Daily Archives: July 6, 2018
Tesla Model 3 Starts Offering “Summon” Feature
#model3 $TSLA @tesla @elonmusk amazing pic.twitter.com/W6UPQjCBjy
— 28_delays_later (@28delayslater) July 1, 2018
The Tesla Model S and the Model X have been enjoying the self-parking Summon feature for quite some time now. But finally, it has arrived in the Tesla Model 3, as announced by the company in a tweet.
Tesla said on Twitter, “Summon [is] now available in the Model 3.”
Apparently, news and press releases are not the venues where we’re going to learn new updates about Tesla. Everything’s on Twitter these days, so better stick with following Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
The Summon feature allows cars to park autonomously without anyone in the car. No one is also remotely controlling the car. This is a huge help when you need to park the car in a very tight space and very close to a wall or a pillar. Getting out of the car is not a problem anymore since you could simply stand and watch your car park itself. Neat, right?
If programmed to do so, the system can even open and close the garage door as it parks and powers down. It can be called out by the owner, too, making it far easier for the driver to get in the car after it has been parked in a tight space.
The tweet was a response to a video posted by Twitter handle @28delayslater, showing the Model 3 parking itself in a tight space in a home garage. The garage door also closed behind it. Mr. Musk replied to the video tweet, saying “Note, no one is in the car or controlling remotely. [The] Car is driving entirely by itself.”
Similar with other Tesla models, the Model 3 can add new features and upgrade existing ones through over-the-air software. Yes, that’s right. There’s no need to bring the car to a dealer and have the system installed. All you need is a pretty strong connection and you’re good to go. Interestingly, this move of downloading software over the air is being adopted by other automakers.
EPA Chief Scott Pruitt Steps Down
US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) chief Scott Pruitt, who came under fire earlier for backing President Donald Trump’s decision to lower the standards for vehicle emissions requirements, resigned on Thursday because of an ethics scandal.
Pruitt is favored by the President for rolling back former President Barack Obama’s strict regulations on vehicle emissions. However, he is currently being investigated for travel and security expenses, as well as an expensive condominium arrangement.
President Trump said on Twitter that he has accepted Pruitt’s resignation and that EPA Deputy Administrator Andrew Wheeler will become acting chief of the agency starting on Monday.
Trump said that “Within the Agency[,] Scott has done an outstanding job, and I will always be thankful to him for this.”
Pruitt, a former Oklahoma attorney general, is facing dozens of investigations by the EPA inspector general, the Congress, and the White House. Reports pointed out to his questionable spending on first-class plane tickets, use of security detail, utilization of his office for favors, and connections with lobbyists and industry groups.
A separate report by The Washington Post even said that the former EPA chief pushed to find his wife a well-paying job with another politically-connected group.
The EPA’s inspector general is also being asked to look into reports that Pruitt falsified his official schedule “to hide or remove” records of his meetings and discussions with industry representatives. A CNN interview with US Representatives Don Beyer and Ted Lieu, citing remarks by Kevin Chmielewski, Pruitt’s former deputy chief of staff, said that Pruitt held routine meetings to “scrub, alter or remove from Pruitt’s official calendar numerous records because they might ‘look bad.'”
The representatives said that the allegations are being supported by an inspection of the former EPA chief’s official calendar.
Pruitt became famous for revising the Obama administration’s tighter standards on the model year 2022 to 2025 vehicles.
2019 Peugeot 208 GTi Hot Hatch To Come In Pure EV Form
We’ve been pretty excited with the 2019 Peugeot 208 GTi hot hatch when it was introduced, but it looks like there’s another reason to party. According to the French automaker, it is lining up a pure electric form of the 208 GTi hot hatch. The electric vehicle (EV) variant will sit alongside the petrol version when both are introduced at next spring’s Geneva Motor Show.
The arrival of an EV form will mean Peugeot will switch to a new architecture, preferably the Common Modular Platform or CMP, which offers much-improved efficiency, cheaper build costs and, crucially, the scope for pure-electric variants.
This is not really a surprise since we’re expecting that an EV form will come. Earlier, Peugeot announced that the next 208 will arrive in two versions: the CMP (also known as the EMP1) and the e-CMP. However, what’s surprising to us is the fact that the electric 208 will also be offered as a GTi.
Peugeot head Jean-Pierre Imparato spoke to Auto Express and said that full details of the cars will be revealed in March, just in time for the show in Switzerland. He added that each time the brand comes up with a new model, it will be offered in an electrified form, so it will still be up to the buyers to choose the powertrain they want.
A pure EV form is being offered in the GTi version because Imparato does not want “to generate [a] difference between EV and combustion-engined models.” Aside from this tidbit, Peugeot is also working on manufacturing and developing high-performance vehicles with electrified powertrains.
Just last year, it has been revealed that the French company is developing a 300-bhp hybrid version of the 3008. There are also other concepts, though the most notable is the 308 R Hybrid.
Photos via Auto Express