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Tesla Demonstrates Its Agility With New Homelink Option For Model 3 Owners

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Published on April 8th, 2019 |

by Kyle Field

Tesla Demonstrates Its Agility With New Homelink Option For Model 3 Owners

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April 8th, 2019 by Kyle Field

Tesla pulled back the curtains on its plan to offer lower-trimmed vehicle owners the ability to purchase incremental hardware and software updates for their vehicles today. The company just added the option to purchase a software unlock to enable its Homelink automatic garage door opener on Standard Range and Standard Range Plus trims of the Model 3.

The new option will allow owners of the lower trims of the Model 3 to add the ability to open the garage door just as if the feature was installed at the factory. Tesla makes the otherwise boring process of opening the garage door beautiful with the addition of GPS integration that fires off the garage door opener within a user-defined distance from the door or gate. I have this setup for my father-in-law’s house and it works beautifully to first open the gate to their complex and a few minutes later to their garage door.

The option will set owners back $300 for the added convenience and requires a new RF module that will be shipped to a service center for installation. The RF modules themselves cost mere pennies, with the majority of the expense being the integration into the vehicle and the underlying software that makes for such an elegant solution.

The price includes the RF module itself and installation of the module at a Tesla Service Center. The installation adds the hardware to the vehicle and unlocks the new functionality in the vehicle’s software. Tesla notes that after purchase, the local service center will contact the owner to coordinate the installation of the new functionality into the vehicle.

More broadly, the simple addition of the automatic garage door opener signals that Tesla is doing everything it can to allow customers to add as many features as possible to as many cars as possible, and is making a profit on those options along the way. This particular piece of kit shows how Tesla’s expertise in software and hardware allow it to offer incremental options to customers, like this one, that would fall through the cracks with traditional automotive manufacturers.

About the Author

Kyle Field I'm a tech geek passionately in search of actionable ways to reduce the negative impact my life has on the planet, save money and reduce stress. Live intentionally, make conscious decisions, love more, act responsibly, play. The more you know, the less you need. TSLA investor.

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Ford, GM and Toyota set up a safety group for self-driving cars

Malorny | Moment | Getty Images
Aerial view, view from above, drone view, or birds eye view of a highway at night.

Ford, General Motors (GM) and Toyota, together with SAE International, have established a new consortium that will focus on the safety of autonomous vehicles.

In a statement Wednesday, SAE International, a global association of engineers, said the Automated Vehicle Safety Consortium (AVSC) would work “to safely advance testing, pre-competitive development and deployment of SAE Level 4 and 5 automated vehicles.”
SAE International has defined five “levels” of driving automation, with the highest being where a vehicle's automated features can drive itself under all conditions.
“We understand that autonomous vehicles need to operate safely and reliably in concert with infrastructure and other road users to earn the trust of the communities in which they are deployed,” Randy Visintainer, chief technology officer at Ford Autonomous Vehicles, said in a statement.
“Our goal with the consortium is to work with industry and government partners to expedite development of standards that can lead to rule making,” Visintainer added.

The executive director of the newly formed AVSC, Edward Straub, said that being able to advance the safe deployment of level four and level five vehicles represented “another exciting chapter in the realization of autonomous mobility and the benefits this will bring to people around the world.”
“To achieve these benefits, industry collaboration, cohesion and flexibility to merge new ideas with proven safety processes are critical,” Straub added.

While there is excitement surrounding the potential of autonomous vehicles, concerns have been raised with regards to safety. In March 2018, for example, one of ride-hailing powerhouse Uber's autonomous vehicles killed a pedestrian in Tempe, Arizona.

When it comes to regulation, there are also a host of questions to be answered. “There are no rules right now, international rules, on how to regulate automated vehicles,” Philippe Crist, from the International Transport Forum, told CNBC in January 2018.

“The safety regulation of automated vehicles will have to be the same as for regular vehicles, using the same principles,” Crist added.

Follow CNBC International on Twitter and Facebook.

