2025 EV & self-driving news

[bbhaag]

Yeah I moved everything from the trunk to the frunk 😊 so there's some adapter there I just didn't bother to check at the time what it looks like. I'm assuming that's what it is.

I got the Ford pass app which is very handy! I've read that PAAK is hit or miss so I don't mind having the key on me all the time. Gotta have house keys and stuff anyway.

It's already been great. Definitely the best car I've owned yet! Averaged 124MPGe on my road trip 😁

This makes me sad. To me it sounds like you've read stuff on the internets and are choosing not to try it.
There are other things to try to though! Don't forget about Plug & Charge or the BlueOval Network. They are a game changer if you do some long trips.You just plug in and charge! It's great!

Here is a pic of my MME charging at a Supercharger. I know you just dipped your toes in the waters but you really got to try stuff like this. It's part of what makes EV ownership so much fun!

A Ford charging at a Supercharger! The look on the faces of Tesla owners when you pull up and plug in your Ford is worth trying it at least once!

 

[Fenixgoon]

This makes me sad. To me it sounds like you've read stuff on the internets and are choosing not to try it.
There are other things to try to though! Don't forget about Plug & Charge or the BlueOval Network. They are a game changer if you do some long trips.You just plug in and charge! It's great!

Here is a pic of my MME charging at a Supercharger. I know you just dipped your toes in the waters but you really got to try stuff like this. It's part of what makes EV ownership so much fun!

A Ford charging at a Supercharger! The look on the faces of Tesla owners when you pull up and plug in your Ford is worth trying it at least once!
View attachment 127869

Well I've only had the car a few weeks and haven't gotten to try out all the features yet! But I have a trip to see family soon (120mi or so) so I will probably end up at a supercharger in the DMV somewhere

 

[Brainonska511]

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/01/business/tesla-autopilot-federal-trial-verdict.html?unlocked_article_code=1.bE8.7_Fu.hqlhDAZVslu7&smid=nytcore-android-share

Tesla's autopilot has been found liable for a crash and now they're facing a large payout as a result.

 

[Kaido]

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/01/business/tesla-autopilot-federal-trial-verdict.html?unlocked_article_code=1.bE8.7_Fu.hqlhDAZVslu7&smid=nytcore-android-share

Tesla's autopilot has been found liable for a crash and now they're facing a large payout as a result.

I call this the "lull of complacency". It's similar to how A.I. is "almost right" much of the time, so people just kind of accept it. I've seen this happen with every single Tesla driver I've ridden with. In fact, I was riding with a contractor today & saw it happen:

Brett Schreiber, who represented the plaintiffs, accused Tesla of a “misinformation campaign” that exaggerated Autopilot’s capabilities and caused drivers to become complacent. He quoted Mr. Musk as saying that the system was safer than a human being.

 

[Kaido]

Tesla’s Forgotten Founder Speaks Out – Exclusive w/ Martin Eberhard:

Worth the hour watch! He talks about the risk of what I call the "lull of compliancy" at 38 minute in.

 

[manly]

Nearly 1/3 of Hyundai's recent U.S. sales are EVs!

Hyundai's Electric Car Sales Surged 50% Over July 2024 - Slashdot

"Hyundai sold 79,543 vehicles in the U.S. last month," reports the EV news site Electrek — Hyundai's best July ever, and 15% higher than last year. "The growth was mainly driven by electrified vehicles, including EVs and hybrids..." Hyundai said that electrified vehicle sales "reached new ...

tech.slashdot.org

 

[JulesMaximus]

Elon Musk has been saying self-driving software will be ready within 6-12 months for almost a decade now and Tesla’s board of directors keeps awarding the Chief Lying Officer multi billion dollar bonuses. When does the lying and stock price manipulation end and we stop believing this con man?

 

[bbhaag]

Save it for P&N Jules........anyway,

The new home for Ford's EV skunkworks team opens!

https://www.fromtheroad.ford.com/us/en/articles/2025/ford-long-beach-electric-vehicle-campus-opens

 

[JulesMaximus]

Save it for P&N Jules........anyway,

The new home for Ford's EV skunkworks team opens!

https://www.fromtheroad.ford.com/us/en/articles/2025/ford-long-beach-electric-vehicle-campus-opens

View attachment 128418

That wasn’t political. I couldn’t care less about Elon’s politics but him exaggerating his company product’s capabilities (lying) is a pretty well known fact.

