Elon Musk News - Issue 102

Elon Musk News - Issue 102 Get Elon Musk News 2x / week with high quality images, access to our secret Facebook group, and discounted apparel by going premium 🎉

Note From The Curator

The top three stories in this issue of Elon Musk News are: Tesla Model S P100D wins Motor Trend's "World's Greatest Drag Race" [Video] SpaceX's internet satellites have an official name: Starlink Steve Jurvetson thinks Elon's Boring Co. will win with short tunnels first In a very public and dramatic setting, the Tesla Model S P100D just beat out the best 'drivers cars' on the market in a drag race conducted by Motor Trend. While the P100D is the fastest accelerating car from 0-60 ever tested by Motor Trend, it seemed that even they were surprised by its performance over a quarter mile. It's an entertaining video to watch, and in its own way puts another nail in the internal combustion engine's coffin. I hope you have an excellent weekend, and enjoy issue 102! Sincerely, Zachary

Featured Quote

"Don't give up if the cause is important enough, even if you believe you are walking into doom. Good friends really matter."

— Elon Musk From @elonmusk

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SpaceX

SpaceX's internet satellites have an official name: Starlink Zach says: If you read one article this week, make it this one. Not only could a SpaceX satellite internet constellation be a huge revenue driver, but it could also pave the way for an Earth-Mars communications network. As previously reported, recent developments during the process of attaining regulatory permissions could pose a major hurdle for SpaceX's broadband constellation. Implications of FCC filings aside, SpaceX may still launch its first test satellites later this year. The trademark filings, which can be found through the U.S. Patent Office's Trademark Electronic Search System (TESS), also hint that SpaceX may expand the potential uses of their satellite constellation into markets for scientific data and persistent Earth imaging. SpaceX's Starlink broadband satellite constellation could revolutionize internet access on Earth and provide SpaceX the resources it needs to develop Mars colonization hardware. Details about the satellite constellation will likely be provided when Elon Musk speaks later this month at the International Astronautical Congress.

SpaceX to kick off October with two launches and landings in 48 hours After successfully weathering Hurricane Irma, SpaceX is preparing to remedy a slow month with three to four launches in October. Beginning on October 2nd, schedules have firmed up for the launch of SES-11 aboard a refurbished Falcon 9 first stage. If all goes as planned, SpaceX will launch a second Falcon 9 as few as 36 hours after the SES-11 mission, this time carrying the third batch of 10 Iridium NEXT satellites from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. Meanwhile, SpaceX has received an FCC license for first stage recovery activities beginning on October 14th, which meshes well with a scheduled launch date for KoreaSat-5, also 10/14. Following KoreaSat-5, the next SpaceX launch is not yet clear but will likely be Iridium-4, NEXT satellites 31-40. Including the three launches discussed above, SpaceX is likely to conduct 7-8 more launches before the end of 2017, not counting Falcon Heavy's inaugural launch due to uncertainty.

SpaceX Completes its 12th ISS Return Mission with Dragon Splash Down On Sunday morning, SpaceX confirmed that its Dragon cargo spacecraft had successfully splashed down in the Pacific Ocean, after spending a month aboard the ISS. It was the 12th SpaceX mission to and from the space station. Three departure burns were used to move the Dragon far enough away from the station to allow SpaceX's flight controllers in Hawthorne, California, to take over controls to commandeer its deorbit burn. Five hours later, the Dragon's parachutes were deployed, and it splashed down in the ocean. Recovery forces retrieved the Dragon and its approximately 3,800 pounds of cargo. The space craft has brought back a multitude of science samples from the ISS, including human and animal research and biology and biotechnology studies. SpaceX continues to carve out and dominate a significant space for itself in the burgeoning business of space travel. Currently, Dragons are the only space station resupply spacecrafts that are able to return to Earth intact.

