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Virtual reality haptic “smart suit” uses AI with biometrics to simulate real-world environments
One of the innovative future technologies that was on display at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2019) in Las Vegas is the Teslasuit, a full body virtual reality haptic suit that delivers real sensations to users that mimic the environment of a digital simulation or game. In a haptic feedback system, stimuli are used to provoke real sensations involving touch – shocks, punches, pushes, bumps, etc. Teslasuit combines this sort of environmental feedback along with climate control, motion capture, and biometric systems to give a fully responsive, immersive experience to the user. Combined with true-to-life virtual reality graphics, this device could finally provide the experience VR was intended to have since its development began.
The full-body sensations of the Teslasuit seem to indicate a new level of experience for virtual reality users, but the haptic capabilities aren’t the only things making it stand out. The suit’s biometric system is designed to use machine learning to analyze heart rate, stress levels, and overall mental and emotional states to create experiences catered to the user. How this capability will be implemented is really up to game developers, though. As data is gathered from biometrics, capabilities will follow. “This is very important for the gaming industry. We see that in the future, when we come to the end user market, that we will be able to offer a lot of data sensing for the developers to process, for the AI itself to adjust the game to the player,” Dimitri Mikhalchuk, co-founder of Teslasuit, explained in an interview with Digital Trends. The suit was first officially unveiled at CES 2018.
Teslasuit uses 68 channels embedded throughout the suit’s fabric to deliver electrical stimulations, and the company is working to expand on that number. Also included in the suit’s software is a haptic library, enabling game developers to create their own effects to correspond with their virtual worlds. The climate control system adjusts the temperature of the suit, heating and cooling in accordance with the virtual environment. Finally, its motion capture and avatar system track motions from the users entire body to interact with virtual environments (and built with multiple players in mind), something that’s more or less an expansion on the core of VR to begin with.
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- The haptic Teslasuit as imagined in a VR game environment. | Credit: Teslasuit
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- The haptic Teslasuit. | Credit: Teslasuit
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- The haptic Teslasuit. | Credit: Teslasuit
While the Teslasuit brings virtual worlds closer to a potentially action-packed reality, bruises are not part of the experience, according to Mikhalchuk. The electric stimulation is matched to the users own strength, adapting its responses to the input. In other words, the force a user “hits” with in a game is the amount of force used to “hit” back, i.e., electric pulses make the muscles contract within that range.
With the equivalent of a full body shocking device wrapped around players, the question of security arises, yet another thing Teslasuit has addressed in its design. Its software has military grade encryption (AES 256) built into its wireless control system to ensure users’ bodies are not (literally) hacked into. Among its many features, Teslasuit is also completely wireless, boasts a 10+ hour battery life, and is machine washable (important for sweat-inducing virtual scenarios and general funk from frequent wear). A summary of the device on the Teslasuit website reads like something from a science fiction movie:
A highly developed form of computer modeling allows an operator to immerse in the artificial world. The user can act directly in it with the help of special sensory devices that link movements with audio-visual effects. In this case, the user’s visual, auditory, tactile, and motor sensations are replaced by their imitation, generated by a computer system with full body haptic VR suit. At the same time, biometric system of the Teslasuit analyzes human performance and health (workforce and human performance analytics). – Teslasuit.io
The future of augmented reality and virtual reality applications have been explored in fictional storylines over the years with the most recent and directly relevant one being the haptic system imagined in the movie Ready Player One. The Battlestar Galactica prequel series “Caprica” also imagined an immersive virtual world that users could “feel” experiences in (or otherwise do things they wouldn’t/couldn’t in the real world), but that didn’t require a suit, just a mind. In an episode of Netflix’s Black Mirror series called “Playtest”, an American traveler in the UK signs up to demo an immersive VR horror game to earn some money. Unlike the Teslasuit, however, the experience in that episode involved an implant to the user’s neck called a “mushroom” which linked up the VR experience with a user’s brain. The Matrix also suggested an immersive environment, although people weren’t exactly voluntarily involved, if they ever knew it wasn’t real to begin with.
Other than gaming, Teslasuit is suggestive of several solutions for non-entertainment industries. According to an article on their company website, several VR-training solutions were available for demonstration at CES 2019: Astronaut VR-training in an ISS module, an oil-loading ramp operation VR-simulator, emergency evacuation VR-training, and a powerplant VR training simulator. Teslasuit is currently continuing its outreach and collaboration with game companies to develop content. Its software development kit and corresponding system tools and applications are included with the purchase of the suit which began shipping B2B in the third quarter of 2018.
Watch the below video for a first-hand review of Teslasuit:
News
Tesla hasn’t adopted Apple CarPlay yet for this shocking reason
Many Apple and iPhone users have wanted the addition, especially to utilize third-party Navigation apps like Waze, which is a popular alternative. Getting apps outside of Tesla’s Navigation to work with its Full Self-Driving suite seems to be a potential issue the company will have to work through as well.
Perhaps one of the most requested features for Tesla vehicles by owners is the addition of Apple CarPlay. It sounds like the company wants to bring the popular UI to its cars, but there are a few bottlenecks preventing it from doing so.
The biggest reason why CarPlay has not made its way to Teslas yet might shock you.