 

[Kaido]

I couldn’t care less about Elon’s politics but him exaggerating his company product’s capabilities

It's about generating stock market cash, which has been a reliable model for many years now:

Tesla Nears Buy Point On Musk's FSD Improvement Hints

Shares need to decisively clear key moving averages to be actionable.

www.investors.com

 

[Kaido]

It's about generating stock market cash, which has been a reliable model for many years now:

In related news:

Man Films Himself Watching ‘Law and Order SVU’ While Eating Chipotle During Tesla Road Trip. How Safe Is This, Really?

A viral clip shows a man watching TV And eating Chipotle in his car during a road trip in his Tesla. Is it safe to multitask like that on Autopilot?

insideevs.com

The Tesla Autopilot lawsuit floodgates are open, lawyer who beat Tesla is going for round 2

The Tesla Autopilot and Full Self-Driving (FSD) lawsuit floodgates are open. We are now starting to see trials and settlements...

electrek.co

 

[Greenman]

I wonder how much all of that useless crap adds to the cost of a Tesla?

 

[Kaido]

I wonder how much all of that useless crap adds to the cost of a Tesla?

Not much due to economies of scale:

1. There's savings in mass production:

a. Intel has done this with PC chips in the past (build a standard flagship & then downscale, iirc AMD rebadged theirs as Durons)
b. NVIDIA did this as well; I used to mod my Geforce cards into Quardo cards for cheap DCC towers

Also useful for defective chip batches:

The Celeron "Coppermine128" is essentially a Pentium III with half its L2 cache disabled, allowing Intel to repurpose defective Pentium III chips. This strategy is confirmed by the identical die sizes between the Coppermine128-based Celerons and Pentium III Coppermine processors. Intel disables the faulty L2 cache to avoid discarding chips that don't meet Pentium III specifications, effectively creating a lower-cost Celeron.

2. So all cars get the same base hardware set: (aside from major things like batteries & additional motors)

a. Whatever the latest FSD HW revision # is
b. Heated rear seats (pay to unlock)
c. Performance (pay to unlock)
d. Even batter range (pay to unlock...which was backtracked on)
e. BMW did this as well (heated seats subscription lol, which did not go well)

Software unlocks are a curse on humanity lol, I mean, I get it, from a business perspective, but I think it's crazy to literally have the hardware installed & be denied access to it:

https://www.tesla.com/support/upgrades

Which leads to crazy situations:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1551713024171548672

Hackers figured it out tho:

Jailbroken Tesla gives rear-heated seats, other upgrades for free

A group of researchers from Technische Universität Berlin jailbroke their Tesla Model 3 so that they could bypass the cost of upgrades like rear-heated seats and other vehicle add-ons, and they will present their techniques next week at a cybersecurity conference in Las Vegas. Christian Werling...

www.teslarati.com

I did this on my Kia Soul:

* I wanted the stick-shift version, which was only sold as a stripped-down version in America at the time
* Canada had the tricked-out version, so my assumption was that there would be zero security on the CANBUS system
* Ordered the parts & voila! You can add cruise control, a heated steering wheel, additional steering wheel buton controls, etc.

KIA SOUL 2014-2019 OEM Auto Cruise Control Switch + Ext Wire 2pcs set Heated

**NOTE**1. This item is for Heat Steering Wheel.2. If your vehicle is non heated steering Wheel, please contact with us to get how to install.3. You must check this Part Number by your VIN (Vehicle Identification Number) with Local dealer before purchase. (Local dealer = Hyundai/ Kia...

motorialkorea.com

There are some reasonable upgrades available, like the newer infotainment system:

https://www.tesla.com/support/infotainment

What I don't agree with is selling people on the idea of FSD & then making them pay for computer upgrades:

Musk Confirms Tesla Will Upgrade HW3 Vehicles for Free - If You Bought FSD

Tesla says that hardware 3 vehicles will need to be upgraded in order to achieve Unsupervised FSD.

www.notateslaapp.com

Autopilot is sold as a "beta that gets better over time", which to me means that Tesla should cover the cost of ANY required upgrades to make that happen!