SpaceX's Texas-based Mars launch facilities to be completed as soon as 2019 SpaceX engineers from the company's McGregor, Texas testing facilities visited Texas A&M University last week and gave a presentation to interested students. In the process, they revealed some extremely exciting details about SpaceX's future endeavors. The McGregor engineers confirmed what was long suspected: Boca Chica is not and will not be a priority until both of SpaceX's East coast pads, LC-40 and LC-39A, are respectively reactivated and upgraded for Falcon Heavy and Commercial Crew launches. This means that Boca Chica will not begin to be seriously developed until the end of 2017, likely November or December at the earliest. The information was tempered by the news that Boca Chica would be developed from the start of construction as a launch facility for SpaceX's Mars colonization vehicle, the Interplanetary Transport System (ITS). This is the first non-employees have heard of this, and it meshes well with comments Gwynne Shotwell made on September 13 indicating that SpaceX "could" have the Boca Chica pad ready within "two years", although it is not a current priority.

Tesla

Tesla Model S P100D wins Motor Trend's "World's Greatest Drag Race" Tesla CEO Elon Musk is undoubtedly proud to share the results of Motor Trend's seventh annual "World's Greatest Drag Race", namely because a Model S P100D has just smashed the competition. The all-out quarter-mile drag race event held at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California cast some of Motor Trend's "Best Driver's Cars". Vehicles defined by their drivability and superb balance between performance and handling, including the Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio, Aston Martin DB11, Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE, Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport, Ferrari 488 GTB, Lexus LC500, McLaren 570GT, Mercedes-AMG GT R, Nissan GT-R Nismo, Porsche 718 Cayman S, Porsche 911 Turbo S and, of course a Ludicrous Model S P100D – battled it out for top honors. Not surprisingly, Tesla's dual-motor P100D sprinted off the line and never looked back.

Tesla is building a new biggest Supercharger in the world A new Supercharger station now under construction in Shanghai, China is now expected to become the biggest in the world and consequently, it could become the biggest electric car charging station in the world. China is an important part of Tesla's plan to have over 10,000 Superchargers around the world by the end of the year. They recently announced that they aim to have 1,000 Superchargers in the market by the end of the year. That new Supercharger station in Shanghai will alone help a lot toward that goal. The station covers a significant part of its underground parking lot with 50 Supercharger stalls – 10 more than the next biggest Supercharger station known to date. This station will have to be extremely powerful in order to potentially supercharge up to 50 cars at the same time.

Tesla China sees an opening with manufacturing rule change Tesla Motors could be building a new automotive plant in China without a domestic joint venture if the Ministry of Commerce alters a long-standing manufacturing rule. Bloomberg reported early this week on this possible shift in the policy by the China Ministry, where the department commented that it will "actively implement the opening up of the new-energy manufacturing sector to foreigners, together with other departments under the direction of the State Council." Speculation on this updated policy looks for local governments to create more free-trade zones for manufacturers to produce cars without a traditional joint-venture arrangement with a state-owned entity. The news comes at an exciting time as China announced last week their intentions to phase-out fossil fuel vehicles at some point and Tesla's interest in a new factory in China.

Tesla Factory: new drone flyover shows new buildings as plant grows to support Model 3 production Tesla's Fremont factory is already one of the biggest buildings in the world in terms of footprint and yet, Tesla has been expanding it recently as it ramps up Model 3 production. Tesla first introduced the expansion plan last year and it included the addition of several new buildings to almost double the size of the already giant electric vehicle factory – 5.3 million square feet to 9.9 million square feet. Earlier this year, a new multi-story structure higher than any other structure at the site was spotted under construction. Based on the insides of the structure, it was determined to be a giant 'Automated Storage & Retrieval Systems', which is a system that facilitates the use of robots and the automation of a warehouse. A new flyover by California Phantom shows that the system is now completed and other new buildings around it have started to appear.

Tesla-powered electric kit car runs insane 9-second quarter-mile Tesla's current top performance vehicle, the Model S P100D with the Ludicrous upgrade, runs a quarter-mile in 10 seconds, which is impressive for any car but absolutely insane for a large 4-door sedan. It was always clear that Tesla's powertrain in a smaller, lighter vehicle would be even quicker and now we have a great example with a kit car using a Tesla drivetrain running a 9-second quarter-mile. They are using the same 470 hp (350 kW) performance RWD motor that is in a Model S P85, but that car stock weighs 4,656 lb and theirs weigh ~2,500 lb. At first, they were running a quarter-mile in 11 seconds, but as they worked on their control systems, they managed to bring it down to 10 seconds and now an impressive 9 seconds.