According to Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman, Tesla is still working on bringing CarPlay to its vehicles. There are two primary reasons why Tesla has not done it quite yet: App compatibility issues and, most importantly, there are incredibly low adoption rates of iOS 26.
Tesla’s Apple CarPlay ambitions are not dead, they’re still in the works
iOS 26 is Apple’s most recent software version, which was released back in September 2025. It introduced a major redesign to the overall operating system, especially its aesthetic, with the rollout of “Liquid Glass.”
However, despite the many changes and updates, Apple users have not been too keen on the iOS 26 update, and the low adoption rates have been a major sticking point for Tesla as it looks to develop a potential alternative for its in-house UI.
It was first rumored that Tesla was planning to bring CarPlay out in its cars late last year. Many Apple and iPhone users have wanted the addition, especially to utilize third-party Navigation apps like Waze, which is a popular alternative. Getting apps outside of Tesla’s Navigation to work with its Full Self-Driving suite seems to be a potential issue the company will have to work through as well.
According to the report, Tesla asked Apple to make some changes to improve compatibility between its software and Apple Maps:
“Tesla asked Apple to make engineering changes to Maps to improve compatibility. The iPhone maker agreed and implemented the adjustments in a bug fix update to iOS 26 and the latest version of CarPlay.”
Gurman also said that there were some issues with turn-by-turn guidance from Tesla’s maps app, and it did not properly sync up with Apple Maps during FSD operation. This is something that needs to be resolved before it is rolled out.
There is no listed launch date, nor has there been any coding revealed that would indicate Apple CarPlay is close to being launched within Tesla vehicles.
Elon Musk
Starlink restrictions are hitting Russian battlefield comms: report
The restrictions have reportedly disrupted Moscow’s drone coordination and frontline communications.
SpaceX’s decision to disable unauthorized Starlink terminals in Ukraine is now being felt on the battlefield, with Ukrainian commanders reporting that Russian troops have struggled to maintain assault operations without access to the satellite network.
The restrictions have reportedly disrupted Moscow’s drone coordination and frontline communications.
Lt. Denis Yaroslavsky, who commands a special reconnaissance unit, stated that Russian assault activity noticeably declined for several days after the shutdown. “For three to four days after the shutdown, they really reduced the assault operations,” Yaroslavsky said.
Russian units had allegedly obtained Starlink terminals through black market channels and mounted them on drones and weapons systems, despite service terms prohibiting offensive military use. Once those terminals were blocked, commanders on the Ukrainian side reported improved battlefield ratios, as noted in a New York Post report.
A Ukrainian unit commander stated that casualty imbalances widened after the cutoff. “On any given day, depending on your scale of analysis, my sector was already achieving 20:1 (casuality rate) before the shutdown, and we are an elite unit. Regular units have no problem going 5:1 or 8:1. With Starlink down, 13:1 (casualty rate) for a regular unit is easy,” the unit commander said.
The restrictions come as Russia faces heavy challenges across multiple fronts. A late January report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies estimated that more than 1.2 million Russian troops have been killed, wounded, or gone missing since February 2022.
The Washington-based Institute for the Study of War also noted that activity from Russia’s Rubikon drone unit declined after Feb. 1, suggesting communications constraints from Starlink’s restrictions may be limiting operations. “I’m sure the Russians have (alternative options), but it takes time to maximize their implementation and this (would take) at least four to six months,” Yaroslavsky noted.
Elon Musk
Tesla Korea hiring AI Chip Engineers amid push for high-volume AI chips
Tesla Korea stated that it is seeking “talented individuals to join in developing the world’s highest-level mass-produced AI chips.”
In a recent post on X, Tesla Korea announced that it is hiring AI Chip Design Engineers as part of a project aimed at developing what the company describes as the world’s highest-volume AI chips. CEO Elon Musk later amplified the initiative.
Tesla Korea stated that it is seeking “talented individuals to join in developing the world’s highest-level mass-produced AI chips.”
“This project aims to develop AI chip architecture that will achieve the highest production volume in the world in the future,” Tesla Korea wrote in its post on X.
As per Tesla Korea, those who wish to apply for the AI Chip Design Engineer post should email Ai_Chips@Tesla.com and include “the three most challenging technical problems you have solved.”
Elon Musk echoed the hiring push in a separate post. “If you’re in Korea and want to work on chip design, fabrication or AI software, join Tesla!” he wrote.
The recruitment effort in South Korea comes as Tesla accelerates development of its in-house AI chips, which power its Full Self-Driving (FSD) system, Optimus humanoid robot, and data center training infrastructure.
Tesla has been steadily expanding its silicon development teams globally. In recent months, the company has posted roles in Austin and Palo Alto for silicon module process engineers across lithography, etching, and other chip fabrication disciplines, as noted in a Benzinga report.
Tesla Korea’s hiring efforts align with the company’s long-term goal of designing and producing AI chips at massive scale. Musk has previously stated that Tesla’s future AI chips could become the highest-volume AI processors in the world.
The move also comes amid Tesla’s broader expansion into AI initiatives. The company recently committed about $2 billion into xAI as part of a Series E funding round, reinforcing its focus on artificial intelligence across vehicles, robotics, and compute infrastructure.
Tesla hasn’t adopted Apple CarPlay yet for this shocking reason
Starlink restrictions are hitting Russian battlefield comms: report