BMW partners DXC for autonomous vehicle development

Ford sales fall 1.6% due to unpopular cars, but truck, vans and SUVs gain

Tim Boyle | Getty Images
Shoppers at a Ford dealership in Schaumburg, Illinois.

Ford's first-quarter sales fell 1.6% from a year earlier, but sales of trucks, vans and sport utility vehicles grew, the company said Thursday.

A 24.1% decline in sales of ever less-popular passenger cars dragged down what was otherwise a positive quarter for the nation's second-largest automaker.

Ford's premium Lincoln brand grew sales 11.2%, making it Lincoln's best first quarter in ten years. Ford brand SUV sales set a first-quarter record.

It's more evidence that vehicle sales in the world's second-largest auto market are sliding from the record levels they had achieved in the years following the financial crisis.

U.S. retail auto sales, which exclude sales to rental car companies and other commercial businesses, are expected to drop by about 5%during the first quarter, according to J.D. Power and LMC Automotive.

While sales volumes are softening, especially for cheaper cars, customers are still paying remarkably high prices for cars, said Thomas King, senior vice president of J.D. Power's data and analytics division. Prices are hitting monthly records while overall retail sales of vehicles that cost under $25,000 are expected to fall 12% in the U.S. in the quarter, more than double the overall decline.

That rang true for Ford, which saw demand for its more expensive trucks and SUVs tick up during the quarter. Sales of Ford's pickup trucks, vans and SUVs, including Lincoln SUVs, made up 83% of the company's total vehicle sales during the quarter.

Pickups alone, led by its popular F-150 line, accounted for almost half of Ford's total volume with the average sales price of $47,454, the company said.

“Customers continue to choose high series and the latest technologies,” Ford said.

Ford truck and SUV sales rose 4% and 3.5%, respectively, while Lincoln SUV sales jumped by 23.2%.

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US judge gives Tesla CEO Elon Musk, SEC two weeks to work out their issues

Tesla CEO Elon Musk just squared off with the SEC in court
12:33 PM ET Fri, 5 April 2019 | 01:49

A federal judge gave Tesla CEO Elon Musk and the Securities and Exchange Commission two weeks to work out their differences, punting a request from the agency to hold him in contempt of court for allegedly violating an October securities fraud settlement.

Musk told reporters he was “happy” and “impressed with the judge's analysis” as he left the hearing room in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on Thursday.

U.S Judge Alison Nathan said she had “serious concerns that no matter what I decide here, this issue won't be resolved.” Nathan ordered both parties to “take a deep breath, put on your reasonableness pants” and work out a solution.

Musk was at the hearing on contempt charges requested by the SEC after he tweeted about the company's production forecasts on Feb 19. His settlement agreement prohibits him from using Twitter to make statements about Tesla's operations or financial position without company review and approval.

Nathan told Musk and the SEC that contempt charges are serious business. Everyone must follow the law, she said, whether you are a “small potato” or a “big fish.”

Musk told reporters outside the courthouse that he would “most likely” be able to work out an agreement with the SEC over the next two weeks.

Natan Dvir | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Elon Musk, chief executive officer of Tesla Inc., smiles while speaking to members of the media outside federal court in New York, U.S., on Thursday, April 4, 2019.

“I have great respect for the justice system and I think the judges in the American system are outstanding,” Musk said before entering the courthouse in lower Manhattan.

When CNBC's Phil LeBeau asked Musk if he felt the same about the SEC, the CEO laughed and walked away.

SEC lawyers argued that Musk and his legal team offered a “series of shifting justifications” for his behavior on Twitter, citing 15 separate tweets they believe violated his settlement. They also accused Musk of “recklessly tweeting out material information that had no basis in fact” and caused confusion in the markets.

“We don't think every tweet needs to be approved,” SEC attorney Cheryl Crumpton told the court, citing conversations on social media with Tesla customers as OK.

Statements much beyond that need to be cleared, she said.

Reaffirming guidance could be material and needs approval, she said, adding that Tesla still “appears to be unwilling” to exercise control over Musk.

