Tesla makes announcements regarding Tom Zhu and JB Straubel
Duke/TechnologyReview
Tesla has scheduled its 2023 Annual Shareholders Meeting for May 16, unveiling two significant pieces of news in the shareholder document. These updates involve former Giga Shanghai head Tom Zhu and Tesla co-founder JB Straubel.
Tom Zhu Appointed Senior Vice President of Automotive
Tom Zhu, who joined Tesla in April 2014, has been named the Senior Vice President of Automotive. Zhu has an impressive track record within the company, having previously served as the Vice President for Greater China and overseen the construction and operations of Gigafactory Shanghai. His expertise in automotive production and sales led Tesla China to substantial growth.
Before this new appointment, Zhu held the position of top executive for Tesla’s Asia Pacific operations since July 2022. In January 2023, he led North America sales, service, and deliveries. During the 2023 Investor Day, Zhu discussed the future of Tesla's gigafactories and strategies for accelerating automotive production. Tesla's continued success in the automotive sector can be attributed to Zhu's dedication and innovative thinking.
Tesla Co-founder JB Straubel Nominated for Board of Directors
The second significant update concerns Tesla co-founder and former Chief Technology Officer (CTO) JB Straubel, who has been nominated for the company's Board of Directors. Straubel is set to succeed Hiro Mizuno as a Class I director. Tesla credits Straubel's extensive operational experience, engineering expertise, and passion for cleantech as invaluable assets to the company.
Straubel has a long-standing relationship with Tesla CEO Elon Musk, dating back to before their collaboration at Tesla. The former CTO played a crucial role in battery cell design, engineering, and production during his 14-year tenure at Tesla. Since leaving the company in 2019, Straubel founded Redwood Materials Inc., which focused on building a sustainable, circular supply chain to reduce fossil fuel dependence. His return to Tesla's Board of Directors will undoubtedly strengthen the company's commitment to sustainable energy.
Shareholders Meeting Attendance Information
For shareholders interested in attending the meeting in person, Tesla is conducting a random drawing to ensure fair eligibility. Entries will be accepted until Friday, April 14, 2023, at 11:59 Central Time. For more information, please review the 2023 Annual Shareholder Meeting Drawing Terms.
Tesla plans to notify the selected attendees during the week of April 17, 2023. Shareholders can expect to gain insights into Tesla's future plans and strategies during this highly anticipated event, as well as the opportunity to engage with the company's leadership team.
With these significant updates and the forthcoming shareholders meeting, Tesla continues demonstrating its commitment to innovation and sustainable energy solutions, paving the way for a greener future in the automotive industry.
Tesla China has outlined some features in Tesla’s latest update in the region, which is version 2024.26.9. In the list of features, Tesla mentions many of the features we’re already aware of, including Automatic Emergency Braking Improvements, YouTube Music and more, but they also reveal one additional feature that’s exclusive to China. The new feature allows the new blind spot indicator to light up if there’s something in the way when you’re opening your door. The blind spot indicator is exclusive to the new Model 3 and Cybertruck, which features little red LEDs in the front speaker grills next to the mirror.
Blind Spot Door Warnings
With update 2024.26.9, Tesla says that if any vehicle door handle button is pressed on vehicles with a Blind Spot Warning Light (currently just the 2024 Refreshed Model 3 Highland and the Cybertruck), the blind spot warning indicator in the vehicle’s front speakers will illuminate.
This object detection includes cars, pedestrians, cyclists, and “other objects”. We’re not quite sure what fits into the “other objects” category, but likely things that FSD picks up on normally – including traffic cones, bollards, and other large obstacles.
According to Tesla’s description, there appears to only be a visual warning for the driver and front passenger, with nothing displayed on screen or an audible tone. We’re sure Tesla will continue to expand and refine this feature like they’ve done with various features in the past, but for now, it's only available in China. Blind Spot Door Warnings need to be enabled under Controls > Safety before this feature will function.
We’d love to see Tesla use the ambient light strip in the vehicle to warn passengers and drivers when their door is obstructed – it would be a fantastic use of a luxury feature for utilitarian safety – rather than just the single red LED inside the door speaker. Additionally, an audio warning would be excellent for those who may not see the red dot.
Tesla appears to be making progress on FSD in China, with the latest update available in the region now displaying the FSD button in the vehicle. Tesla makes no note of the change in the release notes, nor does it appear to be available in any other regions that are expected to receive access to FSD in the future.
FSD in the UI
In the Autopilot options in China, users could previously select Traffic-Aware Cruise Control or Auto Steer (Beta), however, as of 2024.26.9, the Full Self Driving (Supervised) button is now visible – but greyed out. Tapping on the option doesn’t do anything just yet, but the addition of the button could be a hint that Tesla is planning to enable the feature soon.
Underneath the Autopilot selection, Tesla also has a phrase that says, “Full Self-Driving (Supervised) needs to use an updated version of navigation maps. Connect to Wi-Fi to download” (Thanks, Luis Zhu). It’s possible the option is greyed out because the software needs updated maps to work. There are no reports yet of what happens when the navigation map is downloaded.
We previously reported that FSD was on hold in China, even after Tesla received approval to start testing FSD in China. This flip-flopping is interesting but could be due to regulatory issues between China and Tesla regarding data collection and where the data is stored. Now that the button is in the UI – Tesla is clearly confident that it either has received approval or will in short order.
It certainly appears that Tesla is going to be opening up FSD in the region fairly soon. It’ll be interesting to see if Tesla uses the same Safety Score feature they used in the U.S. when choosing drivers to beta test the program.
Elon Musk previously mentioned that FSD (Supervised) would be rolling out to global markets, including Europe and China, as Tesla received approvals from governments in those nations.
![Video Reveals the Cybertruck's Unique User Interface [Video]](https://www.notateslaapp.com/images/news/2023/cybertruck-ui-1_300w.jpg)
