Tesla released its Autopilot software last week to North American Model S owners, but the company said that regulatory approvals were holding back the release in Europe. This morning CEO Elon Musk took to Twitter to say that the company is hoping for an European release on Friday October 23. expand full story

As is usual with Elon Musk’s Twitter habits, the Tesla CEO has come out this afternoon to tweet a series of interesting tidbits, including — most notably — a rebuttal of Consumer Reports’ recent report regarding Model S reliability issues. The CEO also mentioned that a big UI update is coming in version 7.1 of the cars’ software, announced plans to enter Middle Eastern markets as well as Mexico, and — of course — threw in a few jokes for good measure… expand full story

Almost ready to release highway autosteer and parallel autopark software update

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 31, 2015

According to a series of tweets from Tesla CEO Elon Musk at 5am ET this morning, the Model S vehicles released since the D event will soon gain the ability to steer on the highway and parallel auto park.

Final corner case is dealing with low contrast lane markings (faded white on grey concrete) while driving into the sun at dusk

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 31, 2015

This is a pretty big deal when combined with the current traffic aware cruise control. It means you can essentially put on “autopilot” when you get on the highway and don’t have to turn it off until it is time to recharge or get off the highway.  While I wouldn’t (and Tesla certainly doesn’t) recommend sleeping or getting out of your seat, one could theoretically pick up a newspaper, tablet or smartphone during this time (Oh, that’s against the law in most states currently).

At the very least, it is a great safety feature.

The parallel auto park will also be a very nice selling point for those who fear parallel parking. I’m sadly unfamiliar with this phobia as I can parallel park perfectly into any spot *crash*.

We might now know what Elon Musk teased about in his Tweet yesterday. The below shot was taken at a central California Airport and appears to show a P85D Model S (It doesn’t appear at first glance to be ‘shopped but you never know).

That Beechcraft in the background is registered in Mojave, CA. Full info on that plane: Aircraft Data N5717V, 1966 Beech 35-C33 C/N CD-1027. Metadata from the picture says it was snapped on Sept. 19th.

At this point it would seem that the new version could include AWD with Dual motors which would make it great for the upcoming Winter. We’ll know in a few short days.

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Elon Musk is teasing on Twitter the launch of a new Tesla product. At first blush Model X Crossover SUV built on the Model S chassis would be assumptions. I’m not sure what the D stands for but jokes aside it could have something to do with the garage or the naming of the product.

D could stand for ‘Driver Assist’ that showed up in recent forum leaks from new Teslas.

D could also stand for ‘deliveries’ of the Model X though the latest word is that the Model X isn’t supposed to start deliveries until Early 2015.

Or perhaps, D could be a new version of the Model S or the Model 3 which was slated to be announced at the N. American Motor Show in Detroit. “D” could stand for Dual Motors for AWD.

We’ve got a week to find out.

The Great American (Electric) Road-trip. pic.twitter.com/1dmXyBYbZ9

— Talulah Riley (@TalulahRiley) March 30, 2014

It appears Tesla CEO Elon Musk and family are on their 3200-mile “elec-trek” cross country with his 5 children. Actress/wife Talulah Riley tweeted the above yesterday signaling that the trip has started and included what looks like the California Desert taken from the passenger compartment of a Model S.

Musk had previously tweeted some specs for the trip but those tweets have been deleted so they may not be up to date info.

Just finalized the LA to NY family road trip route in Model S. 6 day, 3200 mile journey with only 9 hrs spent charging.— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 05, 2013

At 1.5 hrs/day, we will only ever need to charge when stopping anyway to eat or sightsee, never just for charging itself— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 05, 2013

I wonder if Musk has the special 400 Mile battery in his car?

Update: It would appear that Musk and family are further along than thought?

Update 2: It looks like Musk&Fam might have taken an even more posh ride to South Dakota. Musk’s Jet flew from LA to South Dakota yesterday:

Update 3: Tesla did confirm to me that Musk is indeed on his roadtrip. A spokesperson told me:

While we can confirm Elon is on his road trip, I cannot give any details about the journey, his timeline, or location. You may feel free to gather information from his personal twitter feed.

After Tesla lost in New Jersey, Nissan’s social Media Team Tweeted the “dickish” image above from the Leaf account according to ABGreen. They quickly realized the folly of their ways and deleted it and perhaps someone was straighend out (the door?) over the matter.

I mean we’re all in this together and rising waters raise all ships and all that, right? expand full story

Pictures above via Ryan! Tweets below chronicle the journey: expand full story

Intense effort underway at Tesla to develop a practical autopilot system for Model S

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 18, 2013

Engineers interested in working on autonomous driving, pls email autopilot@teslamotors.com. Team will report directly to me.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 18, 2013

Approach is 360 deg flush mounted tiny cameras + radar (prob not lidar). Lot of software & hardware level image processing.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 18, 2013

After plans for Autonomous driving were revealed this week via Tesla’s job site, Musk went on the offensive saying that yes they were working on a program and the team reports directly to him.

This is a stark (get it?) change from a previous stance where Musk said Tesla was taking a more wait and see approach. Perhaps Google’s plans to build their own car spurred him on? expand full story