Rad Power Bikes has launched an eight-day flash sale that is taking up to $400 off two particular e-bike models. The greatest of the two discounts is on the RadWagon 4 Cargo e-bike for $1,599 shipped. Down from its $1,999 price tag, we’ve seen this model go for less only two times before – once last summer when costs dropped to $1,399 and four years ago during its initial pre-order and launch sales where prices were seen dropping to $1,299 in special promotions. Today’s deal comes in as a 20% markdown off the going rate, matching our previous mentions from Black Friday and Christmas sales to land at the third-lowest price we have tracked and the second-lowest since its launch.
The RadWagon 4 Cargo e-bike comes equipped with a 750W geared hub motor and a 672Wh capacity battery that allows it to reach top speeds of 20 MPH and travel for up to 45+ miles on a single charge, depending on conditions. It features five levels of pedal assistance with a 12-magnet cadence sensor, as well as custom 22-inch by 3-inch tires, fenders for both tires, a water-resistant wiring harness, a 200-lumen headlight, an integrated taillight with brake light functionality, an integrated rear storage rack, and a backlit LCD display that gives you a battery level indicator, speedometer, odometer, trip odometer, pedal assist level, wattmeter, and a USB port to charge your devices.
The flash sale is also discounting the RadExpand 5 Folding e-bike for $1,499, down from $1,649. It comes equipped with the same motor and battery setup as the above model that provides an identical max speed and travel range. It features four levels of low-profile cadence sensing pedal assist, as well as a water-resistant wiring harness, a standard LED headlight, an integrated taillight with a brake light indicator functionality, an integrated rear storage rack, fenders for both tires, and a simple LED display that provides pedal assist controls and battery charge levels. Its main claim to fame amongst Rad Power’s e-bikes is its space-saving folding frame, with the mechanism located at its center for fast and easy storage or transport when it’s not in use.
Tesla Wall Connector Level 2 EV Charger hits $450 in rare discount
Amazon is offering the Tesla Wall Connector Level 2 EV Charger for $450 shipped. Down from its usual $475 price tag, this is a rare opportunity to save money on this device. It typically rides along its MSRP with any discounts that occur being minor trickles in price by $5 to $15 until particular sales events like Black Friday brings costs down slightly further. Today’s deal comes in as a $25 markdown off the going rate and lands as the third-lowest price we have tracked – $25 above the all-time low.
This EV charger employs a customizable output up to 48A of power that can be adjusted during either indoor or outdoor installation. It comes compatible with all Tesla models and when set at its maximum amperage, you’ll get up to 44 miles of travel range per hour of charging. By connecting it to a local Wi-Fi network, over-the-air firmware updates can be enabled for continual self-improvements as well as remote access control – which you can also get through the Tesla app. Head below to learn more.
Pit Boss Navigator 550 Wood Pellet Grill falls to $200 low
Best Buy is offering the Pit Boss Navigator 550 Wood Pellet Grill with a grill cover for $199.99 shipped. Down from $500, with a $749 MSRP, it spent the first half of 2023 at much higher listing prices before summer brought costs down to their new rates. It also didn’t receive many discounts during the year, having been largely left out of most sales events. Today’s deal comes in as a massive 60% markdown off the going rate and lands as a new all-time low. It even beats Pit Boss’ website where it is still listed at its MSRP.
No gas or propane needed for this grill, which utilizes wood pellets that produce lower emissions than even charcoal. It offers 8-in-1 cooking versatility, allowing you to smoke, bake, braise, roast, grill, barbecue, char-grill and sear all in one convenient machine. You’ll have total control over its settings, particularly through its dial-in digital control board with an LED read-out that offers a temperature range of 180 degrees to 500 degrees Fahrenheit and its electric ignition paired with a fan-forced air accelerator to maintain a clear flame throughout cooking. You can even go full-on caveman style and turn up the heat with the Flame Broiler lever that allows for direct flame searing up to 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit. Its 542-square inches of cooking space can handle your meals for the whole family – a capacity of approximately 26 burgers at once, for example. Head below to learn more.
The savings this week are also continuing to a collection of other markdowns. To the same tune as the offers above, these all help you take a more energy-conscious approach to your routine. Winter means you can lock in even better off-season price cuts on electric tools for the lawn while saving on EVs and tons of other gear.