Elon Musk hints at Tesla 'pickup truck' as a 'mini Tesla Semi' We have recently heard about several of Tesla's upcoming vehicles, especially the Model Y and Tesla Semi since they are expected to be unveiled next, but we haven't heard about the planned electric pickup truck in a while. Now CEO Elon Musk hints that it could be based on the same tech developed for Tesla Semi. In response to a someone Tweeting "Can we get a light duty pickup next?" Musk replied "What if we just made a mini version of the Tesla Semi?" To be fair, the response lets a lot open to interpretation, but it's especially interesting in the context that Musk hinted at a possible other product to be unveiled with Tesla Semi at the event next month.

Tesla is working on customer-facing Model 3 design studio as it expands deliveries Current Tesla Model 3 deliveries are still only for employees and company insiders, but the automaker is expected to soon expand deliveries to regular customers with early Model 3 reservations. The first sign of that happening would be to open the online design studio to let customers configure their vehicles ahead of deliveries and now it looks like Tesla is working to make that happen. Customer deliveries have been guided for the end of October and therefore, they should open up the design studio to those customers any day now if they are on schedule. Now Redditor incinie found through some sleuthing in Tesla's online design studio code that the automaker is working on adding Model 3. They added image assets to the online configurators for each color available on the Model 3.

Tesla updates its mobile app to support Model 3 Tesla is again showing more signs of preparation for the expansion of Model 3 deliveries to customers. Now Tesla pushes a new update to its mobile app to support Model 3. The mobile app is already useful for Model S and Model X, but it will be even more important with Model 3. With the Model 3, Tesla is parting ways with using a regular key fob and instead built the experience around its mobile app. In order to unlock the car with the current app, the driver needs to go into the app or the Tesla widget to unlock it. But with Model 3, once your car is linked to your account, you just have to walk up to it. Today, Tesla pushed update 3.2 of its mobile app and it now "supports Model 3", according to the update notice.

Tesla Model 3's unique HVAC system explained in new patent Zach says: This patent is worth checkout out if you're curious about the engineering behind Model 3's unique air vent system. In a new patent application released earlier this month, Tesla explained the thermal system designed for Model 3. The inventors of the system wrote: "Traditional automotive vents have a low aspect ratio, meaning that their width is relatively similar to their height. For example, circular or rectangular vents are common. These vents are generally positioned flush with the surface of the instrument panel." "However, these point-like outlets are not optimized for distributing the air over a wider area, which necessitates the use of multiple vents for each passenger. Also, the appearance of the vents may be unsightly and can disrupt an otherwise uniform design of the instrument panel or other interior surface."

Tesla is discontinuing the rear-wheel drive Model S next week – the cheapest Model S option Tesla is discontinuing the rear-wheel drive Model S 75, its cheapest option for the vehicle, as soon as next week. With the rear-wheel drive option, the Model S currently starts at $69,500 in the US and the dual motor all-wheel-drive option comes with a $5,000 charge. Unless Tesla changes the price with the discontinuation of the rear-wheel drive option, the Model S will now start at $74,500. It will create a more important price gap between the bigger and higher performance Model S and the smaller and less expensive Model 3. Furthermore, having the dual motor option as the base option for Model S increases both base range and performance for Tesla's flagship sedan – creating a more important performance gap with Model 3. Finally, the change comes just at the end of the third quarter, which could help Tesla close sales (for custom orders) and deliveries (for inventory vehicles) of the currently cheapest Model S option before it is discontinued.

The Boring Company

DFJ's Steve Jurvetson thinks Elon's Boring Co. will win with short tunnels first Noted Silicon Valley investor and SpaceX investor Steve Jurvetson is probably better positioned than most to know what Elon Musk is thinking with The Boring Company. "I personally love the idea even more than the hyperloop idea," Jurvetson said on stage at Disrupt SF 2017 in San Francisco. Why? Because the vision is that they could work with electric vehicles exclusively once those proliferate enough, which means you don't need to manage exhaust, Jurvetson pointed out. "The whole concept of tunnels changes," he said, once you change that key ingredient, since tunnels can be much smaller, making them easier to dig and interconnect and overlay. That means less complexity, less potential to affect surface structure and easier construction, enabling things like short undercut routes that bypass busy freeways currently clogged with traffic – some of which just happens to be using the same route as others headed to the same concentrated focal point, like an airport, even if they're going somewhere else entirely.

