Tesla is planning to remove a driver monitoring feature from Full Self-Driving (FSD) Beta, and it got the attention of regulators.
FSD Beta enables Tesla vehicles to drive autonomously to a destination entered in the car’s navigation system, but the driver needs to remain vigilant and ready to take control at all times.
Since the responsibility rests with the driver and not Tesla’s system, it is still considered a level-two driver-assist system, despite its name. It has been sort of a “two steps forward, one step back” type of program, as some updates have seen regressions in terms of driving capabilities.
Tesla has frequently been releasing new software updates to the FSD Beta program to improve performance with the goal of becoming safer than human drivers and adding more owners to it.
But it has yet to deliver on its promise to make a true self-driving system that can be approved by regulators.
For now, drivers are in charge, and Tesla monitors them to make sure they are paying attention and ready to take control.
There are two main ways Tesla monitors drivers: a front-facing camera tracking their attention and pressure detection on the steering wheel to try to keep their hands on it.
The latter has often been referred to as “steering wheel nag” since Tesla would send alerts to drivers to put their hands on the steering – nagging them to do so.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that the company would remove the steering wheel nag for the FSD Beta owners with over 10,000 miles in the program in a tweet last week.
He said that the update would come this month, but he didn’t elaborate on the implementation.
The tweet caught the attention of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), which confirmed that it contacted Tesla about the new initiative.
NHTSA has already been investigating Tesla’s FSD Beta and, specifically, its capacity to monitor driver attention.
Electrek’s Take
I don’t know if that’s a good idea, but I do know that the steering wheel nag is the worst part of Tesla’s driver monitoring system.
It doesn’t actually monitor whether or not the driver has their hands on the steering wheel. It can detect pressure being applied on the steering wheel, which can make the alerts sound, annoying since you can get them while your hands are on the steering wheel.
So it’s not the worst thing that it is going away for some Beta testers, but at the same time, I think there are bigger things to worry about with the FSD Beta program.
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Tesla has wiped off the 26,000 miles on the odometer of a Cybertruck in service, scratched the vehicle, and then returned it to the owner like nothing happened.
A Tesla Cybertruck owner in Oregon was quite surprised when he went to pick up his Cybertruck, which was in service to install a new lightbar, fix some panel gaps, and figure out an ABS alert that wouldn’t go away.
According to a thread on the Cybertruck Owners Club, Tesla had wiped the odometer clean on the Foundation Series ‘Cyberbeast’, which had over 26,000 miles on it.
The owner shared a video of the Cybertruck’s odometer going from 0 to 1 mile for the second time:
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The odometer on the vehicle was wiped and both the app and service many also showed the same mileage.
The owner shared a screenshot of the app after 15 miles:
He went to the online forum for advice:
Anyone else have their odometer Thanos-snapped after a controller swap? Can Tesla unsnap it or am I forever “True Mileage Unknown”?
It was not the only surprise from this service visit for this Cybertruck owner.
The owner was not satisfied with the lightbar installation, which he claims has a half-inch gap on the passenger side while it is flush on the driver side. He wrote:
It’s basically smiling sideways at everyone.
It’s also unclear why Tesla was messing with the vehicle’s tailgate, but it ended up having a bolt moving around it, causing scratches and Tesla left a bolt unbolted:
At this point, the truck was returned with more problems than it had when it entered service.
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Ray Dalio, founder of Bridgewater Associates LP, speaks during the Greenwich Economic Forum in Greenwich, Connecticut, US, on Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2023.
Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Bridgewater Associates founder and billionaire Ray Dalio warned Monday that Moody’s downgrade of the U.S. sovereign credit rating understates the threat to U.S. Treasuries, saying the credit agency isn’t taking into account the risk of the federal government simply printing money to pay its debt.
“You should know that credit ratings understate credit risks because they only rate the risk of the government not paying its debt,” Dalio said in a post on social media platform X.
