Electric Vehicles & Cars - Page 6

Have you ever wondered if you could use the palm of your hand as a key? Well, now you can, thanks to Phillips' Wi-Fi Palm Recognition Smart Deadbolt that was unveiled at CES 2024.

The new smart lock comes with a price tag of $359.99 and features such as the ability to save 50 palm vein pattern variations across all ages to the device. The device connects with the Phillips mobile app, which enables the smart lock to double as a doorbell. There is a bell button located at the base of the smart lock that, when pressed, sends a notification to a user's Phillips mobile app, informing them someone is at the door.

As for the inside of the Wi-Fi Palm Recognition Smart Deadbolt, users will find the device has multiple sensors designed to detect when an individual is reaching for the handle. Once detection has been made, it will automatically unlock the door and then lock it again once the individual has left. Notably, the Wi-Fi Palm Recognition Smart Deadbolt is also compatible with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant, which enables voice commands to control the smart lock.

With CES 2024 in full swing, Sony, partnered with Honda, has taken to the stage to show off the new iteration of their Afeela EV.

The Afeela has been a highlight at CES since 2023 and is even more impressive this year. At first glance, the car might have looked to be driving itself onto the stage until a wider perspective reveals that it was driven there using Sony's own PlayStation 5 Dualsense controller.

The car was driven on stage by Sony Honda Mobility president and COO Izumi Kawanishi, who was on stage with the DualSense controller operating the vehicle. The ability to drive the car using a PlayStation DualSense controller is more novel than anything else. It is not to imply any evidence of a PlayStation-controlled car coming sometime in the future but just an act of spectacle for those in attendance at CES. This was backed up by Kawanishi's comment that it was just "for the purpose of the tech showcase".

Tesla has taken to its website to unveil its impressive delivery numbers for 2023, with the electric vehicle manufacturer exceeding the previous year's deliveries by 38%.

The Elon Musk-led electric vehicle manufacturer managed to produce 1.846 million EVs last year and, of those, delivered 1.809 million. Those figures include the last quarter, where 494,989 EVs were produced, and 484,507 were delivered to customers. It should be noted that Tesla initially told investors it was anticipating hitting 2 million vehicles in 2023 but later walked back its estimate in October. Despite the walk-back of some projections, the company performed better in Q4 2023 than some analysts predicted, per CNBC.

During Q4 2023, Tesla produced 476,777 Model 3/Y vehicles and made 461,538 deliveries. The company didn't reveal the percentages for the other models it offers consumers, such as Model S/X; the company instead opted for an "Other models" category that contains 18,212 EVs produced and 22,969 deliveries made.

A drone has been sent over Tesla's Gigafactor in Shanghai revealing the EV manufacturing plant is ready to ship hundreds of Tesla's.

The video was captured by Tesla watcher Wu Wa, who sent a drone capable of shooting in 4K over Giga Shanghai, Tesla's largest vehicle plant that is responsible for producing more than 950,000 vehicles ever year. The vehicles captured in the above video are believed to be headed to Europe, and highlight Tesla's exponential growth in the region through continuous exports. Wu Wa believes the fleet of vehicles is scheduled to leave on January 8.

It's not just exports that are going well for Tesla in China, as more than 60,000 Tesla were purchased by new owners in China just in December, an indicator the Tesla brand is expanding more within the region. On a wider scale, Giga Shanghai has become a pivotal part in Tesla's global push to get as many EV's in the hands of as many drivers as possible. For more information on this story, check out this link here.

A new report has revealed what appears to be Tesla's biggest hurdle when it comes to getting Cybertruck production up to the expected 250,000 per year by 2025.

Reuters has released a report that details Tesla's biggest problem when it comes to Cybertruck production being slowed down is the 4680 batteries with its new dry-coating technology. At the moment, Tesla's Giga Texas factory is only making 24,000 of these batteries per year, which simply isn't enough to meet the demand for the Cybertruck, per the aforementioned publication, which cited "nine people familiar with the matter."

The nine people who spoke to Reuters did so under the condition of anonymity and explained that Tesla has yet to develop its dry-coating technique for 4680 battery production at an industrial scale, which was a massive part of the vehicle manufacturers' forecasts in 2020 as it indicated it was moving away from the more expensive and time-consuming wet-coating method.

