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What to expect from Faraday Future’s Reveal Event on Jan. 3 at CES 2017

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Details for Faraday Future’s upcoming Reveal Event slated for January 3, on press day ahead of the public opening of CES 2017, are being made available by the company. The event will be held at The Pavilions located at the World Market Center: a semi-open convention space in Las Vegas that’s frequently used for trade shows and special events.

The Reveal Event will be live streamed from Faraday’s website beginning promptly at 6:00pm PST, but event attendees will be allowed entrance into the venue beginning at 5:00pm. Invited guests are asked to arrive early and provide sufficient time for parking and event registration. Self-parking is available in the lot between the main World Market Center building and The Pavilions, however Valet service will also be provided at the main entrance to the event.

Here’s a map of the venue.

We know that cocktails and hors d’oeuvres will be served before the event, but no additional details have been provided by Faraday Future. Based on past event photos obtained from the organizer assisting Faraday with their much anticipated Jan. 3 unveiling, it’s presumed that a stage will be set up along the tented space where the company will showcase a video presentation of its vision for the future, consisting of a subscription-based model for a range of vehicle types. A main center bar will also be made available within the covered space.

Guests of the event were asked to dress in business attire.

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Faraday Future’s Reveal Event will also have an outdoor area where the company will demonstrate the capabilities of its fleet of vehicles on a closed course. Sources have told us that Faraday will present multiple vehicles that demonstrates the versatility of the company’s Variable Platform Architecture (VPA) which includes a long range and high performance version – the same vehicle seen beating Tesla’s flagship Model S P100D in a drag race – and a self-driving prototype that can be hailed via a mobile app.

A teaser video released by Faraday Future on social media reveals that there is, in fact, several vehicle variations under wraps. All vehicles appear to have a Tesla-like dual camera set up mounted on the upper portion of the front windshield further validating that the vehicles will have some form of vision capability commonly used for autonomous driving. The lead vehicle in the photo below is seen with a LiDAR mounted on top, while the trailing vehicle replaces the traditional side mirror with a camera.

Here’s the teaser video provided by Faraday Future showing quick glimpses of its fleet of vehicles from the company’s Southern California-based headquarters. Faraday has not confirmed that all vehicles seen within the video will be unveiled at CES 2017, but we think it’s likely that the company will showcase the entire fleet on January 3.

We’ll be providing exclusive photos and a behind the scenes look from Faraday Future’s Reveal Event on our Facebook page. Be sure to Like us to see a first-person perspective on what might be taking place at this mysterious electric vehicle startup, directly on your feed.

 

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Tesla gamifies Supercharging with new ‘Charging Passport’

It will also include things like badges for special charging spots, among other metrics that will show all of the different places people have traveled to plug in for range.

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Credit: MarcoRP | X

Tesla is gamifying its Supercharging experience by offering a new “Charging Passport,” hoping to add a new layer to the ownership experience.

While it is not part of the Holiday Update, it is rolling out around the same time and offers a handful of cool new features.

Tesla’s Charging Passport will be available within the smartphone app and will give a yearly summary of your charging experience, helping encapsulate your travel for that year.

It will also include things like badges for special charging spots, among other metrics that will show all of the different places people have traveled to plug in for range.

Tesla will include the following metrics within the new Charging Passport option within the Tesla app:

  • Charging badges: Iconic charging badges for visiting places like the Tesla Diner, Oasis Supercharger, etc., Explorer Badge, and more
  • Total Unique Superchargers Visited
  • Total Charging Sessions
  • Total Miles Added during Charging Sessions
  • Top Charging Day
  • Longest Trip
  • Favorite Charging Locations

This will give people a unique way to see their travels throughout the year, and although it is not necessarily something that is needed or adds any genuine value, it is something that many owners will like to look back on. After all, things like Spotify Wrapped and Apple Music Replay have been a great way for people to see what music they listened to throughout the year.

This is essentially Tesla’s version of that.

With a handful of unique Superchargers already active, Tesla is also building some new ones, like a UFO-inspired location in New Mexico, near Roswell.