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Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) v14, its first major update in a year, disappoints as data points to a lower increase in miles between disengagements than expected.
The system also features new hallucinations, brake stabbing, and excessive speeding.
The update has been highly anticipated for several reasons.
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First off, it has been a year since Tesla released any significant FSD update to customers, as it focused on its internal robotaxi fleet in Austin. The update is believed to feature improvements developed through Tesla’s robotaxi fleet, which requires supervising like its consumer FSD.
Secondly, CEO Elon Musk has claimed that Tesla still plans for “Supervised Full Self-Driving” to become unsupervised by the end of the year in consumer vehicles. For that to happen, we needed to see a massive improvement from v13 to v14.
As I previously reported, I anticipated an improvement in miles between critical disengagements from ~400 miles in v13 to ~800 to 1,200 miles in v14. It would be a significant improvement, but still way short of what’s needed to make FSD unsupervised.
Tesla notoriously doesn’t release any data about its FSD program. Musk has literally told people to rely on anecdotal experiences posted on social media to gauge progress.
Fortunately, there’s a crowdsourced dataset that gives us some data to track progress with miles between critical disengagement. It’s far from perfect, but it is literally the best data available, and Musk himself has shared the dataset in the past – albeit while misrepresenting it.
In the last week, Tesla started pushing the FSD v14 update (now v14.1.4) to more owners – resulting in more crowdsourced data and anecdotal evidence.
With now over 4,000 miles of FSD v14 data, miles between critical disengagement sits about 732 miles – below the lower end of our expectations:
Tesla would need to be closer to 10,000 miles between critical disengagements to allow unsupervised operation, and even then, it would likely be in geo-fenced areas with speed limitations.
This is unlikely to happen by the end of the year, as Musk predicted, as FSD v14 appears to have some significant issues still.
First off, many FSD v14 drivers are reporting that the update is having problems with hallucinations where the car decides to stop on the side of the road seemingly randomly:
I had a great first day with FSD v14.1.4! Multiple hands-free, point-to-point rides with no disengagements. A few “brake stabbing” events were slightly annoying but not dangerous.
It does seem like FSD v14 sometimes misinterprets other vehicles’ turn signals as emergency vehicle lights and pulls over.
In some cases, FSD v14 has been known to completely disable FSD features inside vehicles:
V14 is getting really annoying. Summon continued to fail with an error condition. Now in the car and FSD just isn’t functional. I don’t get it. Come on, Tesla. My brother got the same issue yesterday where his facia camera was nonfunctional and went black, obviously disabling FSD… pic.twitter.com/D8H8DY83sC
Many FSD v14 drivers have also reported an increase in “brake stabbing”, where the vehicle seems to hesitate and frantically applies the brakes and releases them – resulting in a stabbing motion.
Now, I don’t want to hear anything about my use of anecdotal evidence and crowdsourced data. That’s literally the best data available for FSD.
Unlike virtually all other companies developing self-driving technology, Tesla refuses to release any.
If it were to release some data, I’d be happy to use it.
One thing is clear from v14 so far: unsupervised FSD in consumer vehicles is not happening in any meaningful way this year.
I expect significant improvements in upcoming FSD v14 point updates. Maybe enough to get it to my previous expectations of ~800 to 1,200 miles between disengagements, but that’s about it.
Finally, while I generally don’t count on NHTSA to enforce any rule in any significant way when it comes to Tesla’s “Full Self-Driving” effort, I think they might actually do something about “Mad Max.”
This video on Instagram has 4.5 million views, and it shows extremely dangerous driving behavior at up to 90 mph (145 km/h)
I think the authorities will have to intervene here, because it makes no sense for an unproven autonomous driving system to be able to operate under those parameters.
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Toyota’s best-selling car is finally going electric. The Corolla EV looks more like a Porsche or BMW than the Toyota vehicles on the road today, but that’s just the start.
The Toyota Corolla is evolving into a rad-looking EV
After revealing the Corolla Concept for the first time at the Japan Mobility Show on Tuesday, Toyota’s CEO, Koji Sato, said the compact car has always been “a car for everyone.”
Since it hit the market over 50 years ago, Toyota has sold well over 50 million Corollas. The Corolla even surpassed the VW Beetle in the 90s to become the world’s best-selling vehicle. Like the Prius, Toyota’s compact car lured in buyers with an affordable price and a reputation as a reliable daily driver.