 

[Brainonska511]

Elon Musk has been saying self-driving software will be ready within 6-12 months for almost a decade now and Tesla’s board of directors keeps awarding the Chief Lying Officer multi billion dollar bonuses. When does the lying and stock price manipulation end and we stop believing this con man?

They keep him around because Musk's presence props up the stock price. That's about the only reason he stays.

 

[Greenman]

Not much due to economies of scale:

1. There's savings in mass production:

a. Intel has done this with PC chips in the past (build a standard flagship & then downscale, iirc AMD rebadged theirs as Durons)
b. NVIDIA did this as well; I used to mod my Geforce cards into Quardo cards for cheap DCC towers

Also useful for defective chip batches:



2. So all cars get the same base hardware set: (aside from major things like batteries & additional motors)

a. Whatever the latest FSD HW revision # is
b. Heated rear seats (pay to unlock)
c. Performance (pay to unlock)
d. Even batter range (pay to unlock...which was backtracked on)
e. BMW did this as well (heated seats subscription lol, which did not go well)

Software unlocks are a curse on humanity lol, I mean, I get it, from a business perspective, but I think it's crazy to literally have the hardware installed & be denied access to it:

https://www.tesla.com/support/upgrades

Which leads to crazy situations:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1551713024171548672

Hackers figured it out tho:

Jailbroken Tesla gives rear-heated seats, other upgrades for free

A group of researchers from Technische Universität Berlin jailbroke their Tesla Model 3 so that they could bypass the cost of upgrades like rear-heated seats and other vehicle add-ons, and they will present their techniques next week at a cybersecurity conference in Las Vegas. Christian Werling...

www.teslarati.com

I did this on my Kia Soul:

* I wanted the stick-shift version, which was only sold as a stripped-down version in America at the time
* Canada had the tricked-out version, so my assumption was that there would be zero security on the CANBUS system
* Ordered the parts & voila! You can add cruise control, a heated steering wheel, additional steering wheel buton controls, etc.

KIA SOUL 2014-2019 OEM Auto Cruise Control Switch + Ext Wire 2pcs set Heated

**NOTE**1. This item is for Heat Steering Wheel.2. If your vehicle is non heated steering Wheel, please contact with us to get how to install.3. You must check this Part Number by your VIN (Vehicle Identification Number) with Local dealer before purchase. (Local dealer = Hyundai/ Kia...

motorialkorea.com

There are some reasonable upgrades available, like the newer infotainment system:

https://www.tesla.com/support/infotainment

What I don't agree with is selling people on the idea of FSD & then making them pay for computer upgrades:

Musk Confirms Tesla Will Upgrade HW3 Vehicles for Free - If You Bought FSD

Tesla says that hardware 3 vehicles will need to be upgraded in order to achieve Unsupervised FSD.

www.notateslaapp.com

Autopilot is sold as a "beta that gets better over time", which to me means that Tesla should cover the cost of ANY required upgrades to make that happen!

That's actually worse. The hardware is already in the car and paid for, but you have to pay extra to use it. Crap like that makes me insane. Now I hope Tesla goes down the shitter.

 

[Kaido]

That's actually worse. The hardware is already in the car and paid for, but you have to pay extra to use it. Crap like that makes me insane.

I mean, I get it from a business perspective, because why make a zillion different configurations when you can mass-produce a single design & then sell access to different levels of functionality, but it's crazy to literally have the hardware IN YOUR CAR & not be able to access it lol.

Same deal with DLC's & micro-transactions in gaming. The numbers are simply too compelling for businesses to pass up:

Topic: Gaming monetization

Discover all relevant statistics and facts on microtransactions and video game monetization models now on statista.com!

www.statista.com

But it works, which is why it exists!

Nearly 50% of PC and console revenue in the US came from in-game spending

 

[Greenman]

I don't do DLC unless it's free, and tend to avoid games that have the option. I hate being milked, being viewed as a drone who's only reason for existing is to throw money at some corporation. I simply refuse to be apart of that equation, though sometimes there is no avoiding it.