'Self-Driving Tesla EV in ~3 Months'
http://www.treehugger.com/cars/tesla-model-s-software-update-62-makes-it-impossible-unintentionally-run-out-range.html Tesla: Model S update 6.2 makes it impossible to "unintentionally run out of range" Michael Graham Richard March 20, 2015 [images http://media.treehugger.com/assets/images/2015/03/elon-musk-in-front-model-s-electric-car-01.jpg.662x0_q100_crop-scale.jpg Elon Musk in front of Model S electric car / CC BY 2.0 Wikimedia http://media.treehugger.com/assets/images/2015/03/tesla-us-coverage-chargers-001.jpg.650x0_q85_crop-smart.jpg Tesla Motors/Promo image http://media.treehugger.com/assets/images/2015/03/CAebEwXU0AA5wXb.jpg.650x0_q85_crop-smart.jpg © Tesla http://media.treehugger.com/assets/images/2013/05/tesla-supercharger-network-02.jpg.650x0_q85_crop-smart.jpg © Tesla http://media.treehugger.com/assets/images/2012/09/Tesla-Supercharger-007.png.650x0_q85_crop-smart.jpg Tesla/Screen capture ] Earlier this week I made some guesses about what Elon Musk and Tesla had in store to "end range anxiety" with a software update. I thought that maybe the company would give its customers access to the battery reserves that are usually not used (to prolong battery life) when they're in a bad spot. Turns out, my guess was not correct. Instead, Tesla announced new smart navigation features that they say "ensure you never unintentionally run out of range, giving you peace of mind at all times". "Ending range anxiety" The first new feature is called Range Assurance. The application "is always running quietly in the background even when navigation is not in use." It communicates with the network of Tesla Superchargers and destination chargers, discarding any that are in heavy use or inactive and warns you before you drive out of range. "The navigation system then shows a map of the most convenient charging locations and guides you to the closest one. Moreover, it factors in height changes, like having to climb over a mountain pass, and looks up weather and windspeed from the Internet to determine range with extreme accuracy." This means that to run out of electrons, you basically have to not listen to your EV. And since Tesla has been building a lot of new Supercharger stations and giving regular wall chargers (like those that Tesla owners can put in their garages) to hotels and restaurants, which they call 'destination chargers', most of North America is covered by some type of charger and over the next 12 months, all of Europe and North America (excluding northern Alaska) will be covered, as well as China (apart from low population areas far inland), the Japan main islands and southern Australia. The second new feature is called Trip Planner. It's basically a navigation system, like any GPS, that uses the features of range assurance (realtime contact with Superchargers, taking into account elevation, weather, etc). "The software then figures out the fastest and most convenient path to your destination, including how long to stop at each location. As soon as your car is ready to go, it will message you via the Tesla phone app." UI Overhaul in 7.0 Musk also mentioned that version 7.0 of the Model S software will have a complete user interface overhaul. All these updates... This thing is starting to sound more like an iPhone rather than a traditional car... And it's becoming clear why, according to Morgan Stanley, 60% of Tesla employees are working on software while the average car maker only has about 2% of employees writing code. New safety features The 6.2 software update also has new safety features: -"Automatic Emergency Braking", which will engage in the event of an unavoidable collision in order to reduce risk of impact -"Blind Spot Warning" alerts you when drivers behind you are dangerously close -"Side Collision Warning" (front collision warning is already enabled) Really interesting to think that a car could get safer over time from software updates. Again, this reminds me of a smartphone more than a traditional car. How much driving range is enough? During the Q&A portion of the call about this announcement, Musk made some good points about how much range is enough for an EV. He said that in the longest range version of the Model S, which is the 85D, you can drive 280 miles. If you're going 85 MPH, which is quite fast (especially as an average), you'd be driving for over 3 hours. If you're going at typical city speeds of around 25 MPH, you'd be driving for over 10 hours. And mix of the two might result in 5-6 hours. So adding more range wouldn't make that much of a different because very few people will drive for 5-6 hours straight without stopping. And if you're stopping, the EV can bring you to a Supercharger station and while you stretch your legs, go to the bathroom, get a bite to eat, a coffee, whatever, you can get enough charge for the next leg of the trip. So in theory, an electric car with 1,000 miles of range might not be driven that differently from one that has 250 miles of range just because most people take breaks from driving. In fact, forcing people to take more breaks might actually improve road safety since