Hyperloop

Hyperloop One raised an $85 million round at a valuation that tops $700 million Hyperloop One has closed an $85 million investment round. The company's total funding is now $245 million. That brings the company's valuation — including this round of financing — to more than $700 million.

Misc.

Possibly Elon Musk's Biggest Idea Yet - Revolutionizing Education An estimated 250 million children around the world cannot read, write, or demonstrate basic arithmetic skills. UNESCO estimates that the world will need 1.6 million more teachers globally, a number set to double by 2030. Enter Elon Musk. He recently provided $15 million to the Global Learning XPRIZE. The goal is to develop methods to teach the 250 million children who do not have access to primary or secondary education the means to teach themselves to read, write, and do math within 15 months.

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Amnesty International Reveals the Bomb That Killed 16 Civilians in Yemen Was Made in the U.S.A. | Daily Digest 09/22/2017

"His Laughter was a Battle Cry": Thousands Celebrate Comedian & Human Rights Legend Dick Gregory & Amid Tensions with North Korea, 51 Countries Sign Ban on Nuclear Weapons Despite U.S. Opposition Democracy Now! Daily Digest A Daily Independent Global News Hour with Amy Goodman & Juan González Friday, September 22, 2017 democracynow.org Stories Amnesty International Reveals the Bomb That Killed 16 Civilians in Yemen Was Made in the U.S.A.   A major new investigation by Amnesty International reveals a bomb that killed 16 civilians in Yemen's capital last month was made in the U.S.A. Among the survivors ... Read More → "His Laughter was a Battle Cry": Thousands Celebrate Comedian & Human Rights Legend Dick Gregory Thousands gathered Saturday to celebrate the life of legendary comedian and civil rights activist Dick Gregory, who passed away last month at the age of 84. ... Read More → Amid Tensions with North Korea, 51 Countries Sign Ban on Nuclear Weapons Despite U.S. Opposition Amid tensions over North Korea's nuclear and missile tests, 51 countries have signed the world's first legally binding treaty banning nuclear weapons. It prohibits the ... Read More → Headlines → North Korea Threatens Pacific H-Bomb Test as U.S. Brings New Sanctions Puerto Rico Under Curfew as Hurricane Maria Death Toll Rises to 32 Mexico: Earthquake Death Toll at 273 and Climbing Iran Nuclear Deal Signatories Oppose U.S. Threatened Withdrawal Iraq: Tens of Thousands Trapped in Hawija as U.S.-Backed Offensive Begins Amnesty International: U.S.-Made Bomb Killed Yemeni Civilians NYT: Trump Rolling Back Limits on Drone Strikes, Commando Raids India: Muslims Protest Planned Mass Deportation of Rohingya Refugees Bangladeshi PM Lays Out Plan for U.N.-Backed Repatriation of Rohingya Indian Journalist Killed on the Job in Northeast State Philippines: Mass Protests Oppose President Duterte's Authoritarianism France: Unions March as President Macron Plans to Cut Labor Protections Sen. Bernie Sanders to Debate Republican Authors of Healthcare Bill Children of Interned Japanese Americans Oppose Trump Travel Ban Ex-NFL Star Aaron Hernandez Had Severe CTE at Time of Suicide Vice Media Workers Vote to Unionize St. Louis: Protests Against Acquittal of White Police Officer Continue Cornell University Black Students Protest Racist Incidents on Campus Forward this email → Donate today → Follow WEB EXCLUSIVE Voices from Mexico City After the Earthquake: Aid Arrived Late in Poorer Areas, Help Is Still Needed BOOK RELEASE Get Your Signed Copy of Reclaiming Gotham, the newest book by Juan González, and find a speaking event near you!  WEB EXCLUSIVE A Look at the Global History of Concentration Camps, from Pre-WWII to the Ongoing Rohingya Crisis COLUMN Anti-Fascist Heroines Then and Now SPEAKING EVENTS 9/29 Kansas City, MO 9/29 Winnipeg, MB 9/30 College Park, MD 9/30 Halifax, NS 10/1 Guelph ON 10/1 Toronto, ON More events WEB EXCLUSIVE Rep. Luis Gutiérrez on Category 5 Hurricane Maria Barreling Toward Puerto Rico 207 W 25th St — 11th Floor — New York, NY — 10001 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License

