Dhruv Rathee Car Collection: Dhruv Rathee is a popular YouTuber. He is always in the headlines on the Internet due to his videos. Today once again Dhruv Rathee is in the news, but the reason for this is not his videos but a new member in his family. Dhruv has recently shared pictures with his first baby boy, after which he is being discussed all over the Internet.
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Tesla’s Giga Berlin plant kicks off production for Indian market
- Tesla has started production of right-hand drive electric cars in its Giga Berlin plant focusing on the Indian market.
Tesla has kicked off production for India-bound electric cars at its Giga Berlin facility, claims an HT report. The electric car manufacturer has started producing right-hand drive cars for the Indian market in its Berlin factory and hopes to have them on the roads of this country by the end of 2024, the report has stated quoting a person familiar with the OEM’s plans. Produced in a small number, these electric cars would be used as test prototypes in the Indian environment. However, the person didn’t reveal which models of the auto company are being produced as the Indian market-spec right-hand driver versions. Expect the EVs like Model 3 and Model Y to reach Indian shores.
Interestingly, this news comes immediately on the heels of the report that Tesla is sending a team to India in the third week of April to scout for locations to set up its manufacturing facility in the country. The OEM is reportedly planning to set up its India plant with an investment of about $3 billion.
The report stated that Tesla is working on its India plan in two dimensions, export and manufacturing dimensions. This comes after the Indian government announced its new EV policy in March this year, in which the customs duties for importing electric cars were reduced to boost electric mobility in India as well as local manufacturing. Also, this policy mandated that the OEMs could enjoy lower customs duty only if they set up manufacturing facilities in India with a certain level of investment. The Indian government linked the policy to a simultaneous manufacturing investment commitment above a certain threshold, within a specified period, and with a strong localisation of the supply chain as well.
In November 2023, it was reported that Tesla was working on its proposed most affordable car, which is likely to be a two-door sedan or SUV, which is specially focused on the Indian market. This affordable EV is meant to debut in Germany and India will be the second market for the car. This electric car is meant to be manufactured in Giga Berlin only. However, with the Indian market in focus, it will be later produced in Tesla’s intended India manufacturing plant as well.
Tesla is reportedly considering Gujarat, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu for its intended India manufacturing plant site, primarily because these are coastal states with major ports, which will allow Tesla to export the cars produced locally in the country to overseas markets. The report further stated that Tesla will possibly make the largest foreign direct investment in India, including a direct and immediate investment of $3 billion to produce its most affordable new small car. Besides that, there would be a $10 billion commitment from its other partners to support this manufacturing ecosystem in the country, and a cumulative $15 billion in the battery industry ecosystem as well.
First Published Date: 04 Apr 2024, 06:42 AM IST
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Xiaomi’s first electric car, Modena, could make its official debut by year end
One of China’s largest technology conglomerates Xiaomi could reveal its first electric car by the end of this year, CarScoops reported. The long-awaited electric vehicle received government approval for production last month, though its first images were leaked online in January this year. The company had first announced its plans to produce an EV about two years ago.
The EV has been codenamed MS11 and is called Xiaomi Modena by local media reporters China. As per Car News China, the trial production of the car started last month at a factory in Beijing and the facility is said to be building roughly 50 prototypes each week. Xiaomi is said to be on schedule to receive approval from China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) in the coming month or two. Once this approval comes through, it will be able to start selling its electric car.
Once launched, the Xiaomi Modena will rival vehicles such as Tesla Model 3 and BYD Seal with a local starting pricing in the region of 200,000 yuan ($27,400). As per the car’s leaked images, its exterior design is constituted of large LED headlights and relatively simple front bumper. Xiaomi’s first EV is also expected to get flush door handles, a roof-mounted LiDAR, and a panoramic glass roof just like what is found on the Tesla Model 3.
Expect the electric car to come with a massive 101 kWh ternary battery and an 800-volt electrical architecture. It could be able to travel up to 800 kilometres or 497 miles on a single charge. It will be equipped with a self-developed electric motor while its batteries will be provided by CATL and BYD.
Until last year, Хіаоmі hаs invested more than 3 billion уuаn (roughly converted to $433 million) іn іtѕ automotive dіvіѕіоn, with a tеаm оf оvеr 2,300 реорlе deployed in research and development.
First Published Date: 12 Sep 2023, 17:51 PM IST
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Tesla braces for its first trial involving Autopilot fatality
Self-driving capability is central to Tesla’s financial future, according to Musk, whose own reputation as an engineering leader is being challenged with allegations by plaintiffs in one of two lawsuits that he personally leads the group behind technology that failed. Wins by Tesla could raise confidence and sales for the software, which costs up to $15,000 per vehicle.
Tesla faces two trials in quick succession, with more to follow. The first, scheduled for mid-September in a California state court, is a civil lawsuit containing allegations that the Autopilot system caused owner Micah Lee’s Model 3 to suddenly veer off a highway east of Los Angeles at 65 miles per hour, strike a palm tree and burst into flames, all in the span of seconds.
The 2019 crash, which has not been previously reported, killed Lee and seriously injured his two passengers, including a then-8-year old boy who was disemboweled. The lawsuit, filed against Tesla by the passengers and Lee’s estate, accuses Tesla of knowing that Autopilot and other safety systems were defective when it sold the car.
