Tesla owners will commute “with no driver input” soon, Musk says

Tesla Model 3 dashboard in Autopilot testing with IIHS [CREDIT: IIHS]Over the weekend, Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted that Tesla is testing new features on its Autopilot "self-driving" system, that will allow its cars to recognize stoplights and stop signs and negotiate traffic on roundabouts. "Your Tesla will soon be able to go from your garage at home to parking at work with no driver input at all," Musk tweeted...

Musk announces more and faster Tesla Superchargers on the way

Tesla Supercharger site in Rocklin, California, before expansion    [photo: George Parrott]Tesla CEO Elon Musk is tweeting again, this time about expanding and potentially upgrading the company's Supercharger network. On Monday, Musk tweeted that the company will start deploying "much faster" Version 3 Superchargers early next year. The news comes on the heels of Tesla's announcement that it will ship Model 3s to Europe and Australia...

Robyn Denholm appointed new Tesla board chairwoman

2017 Tesla Model 3, in photo tweeted by Elon Musk on July 9, 2017Tesla's board has promoted from within to fill the role of chairman, replacing Elon Musk, who agreed to step down in a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Robyn Denholm, one of the two independent directors appointed to Tesla's board in 2014 will be its new chairwoman, the company announced on Wednesday night. Musk agreed on...

Tesla receives SEC subpoena about Model 3 production numbers

Tesla Model 3 all-wheel drive Performance rolls off a new assembly line in a temporary structureTesla acknowledged in a quarterly regulatory filing on Thursday that it has received a subpoena from the SEC asking about the company's forecasts the company made in 2017 for Model 3 production. Some investors have said they were misled by statements that the company would begin full production of the Model 3 by the second quarter of 2018, when...

Tesla Model 3 teardown underscores missed opportunities

Tesla Motors production line for Tesla Model S, Fremont, CaliforniaLast year employee parking lots overflowed at Tesla’s Fremont, California, plant. By comparing the headcount of Tesla's factory at present versus historically, it’s easy to grasp why the facility has seemed so crowded. At its heyday, Toyota and GM needed 4,400 people at Fremont. Tesla has an on-site workforce estimated to be...

Judge approves Tesla SEC settlement

Elon Musk in his McLaren F1, 1999A federal judge in New York gave final approval Tuesday to the $40 million settlement between Tesla, its chief executive officer Elon Musk, and the SEC over Musk's tweets about plans to take the company private. The approval comes following Musk's tentative settlement on Sept. 29, in which he agreed to step down as chairman of Tesla's board of...

Report: Justice Department investigating Tesla, Musk over tweets

Elon Musk at Tesla Model 3 revealThe U.S. Department of Justice may be investigating Tesla and its CEO Elon Musk for criminal wrongdoing related to a series of tweets its founder sent this year, Bloomberg reported Tuesday. A spokeswoman for the Justice Department declined to comment on the report. At issue are a series of tweets in August in which Musk said that the automaker had...

Tesla opens its first in-house body shops to reduce repair times

Tesla Model 3 all-wheel drive Performance rolls off a new assembly line in a temporary structureFacing reports of long wait times at Tesla-authorized collision repair centers, Tesla is bringing collision repairs in-house. The company has been opening in-house body shops at a Tesla service centers in the past month, and Tesla chief executive Elon Musk tweeted on Sunday that the company plans to bring "most collision repairs" in-house, because...

Judge dismisses lawsuit against Tesla over Model 3 production delays

Elon Musk at Tesla Model 3 revealAmid a topsy-turvy month of mostly bad news for Tesla, the company got one major reprieve on Monday. According to a Reuters report, a federal court in San Francisco has dismissed a lawsuit from shareholders over delays in Model 3 production. The suit against Tesla and its CEO, Elon Musk, claimed that production forecasts for the Model 3 were...

Tesla had VW funding lined up to go private, report says

Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk at Tesla Store opening in Westfield Mall, London, Oct 2013After Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced earlier this month that he planned to take the company private, investment advisors hooked a big fish to provide the funding, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal on Monday. In a long report about the Tesla board's deliberations over taking the company private, the Journal revealed that investment...

New report inside Tesla factory says Model 3 production improving

Tesla Model 3 all-wheel drive Performance rolls off a new assembly line in a temporary structureA new independent report from inside Tesla's Fremont factory shows production of the Model 3 is becoming sustainable. The report, from automotive analysts Eversource ISI Research in London and first carried in FT Alphaville, shows Model 3 production improving, and that the new General Assembly line 4 is making a significant contribution. Tesla...

Saudi investment fund reportedly wants stake in Lucid Motors

Lucid AirThe Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund may be planning to buy a stake in potential Tesla rival Lucid Motors, according to a Reuters report. Tesla CEO Elon Musk suggested last week that he had held talks with the same Saudi investment fund. The report says that the fund has drawn up a term sheet to invest $500 million in Lucid. It could invest up...

Opinion: Tesla’s CEO needs help, but will he take it?

'Revenge of the Electric Car' premiere: Elon Musk arrives in a Tesla RoadsterJust as Tesla is beginning to straighten out manufacturing problems with its Model 3, the executive suite seems in the midst of a nuclear meltdown. In a wide-ranging interview with The New York Times on Thursday, CEO Elon Musk admitted to being spread thin, having the most difficult and painful year in his career, and to hastily dashing off a...