. “Either it is political, or they are against something. A mayor fronts the municipality and is the top elected official. If there is something the municipality does, the Mayor is often identified with it.”
Although he has no evidence of a perpetrator, he has provided police with a list of names of people who he thinks could be tied to the crime.
“I can’t say I’m scared, but I have in mind that someone who might be willing to do this again,” Gleditsch said.
Although the Mayor described the experience as traumatic, he has received plenty of messages after the incident expressing support.
After Tesla rolled out the Sentry Mode feature in February 2019, it has managed to help solve numerous instances of crimes that have happened near vehicles. According to U.S. federal statistics, motor vehicle thefts occur or are attempted every 40.8 seconds. The addition of Sentry Mode was a way to combat these occurrences, and Tesla may have more tricks up its sleeve in the future.
CEO Elon Musk has hinted toward a possible taser feature for the Cybertruck, which would give intruders or vandals a quick shock of electricity in the instance of attempted theft. While it sounds far fetched, 49 out of 50 U.S. states would allow the feature.
Elon Musk
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.
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.
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.
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.
Elon Musk
FCC chair criticizes Amazon over opposition to SpaceX satellite plan
Carr made the remarks in a post on social media platform 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.
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.
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.
Energy
Tesla Energy gains UK license to sell electricity to homes and businesses
The license was granted to Tesla Energy Ventures Ltd. by UK energy regulator Ofgem after a seven-month review process.
Tesla Energy has received a license to supply electricity in the United Kingdom, opening the door for the company to serve homes and businesses in the country.
The license was granted to Tesla Energy Ventures Ltd. by UK energy regulator Ofgem after a seven-month review process.
According to Ofgem, the license took effect at 6 p.m. local time on Wednesday and applies to Great Britain.
The approval allows Tesla’s energy business to sell electricity directly to customers in the region, as noted in a Bloomberg News report.
Tesla has already expanded similar services in the United States. In Texas, the company offers electricity plans that allow Tesla owners to charge their vehicles at a lower cost while also feeding excess electricity back into the grid.
Tesla already has a sizable presence in the UK market. According to price comparison website U-switch, there are more than 250,000 Tesla electric vehicles in the country and thousands of Tesla home energy storage systems.
Ofgem also noted that Tesla Motors Ltd., a separate entity incorporated in England and Wales, received an electricity generation license in June 2020.
The new UK license arrives as Tesla continues expanding its global energy business.
Last year, Tesla Energy retained the top position in the global battery energy storage system (BESS) integrator market for the second consecutive year. According to Wood Mackenzie’s latest rankings, Tesla held about 15% of global market share in 2024.
The company also maintained a dominant position in North America, where it captured roughly 39% market share in the region.
At the same time, competition in the energy storage sector is increasing. Chinese companies such as Sungrow have been expanding their presence globally, particularly in Europe.
Brazil Supreme Court orders Elon Musk and X investigation closed
FCC chair criticizes Amazon over opposition to SpaceX satellite plan