Musk's lawyers said the judge's order was a gateway to a negotiation with the SEC.

“He actually does what he is told,” Musk's lead attorney John Hueston told the court.

Musk sat in the center of the courtroom, flanked by three members of his legal team, periodically nodding in agreement with their arguments.

Securities lawyers and other industry executives have said that Musk, who has already been removed as chairman, could also lose his post as CEO if he keeps pushing the SEC.

Jeenah Moon | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Elon Musk, chief executive officer of Tesla Inc., center, arrives at federal court in New York, on Thursday, April 4, 2019.

“The court and SEC are in a bit of a bind here because capital punishment, if you will, would be … throwing him out of company or banning him from running any public company from now on for violating this agreement with the SEC,” Paul Ingrassia, Revs Institute for Automotive Research editor, said Thursday on CNBC's “The Exchange.” “He is viewed as being the essence of Tesla. It's his brainchild. He's not only the public figure but also the creative genius behind it.”

Tesla's shares plunged by more than 10% Thursday before recovering slightly to close down 8.2% after the company released its production and delivery data for the first quarter that missed Wall Street estimates and disappointed investors.

“At some point I think people have to start wondering would this company be better off with a calmer managerial presence in charge as opposed to a genius leader but a mercurial leader,” Ingrassia said. “Is the company now at that stage of its development? But Musk has so much of the shares himself that that's probably not going to happen without an SEC or court order, which I doubt they'll be willing to do.”

— CNBC's
Michelle Fox
contributed to this article.

Tesla's Elon Musk: 'I have great respect for the justice system'
1:45 PM ET Thu, 4 April 2019 | 00:52

No more turn-signal affirmation for Tesla Navigate on Autopilot

Tesla Model 3 dashboard in Autopilot testing with IIHS [CREDIT: IIHS]
In a blog post on Thursday, Tesla announced that drivers will no longer have to approve lane changes when the car's Navigate on Autopilot system is engaged.

It's a small step, but also a pretty big leap toward self-driving cars.

Navigate on Autopilot is Tesla's “on-ramp to off-ramp” self-driving system, which allows its cars that have the feature to drive themselves on limited access highways and navigate interchanges, on-ramps, and off-ramps by themselves—as long as the driver keeps a hand on the wheel periodically and the car has a destination set in the navigation system.

MUST READ: Tesla Full Self-Driving will still require drivers when it arrives later this year

On surface streets leading toward or away from limited access highways, the Navigate on Autopilot system shuts off.

Until now, though, the cars couldn't change lanes without driver approval. When they encountered slower traffic, or even need to change lanes to take an off-ramp, the car would alert the driver of the need to change lanes, and the driver would have to approve the lane change by activating the turn signal.

Without the need for that intervention the car is much more autonomous in getting from place to place. It still chimes at drivers before the car changes lanes to give the driver a chance to ensure that it's safe to do so.

DON'T MISS: Tesla starts Hardware 3 rollout: Enhanced Summon, red-light warnings

Drivers can still set the car to require turn signal interventions, and Tesla says, “until truly driverless cars are validated and approved by regulators, drivers are responsible for and must remain in control of their car at all times.”

The new software update will also allow driver to set Navigate on Autopilot to turn on automatically every time they start the car, as long as a destination is entered.

Since Tesla rolls out its new software features gradually, to a few owners' cars at a time, it has already been pilot testing the turn-signal-less feature for several months. The company says drivers in its Early Access Program, as well as Tesla engineers testing, have already driven half a million miles with Navigate on Autopilot.

READ THIS: Tesla Autopilot ranks next-to-last in study of self-driving systems

When the company announced the introduction of the base-priced $35,000 Model 3 at the end of February, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said company's Full Self-Driving Capability will be “feature complete” by the end of this year.

Such systems, while they may work perfectly most of the time in situations they were designed for, might be prone to sudden (and sometimes tragic) failure if they encounter something beyond their capabilities.

Tesla has been careful to emphasize in its recent communications that drivers still have to stay alert and engaged while using the system.

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