
Tesla: No self-driver, but exotic features and go-fast model - dshibarshin
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2014/10/09/tesla-musk-safety-driver-aids/16986665/
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wdewind
[http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://...](http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2014/10/09/tesla-
musk-safety-driver-aids/16986665/)

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ramidarigaz
There's a bootleg stream of the event at:
[http://new.livestream.com/accounts/10419610/events/3475766](http://new.livestream.com/accounts/10419610/events/3475766)

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secabeen
Over 3500 streamers!

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uptown
So much for news embargos.

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Mizza
HAWTHORNE, Calif. — Tesla Motors didn't announce the self-driving car that
some had expected but did roll out an exotic suite of driver-aid and safety
features Thursday night.

And it said it'll have a hopped-up version of its Model S that has all-wheel
drive and blasts to 60 mph in little more than 3 seconds.

Tesla's moves are closely watched by its shareholders, who seem to bid up
stock prices wildly, then sell, so the Tesla shares rocket, then tumble,
somewhat like technology stocks. And the electric-carmaker's moves are
considered a foretaste of what mainstream automakers might need to emulate to
stay abreast of the latest technology.

Tesla announced Thursday that the all-wheel-drive versions of its Model S
electric car will manage a slight increase in range of about 10 miles on a
charge vs. the rear-drive models — for a maximum of 275 miles — because of
efficiencies designed into the new system.

The AWD cars have a second electric motor to drive the front wheels. AWD
hybrids, such as the Lexus RX, likewise use separate electric motors front and
rear to accomplish all-wheel drive. That eliminates the need for a front-to-
rear driveshaft and other cumbersome hardware.

CEO Elon Musk called his system "a huge improvement" that he claims is "taking
the technology to the next level."

The AWD cars will carry the designation D, and the new top version of the
Model S, the AWD P85D, will be among the fastest-accelerating sedans ever:
0-60 mph in 3.2 seconds, according to Tesla. Five or six seconds is considered
very quick.

The 85D models start being delivered to buyers in December. The other AWD
models, 60D and 85D, arrive in buyers hands in February.

The addition of all-wheel drive will allow Tesla to compete more vigorously in
the snowy East and Midwest, broadening is buyer base beyond the Sunbelt.

Jaguar made a similar move to AWD in 2013, figuring it was competing in a
shrinking minority of the luxury market without AWD.

Tesla's suite of safety features and driver aids is partly catch-up, partly
leapfrog.

Brands from Mercedes-Benz and Infiniti to more mainstream nameplates such as
Hyundai have features that will keep a car in its lane, steer it back if it
begins to wander, stop without driver help if it's racing too fast toward the
car ahead.

But Tesla CEO Elon Musk says Tesla is adding innovations to those.

Two highlights:

•The new system will move the car over a lane when the driver uses the turn
signal.

•The car reads speed-limit signs and adjusts the car to the speed on the sign.

Other features match the lane-departure warnings and other safety and driver-
help features that are getting common.

Tesla says the cars it's building now have 12 sensors each able to "see" 16
feet to enable the safety tech. Those can't be retrofitted to older models,
Tesla says.

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lazzlazzlazz
> The car reads speed-limit signs and adjusts the car to the speed on the
> sign.

I hope this feature can be disabled. Where I live, the flow of traffic
regularly exceeds the stated speed limit - sometimes by 20 mph. It would be
very silly to be limited like this.

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karmicthreat
I am kind of curious what the vision system does when the sign has different
speeds for different classes of vehicle. Or signs for night vs day.

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btgeekboy
Or on various Seattle roads, like I-5 where the speed limit is variable not
just by time of day and congestion, but even which lane you're in. (Not to
mention that the signs over each lane don't show the standard white rectangle
with black text.)

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gfodor
as someone who just picked up my model S last week, it'd be kind of crappy if
I missed the cut for these new sensors. the car is so nice though it's hard to
complain.

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penprog
isn't there a massive waiting list?

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trevyn
December for new orders, not too bad.