Musk ‘de facto leader of Autopilot team
The second trial, set for early October in a Florida state court, arose out of a 2019 crash north of Miami where owner Stephen Banner’s Model 3 drove under the trailer of an 18-wheeler big rig truck that had pulled into the road, shearing off the Tesla’s roof and killing Banner. Autopilot failed to brake, steer or do anything to avoid the collision, according to the lawsuit filed by Banner’s wife.
Tesla denied liability for both accidents, blamed driver error and said Autopilot is safe when monitored by humans. Tesla said in court documents that drivers must pay attention to the road and keep their hands on the steering wheel. “There are no self-driving cars on the road today,” the company said.
The civil proceedings will likely reveal new evidence about what Musk and other company officials knew about Autopilot’s capabilities – and any possible deficiencies. Banner’s attorneys, for instance, argue in a pretrial court filing that internal emails show Musk is the Autopilot team’s “de facto leader”.
Tesla and Musk did not respond to Reuters’ emailed questions for this article, but Musk has made no secret of his involvement in self-driving software engineering, often tweeting about his test-driving of a Tesla equipped with “Full Self-Driving” software. He has for years promised that Tesla would achieve self-driving capability only to miss his own targets.
Tesla won a bellwether trial in Los Angeles in April with a strategy of saying that it tells drivers that its technology requires human monitoring, despite the “Autopilot” and “Full Self-Driving” names. The case was about an accident where a Model S swerved into the curb and injured its driver, and jurors told Reuters after the verdict that they believed Tesla warned drivers about its system and driver distraction was to blame.
Stakes higher for Tesla
The stakes for Tesla are much higher in the September and October trials, the first of a series related to Autopilot this year and next, because people died.
“If Tesla backs up a lot of wins in these cases, I think they’re going to get more favorable settlements in other cases,” said Matthew Wansley, a former General Counsel of nuTonomy, an automated driving startup and Associate Professor of Law at Cardozo School of Law.
On the other hand, “a big loss for Tesla – especially with a big damages award” could “dramatically shape the narrative going forward,” said Bryant Walker Smith, a law professor at the University of South Carolina.
In court filings, the company has argued that Lee consumed alcohol before getting behind the wheel and that it is not clear whether Autopilot was on at the time of crash.
Jonathan Michaels, an attorney for the plaintiffs, declined to comment on Tesla’s specific arguments, but said “we’re fully aware of Tesla’s false claims including their shameful attempts to blame the victims for their known defective autopilot system.”
In the Florida case, Banner’s attorneys also filed a motion arguing punitive damages were warranted. The attorneys have deposed several Tesla executives and received internal documents from the company that they said show Musk and engineers were aware of, and did not fix, shortcomings.
In one deposition, former executive Christopher Moore testified there are limitations to Autopilot, saying it “is not designed to detect every possible hazard or every possible obstacle or vehicle that could be on the road,” according to a transcript reviewed by Reuters.
In 2016, a few months after a fatal accident where a Tesla crashed into a semi-trailer truck, Musk told reporters that the automaker was updating Autopilot with improved radar sensors that likely would have prevented the fatality.
But Adam (Nicklas) Gustafsson, a Tesla Autopilot systems engineer who investigated both accidents in Florida, said that in the almost three years between that 2016 crash and Banner’s accident, no changes were made to Autopilot’s systems to account for cross-traffic, according to court documents submitted by plaintiff lawyers.
The lawyers tried to blame the lack of change on Musk. “Elon Musk has acknowledged problems with the Tesla autopilot system not working properly,” according to plaintiffs’ documents. Former Autopilot engineer Richard Baverstock, who was also deposed, stated that “almost everything” he did at Tesla was done at the request of “Elon,” according to the documents.
Tesla filed an emergency motion in court late on Wednesday seeking to keep deposition transcripts of its employees and other documents secret. Banner’s attorney, Lake “Trey” Lytal III, said he would oppose the motion.
“The great thing about our judicial system is Billion Dollar Corporations can only keep secrets for so long,” he wrote in a text message.
First Published Date: 28 Aug 2023, 20:00 PM IST
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Tesla EV bashes through a wall and plunges into a swimming pool
Over the last few years, several Tesla electric cars have made headlines for reasons that were unexpected and at times, unpleasant. The latest addition to the list of antics performed by Tesla car owners is when an EV bashed through a wall and plunged into a swimming pool. The incident took place in Arizona when a homeowner found the Tesla barreled through his house’s concrete wall and took a dive in the backyard pool, reported AZFamily.
The report says that despite such a crash into the swimming pool, the Tesla EV’s driver survived without any injury. However, the same can’t be said of the car or the yard it crashed into. The report has further revealed that the police are still searching for the cause of the crash. It is not known if the mishap took place because of the driver’s error or some technical glitch in the car.
Also Read : Tesla has to copy Apple to set up business in India. Here’s what it means
The affected homeowner, Joe Papineau, said that he thought that he’d heard an explosion. “I was sleeping in my bed when all of a sudden I hear this huge crash and big explosion,” he said to the local news station. Papineau also said he believes that the Tesla car was passing through the area when another car pulled out in front of him. In a desperate attempt to avoid the accident, the Tesla driver made an evasive manoeuvre but couldn’t recover in time to avoid crashing into the wall and ending in the pool.
The video that emerged online shows the Tesla car has received extensive damage including a demolished windshield. Its front profile got damaged severely. However, the driver reportedly escaped with only minor injuries. There was no other passenger in the car during the time of the accident, the report has further revealed.
First Published Date: 06 Aug 2023, 15:10 PM IST
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