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Tesla is building a new UFO-inspired Supercharger in the heart of Alien country

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Tesla launches its coolest gift idea ever just a few weeks after it was announced

“Gift one month of Full Self-Driving (Supervised), which allows the vehicle to drive itself almost anywhere with minimal intervention.”

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla has launched its coolest gift idea ever, just a few weeks after it was announced.

Tesla is now giving owners the opportunity to gift Full Self-Driving for one month to friends or family through a new gifting program that was suggested to the company last month.

The program will enable people to send a fellow Tesla owner one month of the company’s semi-autonomous driving software, helping them to experience the Full Self-Driving suite and potentially help Tesla gain them as a subscriber of the program, or even an outright purchase.

Tesla has officially launched the program on its Shop. Sending one month of Full Self-Driving costs $112:

“Gift one month of Full Self-Driving (Supervised), which allows the vehicle to drive itself almost anywhere with minimal intervention. All sales are final. Can only be purchased and redeemed in the U.S. This gift card is valued at $112.00 and is intended to cover the price of one month of FSD (Supervised), including up to 13% sales tax. It is not guaranteed to cover the full monthly price if pricing or tax rates change. This gift card can be stored in Tesla Wallet and redeemed toward FSD (Supervised) or any other Tesla product or service that accepts gift card payments.”

Tesla has done a great job of expanding Full Self-Driving access over the past few years, especially by offering things like the Subscription program, free trials through referrals, and now this gift card program.

Gifting Full Self-Driving is another iteration of Tesla’s “butts in seats” strategy, which is its belief that it can flip consumers to its vehicles and products by simply letting people experience them.

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There is also a reason behind pushing Full Self-Driving so hard, and it has to do with CEO Elon Musk’s compensation package. One tranche requires Musk to achieve a certain number of active paid Full Self-Driving subscriptions.

More people who try the suite are likely to pay for it over the long term.

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Tesla expands Robotaxi app access once again, this time on a global scale

Tesla said recently it plans to launch Robotaxi in Miami, Houston, Las Vegas, Phoenix, and Dallas.

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Credit: Grok

Tesla has expanded Robotaxi app access once again, but this time, it’s on a much broader scale as the company is offering the opportunity for those outside of North America to download the app.

Tesla Robotaxi is the company’s early-stage ride-hailing platform that is active in Texas, California, and Arizona, with more expansion within the United States planned for the near future.

Tesla said recently it plans to launch Robotaxi in Miami, Houston, Las Vegas, Phoenix, and Dallas.

The platform has massive potential, and Tesla is leaning on it to be a major contributor to even more disruption in the passenger transportation industry. So far, it has driven over 550,000 miles in total, with the vast majority of this coming from the Bay Area and Austin.

First Look at Tesla’s Robotaxi App: features, design, and more

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However, Tesla is focusing primarily on rapid expansion, but most of this is reliant on the company’s ability to gain regulatory permission to operate the platform in various regions. The expansion plans go well outside of the U.S., as the company expanded the ability to download the app to more regions this past weekend.

So far, these are the areas it is available to download in:

  • Japan
  • Thailand
  • Hong Kong
  • South Korea
  • Australia
  • Taiwan
  • Macau
  • New Zealand
  • Mexico
  • U.S.
  • Canada

Right now, while Tesla is focusing primarily on expansion, it is also working on other goals that have to do with making it more widely available to customers who want to grab a ride from a driverless vehicle.

One of the biggest goals it has is to eliminate safety monitors from its vehicles, which it currently utilizes in Austin in the passenger’s seat and in the driver’s seat in the Bay Area.

A few weeks ago, Tesla started implementing a new in-cabin data-sharing system, which will help support teams assist riders without anyone in the front of the car.

Tesla takes a step towards removal of Robotaxi service’s safety drivers

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As Robotaxi expands into more regions, Tesla stands to gain tremendously through the deployment of the Full Self-Driving suite for personal cars, as well as driverless Robotaxis for those who are just hailing rides.

Things have gone well for Tesla in the early stages of the Robotaxi program, but expansion will truly be the test of how things operate going forward. Navigating local traffic laws and gaining approval from a regulatory standpoint will be the biggest hurdle to jump.

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