Philippa Kaur

Move over, Autopilot, the beta version of Tesla’s long-awaited Full Self-Driving system is here.
Tesla
Tesla’s Full Self-Driving beta is rolling out to select customers Tuesday night, according to a tweet published Tuesday afternoon by Tesla CEO Elon Musk.In the tweet, Musk says the rollout will be “extremely slow and cautious.” Still, he didn’t say where these vehicles getting the beta will be located, so it’s not clear whether the company has the appropriate permitting in these areas to do this kind of self-driving vehicle testing.
FSD beta rollout happening tonight. Will be extremely slow & cautious, as it should.— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 20, 2020

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Previously, during Tesla’s Battery Day presentation, Musk offered some insight into the work being done to get FSD ready for public consumption: “We had to do a fundamental rewrite of the entire Autopilot software stack… We’re now labeling 3D video, which is hugely different from when we were previously labeling single 2D images,” Musk explained, referring to the way the Autopilot software understands what the objects it sees with its eight cameras are and how it should react to them. “We’re now labeling entire video segments, taking all cameras simultaneously and labeling that. The sophistication of the neural net of the car and the overall logic of the car is improved dramatically.”We reached out to Tesla for more information, but we’re not expecting much because Tesla is now without a PR department.
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Lower prices? I don’t think you’ll hear a single buyer complain about that.
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Much of the attention paid to Tesla these days comes from its smaller, more affordable electric vehicles, the Model 3 sedan and Model Y crossover. Its larger vehicles, however, have seen deliveries dip year over year this past quarter, so it’s no surprise that one of those cars is getting a price cut.Tesla quietly updated the pricing on its website overnight between Tuesday and Wednesday. The two currently available variants of the Model S have been given $3,000 price cuts each. The Long Range Plus’ price drops from $74,990 to $71,990, while the Performance variant goes from $94,990 and $91,990. The automaker’s website also lists the Plaid model at $139,900, but it has not been given a price reduction; it’ll be made available to consumers until next year. Heck, even the newest models aren’t immune to price adjustments. In July, Tesla reduced the price of the Model Y by $3,000 to nudge its newest EV under the $50,000 mark.

This isn’t the first time Tesla has reduced its prices in 2020. In May, Tesla lowered the Model 3’s starting price by $2,000, while simultaneously reducing the window stickers on both the Model S and Model X by $5,000. The move was likely in response to the novel coronavirus pandemic, which hasn’t been kind to any facet of the automotive industry. It’s unclear why Tesla has again reduced its prices. Tesla does not operate a public relations department to field requests for comment.Despite looking the same since its refresh in 2016, Tesla has slowly updated its oldest vehicle with some new tricks. Thanks to advancements in technology, the Model S Long Range Plus now sports an EPA-estimated 402 miles of range, a far cry from its earliest iterations. Even the Performance model packs an impressive 348 miles of estimated EV range.

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This is not a situation where a bricked Polestar 2 would be good.
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Polestar’s second model and its first all-electric vehicle, the Polestar 2, is a very cool car that offers an enjoyable driving experience for what is arguably a fairly reasonable price. That driving experience, however, hasn’t necessarily been the case for everyone.Some owners have reported an issue with the car where it will suddenly shut off and be unable to be restarted. It’s not entirely clear yet what is causing this issue. Still, it’s serious enough that the Swedish-Chinese company is recalling all 2,200 Polestar 2s currently in customers’ hands, according to a report on Friday by Swedish publication Dager Industri.

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Tesla experienced a similar issue with the Model 3 early in its life, and the problem stemmed from the 12-volt battery. In Tesla’s case, simply replacing the battery would get the car up and running again, but there’s no telling if that’s going to do the trick here. According to a report from InsideEVs, not all of the 2s are showing 12-volt issues. Further, some owners get warnings from their vehicles before it shut down, while others aren’t.Polestar didn’t immediately return a request for comment.

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The 2020 Chevrolet Bolt starts at around $38,000 including $875 for destination. This fully-loaded tester here is at $43,735 including destination.