“They don’t include the greater risk that the countries in debt will print money to pay their debts thus causing holders of the bonds to suffer losses from the decreased value of the money they’re getting (rather than from the decreased quantity of money they’re getting),” the Bridgewater founder said.
Moody’s on Friday cut the U.S. credit rating one notch to Aa1 from Aaa, citing the federal government’s ballooning budget deficit and soaring interst payments on the debt. It was the last of the three major credit agencies to downgrade the U.S. from the highest possible rating.
U.S. stocks fell on Monday as the 30-year Treasury bond yield jumped to 4.995% and the 10-year note yield climbed to 4.521% in response to Moody’s downgrade.
“Said differently, for those who care about the value of their money, the risks for U.S. government debt are greater than the rating agencies are conveying,” Dalio said.
Bridgewater’s assets under management dropped 18% in 2024 to some $92 billion, Reuters reported in March, down from a recent peak of $150 billion in 2021.
Nissan is on the brink of collapsing. After the Honda deal fell through, it looks like another Japanese automaker is tossing it a lifeline. As Nissan struggles to stay afloat, Toyota is emerging as a potential “backer” in a new tie-up.
Are Toyota and Nissan partnering?
“If we don’t take action now, the situation will only get worse,” Nissan’s President, Ivan Espinosa, said during a press conference on May 13.
Facing falling sales, ballooning debt, and slumping profits, Nissan introduced a new recovery plan last week, “Re:Nissan.” The struggling automaker aims to cut costs by 250 billion yen to return to profitability by FY 2026.
As part of its efforts to turn the business around, Nissan will cut 20,000 jobs by FY2027. It’s also abandoning plans to build a new EV battery facility in Japan. Seven other plants will be closed, including one in Thailand and two in Japan.
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After its planned EV merger with Honda fell through in February, rumours surfaced that Nissan was scrambling to find another partner.
(Source: Nissan)
According to a new report from Japan’s MainiChi, a Toyota executive recently reached out to Nissan about a potential partnership. The tie-up could involve Toyota acting as Nissan’s “backer” to support it while it restructures.
Nissan and Toyota both unveiled a wave of new electric vehicles set to roll out over the next few years. The upgraded Nissan LEAF EV will arrive in the US and Canada later this year with more range, an NACS port, and a new crossover style. It will be one of ten new Nissan or Infiniti models to arrive by 2027.
Nissan’s upcoming lineup for the US, including the new LEAF EV and “Adventure Focused” SUV (Source: Nissan)
In Europe, Nissan will launch the next-gen LEAF later this year, followed by the new Micra EV and Qashqai electric crossover. In 2026, the new Nissan Juke EV will join the lineup.
Nissan’s lineup for Europe. From left to right: The new Nissan Qashqai, LEAF, and Micra EV (Source: Nissan)
Meanwhile, Toyota’s upgraded bZ electric SUV (formerly the “bZ4X”) will arrive at US dealerships in the second half of 2025.
Toyota already has a stake in several Japanese automakers, including Subaru (20%), Mazda (5.1%), Suzuki (4.6%), and Isuzu (5.9%), so backing Nissan wouldn’t come as a shock.
Espinosa said Nissan was open to new partnerships. Nissan’s chief said the company will continue collaborating with others, including Mitsubishi, which will use the upcoming LEAF as the basis for its new EV for North America.
Japanese carmakers have been notoriously slow in shifting to all-electric vehicles, which is now costing them in key overseas markets like Southeast Asia, Central and South America, and others.
Chinese EV leaders, like BYD, are quickly expanding overseas to drive growth this year. Next year, it will launch its first kei car (see the first spy shots), or mini EV, which is already being called “a huge threat” to Japan.
Pooling resources and teaming up may be the best (or only) option at this point. Can Toyota help Nissan turn things around? Or will it be too little, too late? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
Check back soon for details. This is a developing story. We’ll keep you updated with the latest.
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