tired drivers who have been sitting all day are probably higher risks. Musk also said that he thinks 200 miles of real-world driving is a minimum for an EV, and that people want maybe 20-30% more than that just to be safe. He thinks the ideal is probably between 250-350 miles. This probably means that the mass-market Model 3 will probably have at least 200-250 miles of range, even with the lower price tag. Is this truly the end of range anxiety? I have to admit, we're getting pretty close to the end of rational range anxiety. There are now so many chargers of all kinds all around that you really have to make an effort to end up somewhere where it's impossible to get some juice. Irrational range anxiety will probably continue a while longer, and I suspect that the real cure for those late adopters who are suspicious of all new things is simple for more EVs to be on the road for longer. Once everybody clearly sees that people don't run out of range and can take longer trips when they need to, this worry will fade away. [© 2015 MNN HOLDING COMPANY] ... http://www.teslamotors.com/blog/model-s-has-you-covered Model S Has You Covered March 19, 2015 ... http://www.torquenews.com/1080/new-tesla-range-anxiety-software-just-nissan-leaf New Tesla 'Range Anxiety' Software Is Just Like the Nissan LEAF By Aaron Turpen 2015-03-20 http://www.ryot.org/can-buy-self-driving-tesla-six-months/925402 You Can Buy a Self-Driving Tesla in About Six Months [20150319] By Eric Pfeiffer The new self-driving Tesla Model S is coming to a driveway near you. Literally. Pioneering CEO Elon Musk announced during a conference call on Thursday the hands free electric car is hitting the market in just six months. Already capable of 200 miles excursions, the new Tesla can drive even longer distances (Musk cited Seattle to San Francisco), without the driver touching a single control. He also promised to solve “range anxiety” with the new Model S, warning drivers if they’re at risk of running out of power, directing them to nearby stations. “It’s basically impossible to run out of range, unless you do so intentionally,” Musk said. Along with the warning system, the 6.2 Model S sedan will come with a built-in trip planner to help drivers navigate a route that keeps them safely within range of charging stations. “It’s a big network of Superchargers communicating with a big network of cars,” Musk said. “This has never happened before.” But the coolest part of Musk’s call may have been when he announced that if you’re on private property, drivers will actually be able to remotely summon their vehicle. And when they’ve arrived home after a drive, Tesla owners will also be able to “send” their cars back into the garage without actually having to manually park them. Last October, Musk previewed some self-driving features while unveiling a higher-powered engine model of the Model S. Some experts thought he was about to unveil a self-driving vehicle during that announcement. But on Thursday, Musk stressed that slow and steady innovation is what will win the race in the competition to transform the way we drive. “Most cars don’t improve over time,” he said. “But the Model S does get faster, smarter, and better as time passes. The car gets better as you sleep. When you wake up, it’s like driving a new car.” However, he also took to Twitter on Wednesday to reassure some panicked drivers after quipping that manual driving may one day be outlawed after self-driving cars have become the norm. To be clear, Tesla is strongly in favor of people being allowed to drive their cars and always will be. Hopefully, that is obvious,” he wrote. [© ryot.org] http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/international-business/us-business/tesla-to-offer-hands-free-steering-on-model-s-in-3-months/article23541478/?cmpid=rss1 Tesla to offer hands-free steering on Model S in 3 months Paul Lienert Mar. 19 2015 Tesla Motors Inc. will soon offer upgrades including hands-free steering on its Model S sedan, chief executive officer Elon Musk said on Thursday, but the news did not help the electric car maker’s volatile shares, which fell more than 2 per cent. Tesla is set to offer the automatic steering feature in three months, about a year ahead of other auto makers. It will be available only when driving on freeways or major roads, as part of a continuing series of free software upgrades delivered wirelessly to Model S owners, Musk said. General Motors Co. has said it plans to offer a similar set of hands-free driving features next year on its new Cadillac CT6 sedan. Other auto makers and suppliers are working on similar automated systems. Tesla is among several auto makers, including BMW and Daimler AG’s Mercedes-Benz, offering software updates wirelessly through a car’s built-in modem. Tesla has been more aggressive than most others in pushing such “over-the-air” software updates, which Musk said would continue to be released every three or four months. Investors, who had pushed the stock higher ahead of Musk’s announcement, sold off on the news. Shares were down 2.3 per cent in mid-day trade to $196.18 (U.S.) by 2:21 p.m. EDT. The