Elon Musk News - Issue 101

Elon Musk News - Issue 101 Enjoying Elon Musk News? Then you will love our premium newsletter 🎉

Note From The Curator

The top three stories in this issue of Elon Musk News are: How Not to Land an Orbital Rocket Booster [Video] Hyperloop One Announces 10 Winners in Its "Global Challenge" Tesla is holding a 'celebration' event at its new giant Powerpack project on Sept 29 If Elon Musk wasn't the real life Tony Stark, he would make an awesome blooper video editor. On Thursday Musk released a blooper reel of exploding SpaceX rockets. And according to a follow up tweet, he did most of the editing. In some ways it feels as if Musk has gone full circle. A story Musk often tells is that before he started SpaceX, friends would send him videos of exploding rockets in an effort to deter him from founding a rocket company. Now he has his own video full of exploding SpaceX rockets! How meta. Thank-you so much for being a subscriber, and enjoy issue 101! Sincerely, Zachary

Featured Quote

"With rockets, you have to solve the problem of a particular level of difficulty; one person who can solve the problem is worth an infinite number of people who can't."

— Elon Musk From WikiQuotes

SpaceX

How Not to Land an Orbital Rocket Booster Zach says: SpaceX shared their much anticipated rocket fail video. On Twitter Musk stated that he did most of the editing :)

Elon Musk Shares Full-Body Photo of SpaceX's Spacesuits In August, Elon Musk gave a glimpse of what the company's upcoming astronaut spacesuits would look like. Musk went a step further on Friday and shared the first full-body look of the spacesuit design. There's more going on in Musk's photo than just the suit. The shot seems to have been taken at the company's Hawthorne, California headquarters, in the same place where the Dragon 2 was first revealed by Musk in 2014. The capsule itself has undergone its own sleek redesign, getting a black-and-white makeover that matches the suit.'

SpaceX weathers Irma, no delays to busy October launch schedule Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station were largely spared the brunt of Hurricane Irma due to last-second changes to its projected path. Both SpaceX and ULA have since reported that damages to their facilities are minimal and unlikely to contribute to any delays in upcoming launches, of which SpaceX has several. While Irma's course veered southeast as it neared the Space Coast, Cape Canaveral eventually experienced some level of heavy rain, flooding, and high winds on Sunday and Monday. A NASA flyover of Kennedy Space Center illustrated this best, with very little damage visible from the helicopter, aside from some limited flooding and some mild damage to the roofs of several buildings.

SpaceX's internet satellite strategy faces possible setback after FCC decision Zach says: For the sake of brevity I wasn't able to include all the important details below. I highly recommend reading this article in full. SpaceX's proposed constellation of at least several thousand satellites ends up being at a distinct disadvantage simply because it would take far longer for SpaceX to even partially complete its constellation when compared with competitors like OneWeb, who expect to finish launching the first phase of their constellation several hundred satellites by the end of 2020. Under the International Telecommunication Union's (ITU) regulations, SpaceX could be forced by competitors to effectively step on eggshells around their constellations by avoiding interference to the furthest extent possible, rather than simply sharing spectrum in the brief periods where different satellites temporarily interfere with each other. While the FCC's choice to cede international interference coordination to the ITU is a huge blow to SpaceX's proposed internet constellation efforts, the same September 7th report also eased a handful of other requirements that would have proven difficult for SpaceX's massive constellation. It is possible that SpaceX council will make a statement protesting the FCC's decision, but it is nevertheless likely that the FCC's report will be accepted and become official. While the LEO internet constellation has remained a low priority for SpaceX since it was revealed in 2015, the company has steadily continued work on the project and SpaceX has every reason to continue pursuing it given the potential profit margins it could produce.

SpaceX close to landing rocket boosters next to its Southern California launch site SpaceX's 1.6-acre circular concrete landing pad was recently constructed directly west of its launchpad at Space Launch Complex 4 in the hills outside Lompoc. It could be in operation as early as this year. While SpaceX hopes to rely on it for most West Coast landings, it also proposed to operate a second Pacific Ocean landing barge 31 miles off the Santa Barbara County coastline to recover boosters diverted from the ground by sensitive base operations. State environmental reviews approved the proposal, with the caveat that SpaceX do some mitigating preparations to protect ocean life from sonic booms and potential explosions.

