Tesla will be holding a delivery event for the Tesla Semi
Tesla
Verified Tesla stock owners are now part of a random draw to attend an event that will change the world. On December 1, Elon Musk will deliver the first Tesla Semis to Pepsi Co. This event will mark the day the trucking industry got shaken up, and the day the transportation business got electrified. Tesla shareholders can be there.
Martin Viecha, Tesla's Head of Investor Relations, tweeted: If you want to attend the Semi delivery event as a retail shareholder, please make sure you have a verified shareholder status on our IR website (unverified manual submissions are eligible if the paperwork is correct). We'll be doing a random draw where 1 share = 1 entry. He also shared the tweet from Tesla announcing the Shareholder Platform, which enables retail traders to verify their Tesla stock in minutes.
Return of the Tesla Event
The event itself is one thing; it also signifies the return of the Tesla experience. Musk and his team have held parties for years to show off some of their new ideas to enthusiasts and fans. Many people responded to Viecha's tweet, hoping to be invited and looking forward to Tesla's latest launch event. Of course, the company would not be holding an event if Musk handed the Tesla keycards to some Pepsi delivery truck drivers. The event could serve as a relaunch. It's been five years since the CEO rolled onto the stage in this massive vehicle he referred to as a beast. Therefore we may require a refresher, and it would be an opportunity for Musk to reiterate all the details of the Semi and how they match or exceed what he promised in 2017.
What We Know About the Semi
Here's a quick recap of what Musk has said the Semi would be able to do. Firstly, it will reach 60 miles per hour in five seconds, 20 seconds at the fully loaded maximum 80,000 pounds gross vehicle weight. It has a 500-mile range at maximum load weight and highway speeds. Megachargers (already installed at Pepsi in California) take an empty Semi to 70% in 30 minutes; that will be enough for 350 miles and last about six hours of driving.
Musk guaranteed the Semi would not break down for a million miles. He made the promise because of the vehicle's independent drivetrains, should one shut down, the others would take over. It also has thermal nuclear glass, a big deal because windshields are regularly replaced on trucks for safety concerns. That downtime won't impact Tesla's Semi.
These are just a few highlights. More about the Semi can be found in our story, Everything We Know About the Semi. Or you could be one of the lucky shareholders invited to the event on December 1 and find out for yourself.
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As Tesla update 2024.44.3 continues to roll out, we’re seeing more features in this update. While the update doesn’t include many new feature, it either improves existing features or rolls out a feature to new regions. Actually Smart Summon is rolling out to Europe, although with more strict restrictions. AutoPark is also rolling out to the UK and several other countries for the first time, and we’re now seeing improvements to Autopark arriving in North America and Europe.
As Tesla’s 2024.44.3 update continues to roll out, more features in the update are being revealed. While this update doesn’t introduce many entirely new features, it does refine existing features or expand the reach of others.
Notably, Actually Smart Summon is now rolling out in Europe, albeit with stricter regulations. Vision-based AutoPark is debuting in the UK and several other countries, while North America and Europe are receiving updates that further improve Autopark’s functionality.
Improvements to Autopark
As part of the same update, Tesla is making a batch of improvements to Autopark in Europe and North America. In the release notes, Tesla states that Autopark is receiving performance and visualization improvements. Unfortunately, Tesla doesn’t go into more detail here, but it sounds like these improvements could be the faster and more accurate Autopark enhancements Ashok Elluswamy talked about earlier this year.
Those improvements are expected to make Autopark more reliable, let it pick spots faster, move faster into them, and also shift between forward and reverse faster. The improvements would also let the vehicle park in tighter spots than before, with more accurate vision.
We’ll have to wait and see how this improved Autopark compares to the current version.
Your vehicle's Autopark performance and visualizatons have been improved.
Autopark in the UK and Other Countries
Countries in Europe that previously didn’t have access to Vision-Based Autopark, including the UK, will now have access to the new Autopark for the first time with update 2024.44.3 and later. This includes countries such as the UK, Ireland and Malaysia.
While these countries are receiving Autopark, it’s not clear whether it includes the Autopark improvements that other regions are receiving. The release notes don’t include the Autopark Improvements section in these countries, but that could be due to Tesla simplifying the release notes for these countries that are receiving Autopark for the first time.
With Autopark finally introduced in these regions, it’ll be the first time vehicles without ultrasonic sensors are capable of Autopark. Vision-Based Autopark is far more reliable, faster, and easier to use in more situations than the older USS-based solution.
Tesla has finally released Actually Smart Summon for Europe and the Middle East, albeit with several major restrictions. However, it's definitely a first step towards unlocking autonomy in Europe.
Europe’s autonomy laws are governed under UNECE regulation R79, which regulates autonomous features and is extremely restrictive in how autonomy can be used and applied. For example, the previous revision (Rev 4) of R79 required drivers to approve, with physical action, every decision made by an Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) feature.
Limited Actually Smart Summon
Under Rev 5 of UNECE R79, Actually Smart Summon can actually function, but only to a limited degree. Owners have to be within 6 meters (19.5 feet) of the vehicle at all times, making it barely more usable than Dumb Summon (can we coin the term Dummon?).
In addition, you can only travel a total distance (under the regulation) of 100 meters (328 feet) - which means you’d have to run beside the vehicle or be inside it, rendering it mostly useless. However, Tesla has, for some reason, limited the total summon distance to 15-20m (50 to 65 feet) of travel. These limits are in sharp contrast to the distance limits of A.S.S. in North America.
Getting UNECE R79 Updated
Tesla has been hard at work getting R79 repealed or updated to allow for further autonomy after running demos for senior politicians earlier in the year. Back in March, we reported that updating DCAS regulations in Europe would help get FSD approved - but that covered driver assistance, not autonomy. In fact, Tesla was testing FSD with validation vehicles as far back as February of this year, hinting that Supervised FSD may be getting close.
Tesla FSD Validation Vehicle seen in Munich, Germany 👀
While FSD has a clear path forward in Europe, semi-autonomous features like Actually Smart Summon and Banish don’t just yet. The updated DCAS regulations do not cover semi-autonomy or autonomy and require clear interfaces, guidelines, and controls for drivers to be informed and engaged at all times.
It’ll take another big swing for Tesla to get autonomy regulations changed to allow for more semi-supervised autonomy like Actually Smart Summon - much less fully autonomous products like the Robotaxi Network, Cybercab, and Robovan.