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Discuss: Buick Electra returns as an electric crossover-sedan mashup

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Here’s the future of Canoo, if all goes according to plan.
Canoo
Canoo looks like one of the more promising electric car startups out there, but it has far grander plans beyond its super-cool-looking van vehicle, known as the Canoo. In an announcement showing off the performance aspects of its modular skateboard platform on Thursday, the startup said it plans for additional vehicles in just three years.What kind of vehicles? All Canoo mentioned were a “series of delivery vehicles” and a “sport vehicle.” The delivery machines should launch in 2023, but the startup didn’t mention a timeframe for the sporty car. When asked for additional information, a Canoo spokesperson told Roadshow the delivery vehicles will likely come in three sizes to provide anywhere from 219 to 353 cubic feet of cargo space. The attached rendering shows off a pickup truck, a delivery van of sorts and what looks like a larger delivery truck. Each of them wear the Canoo design language quite well, too.

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Delivery vehicles are a super-popular segment for EV startups to focus on. Companies continue to focus on ways to lower emissions for fleet vehicles, and EVs make a lot of sense, especially for last-mile deliveries. Those are the trips where a driver takes the package to its final destination in the city. And in metro areas where emissions and noise pollution are of growing concern, EVs excel further.But, Canoo will have plenty of rivals should it deliver on its promised commercial vehicles. Chief among them is Rivian, flush with cash from online retailing giant Amazon. The Michigan-based company already showed prototypes for its purpose-built Amazon delivery van, and the retailer plans to put 100,000 of them on the roads by the end of this decade. It’s also unclear if Canoo’s subscription model will transfer to commercial vehicles.As for the sporty vehicle, it sounds like Canoo targets some sort of sedan. It will be the second consumer vehicle, according to the information Canoo supplied us, and should boast 300-plus miles of range. The modular chassis will provide the space of a midsize sedan, but the startup hopes to design the car with the footprint of a compact car instead with room for four to five passengers. Canoo, if you don’t know, is all about maximizing interior space.Canoo plans to launch the Canoo van in 2022 in Los Angeles and slowly expand its subscription model to other cities in the US.
Canoo’s subscription-only EV isn’t as up a creek sans paddle as it might seem
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Tesla
At Tesla Motors’ annual shareholder meeting and Battery Day 2020 event, CEO Elon Musk announced that the electric automobile manufacturer is preparing to release a private beta of the “full self-driving version” of its Autopilot driver-aid software in the coming months.”It’s kind of hard for people to judge the progress of Autopilot,” Musk told a crowd of shareholders present at the event, each social distancing in their own Tesla Model 3, drive-in style. “I’m driving a bleeding edge, alpha build of Autopilot, so I sort of have insight into what is going on.”

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Musk went on to explain how Tesla’s engineers recently had to overhaul major parts of the Autopilot, including a rethinking of how the system sees the world.”We had to do a fundamental rewrite of the entire Autopilot software stack… We’re now labeling 3D video, which is hugely different from when we were previously labeling single 2D images,” Musk explained, referring to the way the Autopilot software understands what the objects it sees with its eight cameras are, and how it should react to them. “We’re now labeling entire video segments, taking all cameras simultaneously and labeling that. The sophistication of the neural net of the car and the overall logic of the car is improved dramatically.”Musk hinted that drivers may get a chance to experience this more sophisticated version of Autopilot soon. Tesla shareholders showed their socially distanced approval by honking the horns of their individual Model 3s.
Tesla
“I think we’ll hopefully release a private beta of Autopilot — the full self-driving version of autopilot — in, I think a month or so? And then people will really understand the magnitude of the change,” said Musk adding, “It’s profound. You’ll see what it’s like, it’s amazing.”Attendees showed their approval for Musk’s promise by honking the horns of their safety bubbles.We’ll be keeping an eye out for this next-generation of Autopilot over the next few weeks. In the meantime, check out the rest of our coverage of Tesla Battery Day 2020 for more announcements and breaking news.  More