If you’re reading this article, you know Tesla. You may even be reading this from inside your Model 3 as it’s docked at a Supercharger. As we desperately scramble away from the ceaseless test of will that was 2020, we look toward to the new year with newfound hope and optimism. 2021 is a big year for everyone and everything, including electric vehicles. To help keep you in the know for the future, here are several of the best Tesla alternatives and where they currently lie on their journey up the EV ladder.

Tesla lost a case in a German court today over how the company advertises its Autopilot and Full Self-Driving, which the court judged “misleading.”
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Concrete efforts to slow down electric vehicle adoption are taking form. Last week, we reported on the oil and biofuel industries forming an alliance to lobby against electric vehicle incentives and now the same industries are being linked to other efforts to undermine EVs.

A new report links the fossil fuel industry to a series of new legislations being introduced in several states in order to impose fees on electric vehicles.
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In this week’s top stories: Tesla 2nd-gen Autopilot could reduce crash rate by 90%, Model S 100D update, hints at upcoming EVs from Hyundai, Audi, and VW, and much more.

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In this week’s top stories: Tesla’s ‘Model 3 part 2’ announcement brings fully self-driving hardware to all its production cars, Tesla/SolarCity announces new Gigafactory-like deals with Panasonic, and we tell you about the largest solar power plant in the world being proposed in Nevada. 
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Once again our readers guessed it right (well 40% of you). You said that today’s announcement would be about Autopilot 2.0/Tesla Vision and you were right. Though Tesla seems to be moving away from the name ‘Autopilot’ since it’s going full autonomous.

The company announced tonight its second generation autonomous driving hardware and confirmed that it is in all vehicle off the assembly line right now. CEO Elon Musk said that will enable full level 5 autonomy.

It’s available in the Model S and X now going forward, and every Model 3 will be equipped with the new hardware suite – hence why Musk referred to the announcement as the ‘Model 3 part 2’, but that’s the extent of the information released today about the upcoming $35,000 all-electric vehicle.

Though there’s plenty to learn about Tesla’s new autonomous hardware suite.

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Tesla CEO Elon Musk took to Twitter this afternoon to announce an unexpected product launch event on October 17th, just a week away. He further noted that the expected Tesla/SolarCity announcement, which he previously hoped to hold at the end of the month, would indeed be on October 28th…
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The limits of the Autopilot under its current suite of sensors have been debated for a while, especially since Tesla has been discussing an upcoming second-generation hardware for the program to allow fully autonomous driving.

But last night, Elon Musk announced that “certainly moderate and maybe big advances” are possible with Tesla’s current sensors.
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The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) released a statement last week confirming that it will investigate the recent Tesla Model X rollover accident in Pennsylvania after the driver claimed that the Autopilot was activated during the crash.

Last week, Tesla said that they couldn’t access the data logs remotely because of the damage on the vehicle, but a spokesperson also said that they “have no reason to believe that Autopilot had anything to do with this accident”.
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Earlier this week, Germany’s Federal Office for Motor Vehicles (KBA) made Tesla owners nervous in Europe after it said that it wouldn’t approve a feature on the roads if it is described as ‘Beta’ following the debate over the use of the word to describe Tesla’s Autopilot features.

But Tesla gained European approval for the Autopilot system in the Netherlands, not in Germany, and the authority in the country is now saying that “no safety concerns” were found in the system, but they will be following the NHTSA evaluation in the US.
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After the Consumer Watchdog calling for the Tesla to disable the Autopilot following the recent fatal Model S crash while the system was activated, now the respected Consumer Reports magazine is weighing in and also asking Tesla to walk back some of the Autopilot features.

Tesla already responded to the publication saying that they are taking decisions based on “real-world data, not speculation by media”.
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Tesla is reportedly being investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over a potential securities law breach regarding the disclosure of the fatal Model S crash in Florida while the driver was using the Autopilot. The investigation is believed to be aiming to determine if the news of the fatal crash was a material information during the $2.3 billion secondary offering announced on May 18, just a week after Tesla learned of the crash.

The company confirmed the accident on June 30, when the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced that it will probe the Autopilot system over the accident.

