The Week in Tesla News: Holiday Updates, Stock Gets High(er), Cybertruck Competition and the Bionic Tesla Owner
This is the first week in a while where the Cybertruck isn’t dominating the Tesla news cycle. Instead, we’ve got a handy holiday update that also includes some games and a “sneak preview” of the full self-driving feature Tesla has been working toward, as well as stock news that is setting the internet ablaze. A Cybertruck competitor is also in the news, and a Tesla owner in Utah takes living in the 21st century to extremes.
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Shop the 2019 Tesla Model 3 near you
Holiday Update
The update, dubbed 2019.40.50, contains some actually useful updates for owners, mostly centered around phone compatibility and voice commands. Tesla doesn’t currently offer Android Auto or Apple CarPlay, but it has now added the ability to have text messages read out loud and dictate responses, allowing drivers to stay connected without having to look down at a phone. The voice command feature also now allows for verbal commands for things like climate control, vehicle adjustments and media control.
The “sneak preview” of full self-driving (only available on cars with the latest FSD computer or that received a retrofit) involves including signs and stoplights in the car’s driving visualization display — the car won’t respond to those signs or lights yet, but showing that it can see them is the first step in getting people comfortable with the concept. Games are also part of the update, including Stardew Valley.
‘Funding Secured’
Remember when Tesla CEO Elon Musk got in trouble with the Securities and Exchange Commission for “joking” about taking the company private at $420 a share? Well, on the day of the holiday update, Tesla shares actually reached a value of a little over $420 a share, prompting Musk to note that the price was “so high.” Please don’t make me explain that joke. Ask someone aged 12-30 at whatever holiday dinner you’re attending.
Cybertruck Competition
Lordstown Motors, the company that took over GM’s Lordstown, Ohio, plant with a $40 million loan from GM, announced that it is now taking “deposits” to reserve its all-electric Endurance pickup truck. Like the Cybertruck, the deposits are $100, which will get you a spot in line for a pickup with electric motors in each wheel hub and an estimated range of 200 miles at the minimum. Pricing will apparently start at $52,000, but that’s before incentives — and the Endurance will be eligible for the full $7,500 federal tax credit that currently exists.
In His Hands
A man in Utah decided to implant the key to his Tesla —Tesla offers a keycard similar to a hotel room key — inside his hand, seemingly because he could and because he’d already done similar things for his work keycard and a credit card chip. The man also claims to have a magnet embedded in his left hand for “magic tricks” and “not being able to undergo an emergency MRI without a wildly unnecessary risk.”
More From Cars.com:
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- The Week in Tesla News: Cybertruck Reporting for Medium-Duty, EV Tax Credit Talks, Tesla Truck Gift Ideas and More
- The Week in Tesla News: Cybertruck Hits the Streets (and a Sign), Pickup Plans Hasten, Oops! … Autopilot Did It Again and More
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