company’s stock has fallen from a peak last September of $291.42. Shares rose above $200 after Musk tweeted on Sunday that Tesla planned a March 19 press conference to announce the software update. On Thursday, Tesla also announced the release of a new Range Assurance feature that will warn Model S drivers before they run out of battery power. The feature will be bundled with a trip planner that will help owners map “optimal” travel routes, Musk said. He said the range assurance and trip planning features, which will be released in about 10 days, will make it “almost impossible for a Model S driver to run out of range.” The latest version of the Model S has a range between charges of about 450 kilometres. Among new features to be delivered later this year, in what Musk said would be Version 7.0 of the car’s operating software, is one that will enable owners to summon their car remotely from the garage. Another feature will be a valet mode that limits vehicle speed and access to confidential information. The Version 7.0 software also will be installed in the new Model X crossover that goes into production this summer. Tesla this year has come up under increasing scrutiny by investors after several misfires, including missing sales targets in China and, more recently, falling short of Wall Street’s expectations on profit and sales volume. Of particular concern is the company’s free cash flow. Tesla burned through $455-million in the fourth quarter as it overhauled and expanded its California assembly plant and finalized development of the Model X. When the company announced year-end results in February, chief financial officer Deepak Ahuja said he expected cash burn this year to be less than $1-billion. http://www.efinancehub.com/sachimo/say-goodbye-to-range-anxiety-and-welcome-to-auto-steering-in-tesla-motors-inc-nasdaqtsla-cars/1215477.html Say Goodbye To Range Anxiety And Welcome To Auto Steering In Tesla Motors Inc Cars by Sachi Mohanty March 19, 2015 Tesla Motors Inc will release the software of its Model S sedan within days that will prevent drivers from running out of charge accidentally thus removing “range anxiety” associated with electric vehicles. Even though the Model S has a 200 mile range — far more than any other EV such as the Nissan Leaf — consumers may be wary of running out of the electric juice under the hood (rather the car body) with no Supercharger nearby. Hence the latest updates will inform the drivers about nearby supercharging stations making it “impossible to run out of charge unless you do so intentionally,” as Tesla CEO Elon Musk put it. How the software will do this is by estimating how much charge you have and how far a Supercharger is and then calculating whether you have enough charge to reach a nearby Supercharger. In case the software feels you may be going too far away from a Supercharger relative to your battery charge left, you will get a warning and will have to confirm that you are sure you want to go there. Tesla Model S has a unique software-enabled feature — or many features — that gets progressively better with over-the-air software updates. Today’s updates were about version 6.2 of the software. The next update, version 7.0, will add even more fancy capabilities including auto-steering which Mr. Musk described thus: “we can basically go between San Francisco and Seattle without the driver doing anything.” Those updates will happen in about three months. “A huge part of what Tesla is is a Silicon Valley software company,” Mr. Musk added. “People take it to be normal that your phone and laptop will keep improving, and that is the approach we’ve taken with the Model S. It’s a fundamental paradigm shift from cars, which are usually quite static.” Mr. Musk does not shy away from highlighting how different he thinks Tesla cars are — how advanced compared to run-of-the-mill cars. Whether other automakers agree is another matter. For example, German luxury carmakers BMW and Mercedes-Benz also offer over-the-air updates as well as have hands-free driving capabilities. Clearly, regulation is what is going to determine whether consumers can engage those advanced driving capabilities. Regulators will decide whether consumers may engage the “autopilot” on designated highways only and will need to switch the feature off in city driving. The next vehicle from the Tesla stable — the Model X SUV — will also benefit from these innovations. When Mr. Tesla (or Mr. Musk) tweeted that today’s OTA software update will affect the “entire Model S fleet,” it’s worth remembering that the entire fleet consists of less than 50,000 cars ... Mr. Musk had taken to Twitter a couple of days ago to scoff at the idea that he tweets to inflate Tesla share price. He had said: “a brief rise in TSLA stock obviously does no good for Tesla or me.” In fact, a few months back, Mr. Musk had said that the Tesla stock was priced too high back then. Rarely would you find the CEO and largest shareholder of a company complaining that his company’s stock price was too high. So, Mr. Musk has been consistent in this regard. 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