NHTSA targets Tesla again over hidden ‘Elon Mode’

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is once again focusing on Tesla, requesting extensive data about the company’s driver assistance and monitoring systems, with an eye to a previously undisclosed configuration known as “Elon mode.”

What is “Elon Mode”?

We first told you about Elon Mode after Tesla hacker @greentheonly discovered it and shared it with the world on Twitter – yes, it was still called Twitter at the time. This special hidden configuration in Tesla’s software removes alerts or “nags” that prompt drivers to apply torque to the steering wheel.

NHTSA concerns

according to Reuters And CNBCNHTSA has expressed concerns about the potential safety effects of this configuration and issued a special order to Tesla asking for detailed information about this mode and how many drivers have access to it. NHTSA feared that relaxing controls designed to ensure driver interaction would increase driver inattention and failure to properly supervise Autopilot.

This isn’t the first time NHTSA has raised concerns about Tesla’s “whining.” In January, Musk responded to a tweet from @WholeMarsBlog asking users with more than 10,000 FSD miles to have the option to disable the “dull steering wheel growl”. “Agreed, update coming in January,” Musk responded.

That didn’t sit well with NHTSA Acting President Ann Carlson, who told reporters, “A very extensive investigation is going on… We are in talks with Tesla about this latest contact.”

Earlier this week, Carlson announced that the results of an extensive two-year investigation into Tesla’s Autopilot system would be published “relatively soon.” The NHTSA’s ongoing investigation is focused on more than a dozen stationary emergency vehicle incidents. Speaking of driver assistance systems in general, Carlson said, “It’s really important that drivers pay attention. It’s also important that driver monitoring systems take into account that humans overtrust technology.”

Move forward

While Tesla complied with NHTSA’s request for information, the response was given confidential treatment and was not available to the public. As the investigation continues, it remains to be seen how Tesla will address these concerns and what measures will be taken to ensure the integrity of its driver assistance systems.

Tesla is in talks with NHTSA and hopes to reach an agreement that satisfies both parties. Moving to better monitoring of drivers by leveraging cockpit camera and machine learning could be a way forward, reducing the need for drivers to “nag” while improving monitoring.

Tesla recently released 11.4.7 FSD Beta to a wide range of customer testers, and many Tesla owners are already noticing noticeable improvements in the side repeater cameras. The interesting twist in the story is that many thought that the new images that surfaced were produced by newer vehicles equipped with the HW4’s higher resolution cameras, but this is not the case.

Musk confirms reinforcement

@WholeMarsBlog Elon Musk asked if advanced post-processing has been incorporated into the improved camera offerings in FSD Beta 11.4.7 (release notes). During a conversation on X Spaces, Musk confirmed that software was used to improve camera previews. The FSD 11.4.7 update brought with it improved post-processing, resulting in improved white balance, color balance, and greater accuracy. Clearer pictures When drivers watch side cameras while driving on the road. This is a significant improvement over the previous FSD Beta 11.4.6 release.

Before and after video comparison

Everything looks better with the update

Mike, a Tesla fanatic cyber Honors Dot Com, He confirmed the significant improvements he noticed in his 2019 Model 3 after updating to FSD beta 11.4.7. He enthusiastically described the update as an “amazing improvement” in the performance of the turn signal cameras over the previous version.

Although Mike did not review the dashboard camera, he did mention that the rear camera performance, which was already satisfactory, was further improved. “The back looks great…Of course, the back looks really good compared to repeaters,” said Mike during a discussion on Stage X. He also praised the software update for correcting “proper color balance”, a recurring problem with older devices. Cameras.

This progression is especially important given that Mike’s Model 3 is a 2019 release with older cameras, which are notorious for “bleeding light into the night.” Tesla has since corrected this hardware issue in recent models. This indicates that Tesla’s software development team is focused on optimizing new models and dedicated to improving the performance of older vehicles.

Chuck Cook, another tester, also showed off the camera improvements in FSD 11.4.7 beta. While acknowledging that the locations and lighting in his comparison were slightly different, Cook noted that the additional processing was evident.

This is a nice software improvement for the 1.2MP cameras. The new cameras have a resolution of 5 megapixels, which means that advanced hardware combined with new software will produce crystal clear images. This makes sense. The car should have the best visual input, considering Tesla is going for “nothing but net” FSD, relying solely on what the car sees and not on how it is coded.

Elon Musk is merging two of his projects. Soon, you’ll be able to access the latest updates from his social media company, X, in your Tesla. The X owner and CEO of Tesla has announced plans to create an official X app for Tesla.

Curious question

One of the X users, Jenny, finds herself locked out of the gym and decides to hang out in her Tesla. she askedThis might be a dumb question. How do you watch X videos on a Tesla? It turns out there’s no such thing as a dumb question, because Musk replied, “We’re going to build an app that allows you to see the latest from the X on your car screen.”

This is about all the details we have, so let’s read between the lines. The app will likely be added to the Tesla Theater, and will appear alongside Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, YouTube, Twitch, and TikTok. It looks like Tesla’s X app will be more video-based than the mobile and desktop versions, which have plenty of text posts. Does anyone want to sit in their Tesla and read X posts? Maybe, but it’s more likely that people are looking for video content.

X evolution

Company X has come a long way since Musk bought it late last year. Besides removing censorship and adding subscriptions for content creators, the most significant change may be in video services. Premium X subscribers can now post longer videos – up to two hours in 1080p or three hours in 720p. Tucker Carlson has taken full advantage of this with his new show, available exclusively on X, that recently featured President Trump – a video that has more than 282 million views. Then, of course, there’s Elon’s video showing version 12 of fully autonomous driving.

Musk has long envisioned creating an “everything” app, and said the Twitter purchase accelerated that plan by three to five years. So, it makes sense that he would want to integrate the X into Tesla cars. Although there is no timeline, and Musk’s predictions aren’t always the most accurate, the rapid changes in X suggest that the implementation of Tesla-X may be closer than we think.