Tesla

Tesla unveils new 'urban' Supercharger with a slower dedicated charge rate After the Supercharger network for long distance travel and Destination chargers for charging once at a destination, Tesla is now unveiling a new version of its Supercharger designed as an urban charging solution. Tesla wrote in a blog post: "Supercharger stations in urban areas will be installed in convenient locations, including supermarkets, shopping centers and downtown districts, so it's easy for customers to charge their car in the time it takes to grocery shop or run errands… Superchargers in urban areas have a new post design that occupies less space and is easier to install, making them ideal for dense, highly populated areas. To increase efficiency and support a high volume of cars, these Superchargers have a new architecture that delivers a rapid 72 kilowatts of dedicated power to each car. This means charging speeds are unaffected by Tesla vehicles plugging into adjacent Superchargers, and results in consistent charging times around 45 to 50 minutes for most drivers."

Tesla's latest software update brings more Supercharger information With Tesla's new 'urban' Superchargers, which are locked at a lower 72 kW charging rate, Tesla now has a more significant range of charging capacities between its first and second generation long-distance Superchargers and now those new urban ones. It can be useful for Tesla drivers to know the power capacity beforehand and in the new 'v8.1 2017.36 1b27c6d' software update, they now have access to it right from the car. Tesla describes the feature in the release notes: "Supercharging your Model S isn't always just about finding the nearest Supercharger. Sometimes it's about finding the one that will get you back on the road the quickest, even if it's a little farther away. Model S now displays the maximum power available for each location, so you can choose one that best fits your needs."

First look at Tesla's new kind of Supercharger station with design refresh Zach says: This article has a small gallery and short video showing what these new urban superchargers in Chicago look like. The first two stations are in Chicago and Boston. Keith Trice went to the one in Chicago and shared a few pictures.

Tesla Semi is a 'beast', says Elon Musk – unveiling of electric truck pushed to Oct 26th Tesla originally planned to unveil its upcoming new all-electric truck, Tesla Semi, at the end of September. Now Elon Musk says that it has been pushed to October 26th. Musk Tweeted: "Tesla Semi truck unveil & test ride tentatively scheduled for Oct 26th in Hawthorne. Worth seeing this beast in person. It's unreal."

Tesla highlights growth in China, says 1,000 Superchargers online by end of the year Tesla grew its business in China significantly since a tough launch back in 2014 and the company highlights its progress in a new video with testimonies from owners. Tesla China tripled its sales in 2016 to over $1 billion with over 11,000 deliveries and they continued their streak during the first quarter 2017 with a record quarter. That's despite the company not having access to all EV incentives in the country and its vehicles being subject to a 25% import duty. Earlier this year, they announced a new expansion with more Supercharger stations and new stores. Tesla's investments in China have so far been limited to retail, service and charging infrastructure, but the company is working with the Shanghai government to establish manufacturing capacity in the country.

Tesla Autopilot 'functioned as designed' but 'played a role' in 2016 fatal crash, says NTSB The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is partly blaming Tesla's Autopilot system for the fatal, May 7, 2016, crash of a Tesla near Williston, Florida. They determined that the Autopilot's "operational limitations played a role" in the crash even though it "functioned as designed", according to the board. Reuters reported: "The chairman of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said Tuesday "operational limitations" in the Tesla Model S played a "major role" in the May 2016 crash that killed a driver using the vehicle's semi-autonomous "Autopilot" system." NTSB says that "humans are very poor at monitoring automated systems" and that systems need to ensure that drivers stay vigilant and keep monitoring their vehicle, something Tesla asks of drivers when using Autopilot. Since the accident, Tesla introduced more alert systems to ensure that drivers keep their hands on the steering wheel when using Autopilot.