Former SEC chairman Harvey Pitt commented on the situation earlier this week and gave some insights into what the SEC could be looking to investigate and what could be the consequences for Tesla.
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Sterling Anderson, Tesla’s Director of Autopilot Programs, made a rare comment on the recent and evolving situation around his project at the automaker. He said that it’s been “a dark couple of months” for his team after the death of Joshua Brown, the Model S owner involved in an accident in Florida while driving on Autopilot, and the subsequent media coverage of the tragic event.
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Following the news of the fatal crash in a Model S in May, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) implied that Tesla could be planning to disable the Autopilot when drivers are not using it properly, but now Elon Musk gave a quick interview to the publication (Paywall) and says that the company has no plan to disable the Autopilot.
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The Wall Street Journal reported today after market close that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is in the early stage of investigating Tesla (TSLA) over a potential securities law breach regarding the disclosure of the fatal Model S crash in Florida while the driver was using the Autopilot.
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Over the weekend, Tesla CEO Elon Musk clarified the automaker’s use of the word ‘Beta’ in reference to the Autopilot system after Germany’s Federal Office for Motor Vehicles (KBA) said that it wouldn’t approve a feature on German roads if it is described as ‘Beta’. The agency said that the ‘beta-phase’ could mean ‘an incomplete status of the software’.

Elon Musk claimed that the word “beta” is not used in the “standard sense” of the word, but to make sure drivers “don’t get comfortable” with the system.
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Ever since the very publicized fatal Florida accident in a Model S while the Autopilot was activated, Tesla’s semi-autonomous driver assist system has been getting its reputation tarnished in the media. Autopilot took blame for a few subsequent incidents, despite nothing currently pointing to the system being the cause of any of the accidents – though NHTSA is now probing the Autopilot over two of them.

Now we learn of yet another crash where the Autopilot was reportedly at play. A Tesla Model X crashed in Montana Saturday night resulting in the SUV driving through a guardrail and going off the road. The driver blames the Autopilot but Tesla has yet to chime in…
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There’s a new small detail but important development in the investigation of the fatal Tesla Model S crash while the Autopilot system was activated. We now learn that the Florida Highway Patrol confirmed that both a laptop and DVD player were found in the car, but that neither were running when found at the scene.
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A Tesla Model S with a LIDAR sensor mounted on the roof has been spotted around the automaker’s headquarters in Palo Alto last week. Tesla is set to soon release its next generation sensor suite for the Autopilot program, but so far, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has made it clear that a lidar sensor is not in the company’s plans.

Maybe things have changed, but it’s unlikely.
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The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) released a statement confirming that it will investigate the recent Tesla Model X rollover accident in PA “to determine whether automated functions were in use at the time of the crash.”

Tesla also updated an earlier statement to clarify its review of the accident citing very little information about the event due to a lack of contact with the driver.
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Yesterday, we reported on a strange article in which Fortune Magazine tried to make the case that Tesla should have disclosed the fatal Model S accident on Autopilot before raising capital through a secondary offering a few weeks after the fact. The publication claims that the accident was material to Tesla’s stock and therefore, it should have been announced when the company learned of the event and not when NHTSA decided it would launch a preliminary evaluation on June 30.

Elon Musk argued against it being material to Tesla’s valuation in an email to Fortune, but now the publication is somehow trying to use a boilerplate statement from Tesla to prove that Musk and the company previously considered the accident a material event, which is not necessarily the case.
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Update: NHTSA now probing Tesla Model X rollover accident in PA for possible Autopilot involvement, Tesla updates its statement

Yesterday we reported on an accident on the Pennsylvania Turnpike where a Tesla Model X hit a guard rail, the concrete median and then rollover. The two occupants came out alive and after the fact, the police said that the driver claimed that the Autopilot was activated when the vehicle crashed.

Tesla has now reviewed the logs and says that there’s “no data to suggest that Autopilot was engaged at the time of the incident.”
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Update: Tesla Model X rollover accident in PA: Tesla says ‘no data to suggest that Autopilot was engaged’

Just a few days after the first fatality in a Model S accident while the Tesla Autopilot was activated came to light, we now learn of another severe Tesla crash while the vehicle was allegedly on Autopilot, but this time with a Model X and fortunately everyone survived.

The crashed happened last Friday (July 1) on the Pennsylvania Turnpike near the Bedford exit, about 107 miles east of Pittsburgh. The Model X hit a guard rail and then the concrete median before rolling over and coming to a rest in the middle lane. The driver, Albert Scaglione, told the police that the Autopilot was activated at the time of the accident.
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