Tesla: New Model 3 Option, VIP Treatment for Elon’s FSD, Robotaxi Prototype Delay? – CleanTechnica

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There are a few new Tesla stories this week, and I’m rolling them all together here into a Tesla news sandwich for you. There will probably be another Tesla story pop up before I get this published. If so, we’ll get that one tonight or this weekend.

New Tesla Model 3 Long Range

This morning, Tesla sent out an email to people on its email list (like me) to let us know there’s a new Model 3 option on the market. That’s the Model 3 Long Range with rear-wheel drive (RWD). Previously, you could buy a Model 3 Long Range with all-wheel drive (AWD) or a Model 3 (not Long Range) RWD.

Back when the Tesla Model 3 was quite new to the market, in 2018, there was a long-range RWD option, and it was quite popular, but it didn’t last long and Tesla separated the higher-cost Model 3 from the lower-cost Model 3 more distinctly — presumably, to squeeze more profits out of people wanting more range. (Interestingly, three of our writers got that original Model 3 Long Range RWD.)

As I wrote a couple days ago, Tesla seems to be facing consumer demand challenges in the US, Europe, and China. The company keeps trying to find new methods of stimulating more demand — offering Full Self Driving (FSD) transfers to new vehicles, cutting prices, offering artificially low interest rates, etc. — and this seems like another attempt to stir up more demand, or at least shake some potential buyers off the fence and into their nearest Tesla delivery center.

What is actually being offered in this case? “Travel up to 363 miles (EPA est.) on a single charge and enjoy the performance and handling of our rear-wheel drive powertrain for longer,” Tesla writes. “Model 3 Long Range Rear-Wheel Drive is here, starting at $29,990* after federal tax credit and estimated gas savings.” That was the full pitch in the email.

It’s truly a compelling offer, so I assume it will indeed stir up a few more sales. Get one while they’re hot!

Tesla Robotaxi Reveal Reportedly Delayed

It’s been rumored or leaked that Tesla is going to delay its robotaxi reveal event for sometime in October rather than August 8. Reportedly, Tesla engineers need more time to both build and test prototypes of the robotaxi.

Assuming this is true (and we’ll find out soon), it confirms some things I and many others assumed. First of all, it seems to confirm that this reveal event is for a robotaxi vehicle concept, something not at all ready to hit the streets and start operating in a city near you. For some reason, I saw a lot of people thinking that the 8/8 event would launch commercial Tesla robotaxi service somewhere. That seemed very unlikely, and it seems much more unlikely now.

Of course, it also tells us that Elon Musk’s estimate for when a robotaxi prototype could be ready was overly optimistic, and one even has to wonder if it wasn’t a rush announcement without much or any prep actually leading to it. Was it just a sudden announcement to distract from dropping vehicle sales at Tesla? Was it based on rapid progress in FSD and confidence that now was the time to finalize a vehicle design for robotaxi service? Maybe we’ll get a report on that at some point.

Elon Musk’s Car & YouTubers Prioritized for Tesla FSD Improvements?

Another report out this week reveals that Elon Musk’s car and certain “VIP” FSD testers on YouTube were getting preferential treatment for FSD evaluation, and thus also improvements that would be visible on their regular driving routes. “BI spoke with over a dozen current and former Tesla employees, all but one who spoke on condition of anonymity, who said images and video clips from Musk’s Teslas received meticulous scrutiny, while data from high-profile drivers like YouTubers received ‘VIP’ treatment in identifying and addressing issues with the Full Self-Driving software. The result is that Tesla’s Autopilot and FSD software may better navigate routes taken by Musk and other high-profile drivers, making their rides smoother and more straightforward.”

I didn’t even have to get to that part before I realized what the story must be about. When I saw the headline in a team writer chat, I wrote, “I haven’t read the article yet, but I gather it’s saying that Elon’s car gets special treatment? That’s been speculated or was even revealed a couple years ago. And it’s been one of the only things that has explained to me him raving about how much better it’s gotten when I haven’t seen such progress.” And regarding certain VIP YouTubers and X users getting preferential attention as well, I added, “it’s why I stopped paying attention to what others were saying about it and started just using it myself before I believed anything.” For a long time, I had seen tons of hype on social media about how much better FSD had gotten, but then when I’d use it, it would still behave horribly. At some point, I just decided it made no sense to follow what these other FSD users were saying because it didn’t match up with my reality.

However, version 12 was the exception. With version 12, FSD did improve by leaps and bounds and got much more natural in its driving behavior. It still runs into problems, but it’s far, far better than it was previously.

I do now wonder if Elon’s car still gets preferential attention and treatment, and if prominent social media users also still get “VIP” treatment.

However, one of the bigger issues with this report, assuming it’s all true, is that optimizing FSD for prominent YouTubers could be a way of manipulating public opinion about FSD. Many have gone so far as to say that it’s a way of defrauding customers and investors. I don’t really find myself in that camp, though. I think that aside from looking at an enormous amount of data and trying to sift through it, while avoiding the noise, Elon Musk or others on the FSD team pointed the broader team to good, trustworthy FSD testers among the public who they could learn from and whose experiences could be used to improve the technology. Or maybe the truth is somewhere in between and it’s some mixture of the pessimistic and optimistic views of this news. Let us know what you think and why.