Although it’s still a top-seller, the Corolla has lost some of its charm as more advanced, stylish, and efficient electric cars hit the market.
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Toyota looks to change that with a drastic overhaul that takes the Corolla to the next level. To stay relevant, Sato asked the crowd at the event, “How should the Corolla evolve?”
Toyota CEO Koji Sato reveals the Corolla Concept at the Japan Mobility Show (Source: Toyota)
We all want to drive a car that looks cool, but there’s much more to it nowadays. Buyers are increasingly seeking more efficient vehicles with the latest software, connectivity technology, and other features.
“Whether it’s a battery EV, plug-in hybrid, hybrid, or internal combustion engine vehicle―whatever the power source―let’s make good-looking cars that everyone will want to drive!” Toyota’s CEO said, adding the car is “packed with inventions aimed at making that a reality.”
Although Toyota didn’t confirm the concept was headed for production, the next-gen Corolla is expected to arrive with a similar style.
The concept still features Toyota’s newest design elements, like the “hammerhead” front end, but with a bit more of a futuristic feel.
You can barely tell the concept is a Corolla, aside from the massive COROLLA badging on the rear. Toyota didn’t reveal any powertrain details, but the charge port and closed-off grille suggest it’s an EV.
The next-gen Toyota Corolla is expected to be offered as an EV, a plug-in hybrid, a hybrid, and, likely, still an ICE variant.
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Three months after Uber, Lucid Motors, and Nuro announced a partnership that would enable Gravity SUV robotaxis, the rideshare network has shared where the public will first be able to hail one. Spoiler alert, it’s easy to guess if you give it half a thought.
As we reported in July, Uber Technologies committed to a $300 million investment in Lucid Group (parent company of American EV automaker Lucid Motors), to deploy at least 20,000 Lucid vehicles as robotaxis over the next six years.
Those Lucid vehicles, which will consist of the automaker’s flagship Gravity SUV to begin, will hit public roads equipped with a Level 4 autonomous system called Nuro Driver. Nuro, the third partner in this equation, is a robotics company specializing in zero-occupant delivery vehicles, which garnered an existing partnership with Uber Eats as well as a “hefty” (yet undisclosed) investment from Uber Technologies.
Last month, Lucid delivered its first Gravity SUV to Nuro to begin the retrofitting process of the Nuro Driver system to support Uber’s hopes for a luxe robotaxi fleet. While the partners continue to work toward building an exciting new fleet of Lucid Gravity Robotaxis, Uber has shared the location where they will first go into service… Casper, Wyoming.
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Just kidding!
It’s the San Francisco Bay Area, of course.
Lucid Gravity SUV fitted with Nuro’s self-driving tech (Source: Lucid)
Uber to deploy Lucid Gravity EVs in Bay Area in 2026
Today’s update from Uber expands upon the ongoing partnership with Lucid Group and Nuro. According to the companies, the San Francisco Bay Area will be the first market where riders will see this next-generation autonomous robotaxi program in operation. That milestone is expected sometime in 2026.
Uber has shared that it has been updating policymakers and regulators at every level on the progress of its exclusive Lucid Robotaxis and continues to meet the operational requirements. Notably, Uber has shared that on-road development with the Lucid Gravity robotaxi engineering fleet is already underway in the Bay Area.
Furthermore, Nuro and Lucid intend to be operating over 100 Gravity robotaxis as part of the test fleet “in the coming months.” Lucid interim CEO, Marc Winterhoff, spoke about today’s announcement:
Lucid has always celebrated its California roots, and we’re thrilled to make the San Francisco Bay Area the first market for our new robotaxi on the Uber platform, powered by the Nuro Driver. Beginning next year, riders will experience a level of convenience, safety, and comfort unlike anything else on the road. We can’t wait to bring this service to life and expand it to communities across the country.
To build this fleet of Uber-exclusive robotaxis, the required hardware will be integrated into Lucid Gravity SUVS while they are still on Lucid’s assembly line in Arizona. Those builds will then be integrated with Nuro’s proprietary software when Uber officially commissions them.
All eyes on 2026 as we now know that residents around the Bay Area will be able to hail a driverless Lucid Gravity through the Uber platform. I’m very much looking forward to seeing this fleet in action.
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