Tesla adds 'calibration period' for vehicles with new 'Autopilot 2.5 hardware' Tesla's recently introduced new Autopilot hardware suite, dubbed "2.5", in all its vehicles to enable more power and redundancy for its future self-driving capability. A Tesla spokesperson stated: "We recently introduced some minor hardware changes to the Autopilot system in new cars, and we are now in the process of robustly validating the new hardware using real-world driving data. During that process, Automatic Emergency Braking will temporarily be inactive and will instead be in shadow mode, which means it will register how the feature would perform if it were activated, without taking any action..." Tesla still believes that it can still bring "full self-driving capability" to vehicles with Autopilot 2.0 hardware and there's no difference for the current Autopilot features active in the vehicle. If the automaker doesn't enable"full self-driving capability" to vehicles with Autopilot 2.0, it plans to offer free retrofits to "Autopilot hardware 2.5".

Tesla expands presence in Michigan with new 'gallery' despite ban on direct sales Last year, Tesla pushed the boundaries of Michigan's ban on direct sales model by opening a showroom in the state. But it was only a small location inside a Nordstrom store, now Tesla is expanding in the state further while still in a legal battle over its right to sell. A change to the law in 2014 prohibits direct sales from automakers, which is blocking Tesla from obtaining a dealership license and sell cars in the state. Last year, Tesla filed a lawsuit against the state after claiming that the ban on direct sales violates commerce laws and that it was pushed by car dealers and GM in an attempt to block the electric automaker. While Tesla can't sell vehicles directly at retail locations, they can sell them online and educate the public at stores that they call "galleries." Employees working at those galleries can't discuss pricing or delivery information, nor can they even give test drives, but they can still educate people about Tesla's products.

Tesla Energy

Tesla is holding a 'celebration' event at its new giant Powerpack project on Sept 29 Part of the reason for Tesla winning the contract to build the most powerful energy storage project in the world, a 100 MW/129 MWh Powerpack system in South Australia, was Tesla's promise that they could deliver it in 100 days or it would be free. It looks like Tesla is on schedule since they just sent out invitations to a 'celebration' event at the site. The new system is located at Neoen's Hornsdale Wind Farm near Jamestown, South Australia. Tesla CEO Elon Musk hinted that Tesla would try to get the system online by the end of September and while we already knew that he would be nearby at the end of the month since he is attending the 2017 International Astronautical Conference on September 29, now they confirmed that there will also be an event for the project on the same day.

Hyperloop

Hyperloop One Announces 10 Winners in Its "Global Challenge" After competitions in the United States, Europe, and Asia earlier this year, Hyperloop One announced on Thursday it had selected ten proposed routes for the first hyperloop. In a statement on Thursday, the company announced it would "commit meaningful business and engineering resources and work closely with each of the winning teams/routes to determine their commercial viability." It was unclear actually when work on determining the viability would occur from the statement. The 10 proposed routes are: Cheyenne-Denver-Pueblo, Chicago-Columbus-Pittsburgh, Miami-Orlando, Dallas-Houston, Edinburgh-London, Glasgow-Liverpool, Mexico City-Guadalajara, Bengaluru-Chennai, Mumbai-Chennai, Toronto-Montreal.

How the Rocky Mountains Got a Head-Start in the Hyperloop Race Zach says: Rocky Mountain Hyperloop is one of the 10 winners in Hyperloop One's Global Challenge. As explained below, it looks like Colorado could be leapfrog the other winners. So how did Rocky Mountain Hyperloop jump straight to a feasibility study instead of merely determining "their commercial viability" that the other 9 routes are getting? From the start, it got buy-in from the state's government. Back in April, when Hyperloop One invited 11 teams from around the country to show off their proposed routes at a "global challenge" event in Washington, D.C., along with Boone was Shailen Bhatt, Executive Director of the Colorado Department of Transportation. Crucially for Hyperloop One, state governments can determine how to spend federal transportation funds, in addition to its own state money — not to mention the built-in political leverage that comes with it. Few of the other groups that proposed a hyperloop route to the company had the sort of government support that the Rocky Mountain group could claim. That made the difference, says Dan Katz, policy director for Hyperloop One. "What Colorado is doing is turning ideas on paper into action, and that's the kind of leadership we need to from other governments to make these projects a reality," Katz said.

Apparel

Tesla & SpaceX Themed Apparel Hi! It's Zach the curator. Reporting on everything Elon and his companies do gives me a ton of ideas for designs, the best of which are made into tees, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and iPhone cases! Every purchase goes directly toward supporting this newsletter. Thanks for all the support! Get Nerdy 🤓

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