Following its decision to ditch Apple CarPlay in favor of a new, in-house infotainment software system powered by Google, GM has found things to be hard going of late. The company's new Chevrolet Blazer EV has been released to mixed reviews, with some saying that the infotainment system often finds itself in a bootloop and otherwise simply refuses to work properly. Now, it seems that GM is aware that something isn't behaving as it should - and it's gotten so bad that it has decided to stop selling the electric vehicle while it tries to figure out what to do next.

A new TechCrunch report notes that the company says it is now working quickly to try and roll out a fix and that those who already took delivery should hang fire and wait for a schedule on their update. There's been no timescale given for when the software update will be ready or when the SUV will go back on sale, although GM did say that the problem only affects a limited number of its vehicles.

This is of course a bad look for Chevrolet after only making the EV available for sale a couple of weeks ago. Early reviews by various online publications have not been kind, especially when discussing the new infotainment system.

The Tesla Cybertruck is making its way into the hands of the public, and now owners are reporting that Tesla's new electric vehicle ships with a feature called "Wade Mode".

The new feature is a first for Tesla as no other EV from the company comes with this feature, which makes sense when you consider how it changes the Cybertruck. Nic Cruz Patane took to X to share an image of the feature, writing the Cybertruck has a "toggle" for Wade Mode within the "Off-Road" settings. Notably, Wade Mode is intended to be used when driving through water, and when toggled on, it raises the ride height of the Cybertruck while also pressurizing the battery.

Tesla's head of design, Franz von Holzhausen, explained to car enthusiast Jay Leno that the Cybertruck uses a technology Tesla calls the "scuba pack". This technology uses Cybertruck's air suspension system to pressurize the battery by forcing air into the battery pack, creating positive pressure that, with the seal around the pack, keeps water out.

Elon Musk has said that Tesla is working on a new modification for the Cybertruck that will make it double as a boat.

The CEO of Tesla took to his personal Twitter account to reply to a post that showcased Tesla's Vice President of Vehicle Engineering, Lars Moravy, and car connoisseur Jay Leno inspecting the Cybertruck. Moravy was explaining to Leno that "Elon did want to make it a boat" and that Cybertruck currently almost floats. Moravy continues and says to make it a boat, it would need a little bit of extra buoyancy to keep it afloat, while also some creativity to implement a motor.

This post was replied to by Musk, who quickly said that Tesla is going to offer a mod package that enables Cybertrucks to "traverse at least 100m of water as a boat". The Tesla CEO added that the only big changes are the "need to upgrade cabin door seals". Notably, the Cybertruck is 6,603 pounds, and this isn't the first time Musk has floated the idea of the Cybertruck turning into the Cyberboat.

Several Tesla owners have reported that over the weekend, Tesla removed access to Disney+ across its vehicles.

Many Tesla owners began reporting over the weekend that Disney+ apps have started disappearing, which many are assuming is in response to the devolving relationship between Disney CEO Bob Iger and Tesla CEO Elon Musk. Some Tesla owners believe they have been caught in the crossfire between the two CEOs, and as a result of their quarrel, consumers have to suffer, particularly Tesla owners who now have to explain to their kids that they can no longer watch any Disney content in the car.

The deteriorating relationship between Musk and Iger reached its boiling point when Musk appeared at the New York Times' Dealbook Summit and was asked what he thought about advertisers leaving the platform following Musk's self-admitted regrettable tweets. Musk responded by saying, "Go f*ck yourself" to advertisers attempting to curb freedom of speech on X by threatening to stop advertising expenditure. Musk

After a two-year investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA) Office of Defects, it has found Tesla needs to recall more than two million vehicles across the United States over safety concerns with the EV's Autopilot feature.

Firstly, Tesla's Autopilot feature is the company's name for its driver-assisted system and consists of two main components: the "traffic-aware cruise control" and Autosteer. The automated cruise control measures the distance between itself and the vehicle in front, adjusting for speed by breaking with the goal of maintaining a safe distance.

The Autosteer component is responsible for monitoring the lines on the road and will make slight adjustments to keep the vehicle in between both lines. The system was originally designed by Mobileye, but Tesla decided to build its own and dropped many sensors in a way to save costs. Tesla's camera-only approach then evolved into complaints being filed to the NHTSA, where drivers reported their Tesla slammed on the breaks when it falsely identified an object as a reason to slow down.