Tesla restarts Fremont production under Elon Musk orders, ‘If anyone is arrested, I ask that it only be me’

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has confirmed that vehicle production at the Fremont factory has resumed today despite orders from Alameda County health officials.

Musk has opted to take a bold stance by directly going against the orders of Alameda County health officials, though he emphasized in his tweet that he is responsible for any repercussions that may result from the Fremont factory’s reopening today. Musk added that if an arrest were to be made due to the factory’s reopening, he is the only one that should be apprehended.

“Tesla is restarting production today against Alameda County rules. I will be on the line with everyone else. If anyone is arrested, I ask that it only be me,” Musk wrote.

Prior to Musk’s tweet, reports emerged stating that Tesla’s Fremont factory is already up and running. The factory’s parking lot appears to be nearly full. Reporters in the area noted that the number of vehicles on the plant’s lot is comparable to that of a regular shift.

CBS Bay Area affiliate KPIX reported that shift workers were seen funneling in and out of the building with personal protective equipment. Tesla has utilized the same technique at its production facility in Shanghai, China, which has been fully operational since February 10.

Another Bay Area news station, Fox affiliate KTVU, reported the lot was full of cars by the time the sun rose over Northern California on Monday. An employee called into the news station on Monday morning and stated he had been at work from 6 P.M. Sunday until 6 A.M. Monday.

Late last week, Tesla CEO Elon Musk sent an email to Fremont employees stating the company would begin production at the plant during the evening hours of Friday, May 8. However, this idea was shot down by Alameda County representatives who stated that Tesla would not be permitted to reopen the factory.

Musk immediately mentioned that Tesla would be opening a lawsuit against the County, stating that the closure was “inexplicable” and ignored an order that Governor Gavin Newsom had issued earlier. Newsom noted that manufacturing businesses were able to resume operation on Friday.

Following the opening of the lawsuit, Musk stated that Tesla would be moving its headquarters from California to Nevada or Texas. This claim was in response to the enforced closure of the Fremont plant from Alameda County officials. Tesla also released a 38-page Return to Work playbook detailing its plan to reopen the Fremont facility safely.

Tesla’s Fremont factory employs half of the 20,000 people who work for the electric automaker in the Bay Area of California. The facility produces the Model S, Model X, Model 3, and Model Y.

Tesla restarts Fremont production under Elon Musk orders, ‘If anyone is arrested, I ask that it only be me’

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Tesla Autopilot update for better speed limit sign recognition is coming soon

Tesla CEO Elon Musk fielded several requests to address Autopilot’s ability to determine speed limit signs accurately, and the accuracy of its map data.

Amid reports that Autopilot users are still experiencing inaccuracies with the software’s ability to accurately read speed limit signs, Musk reassured users over Twitter that improvements are of utmost priority and an update is coming soon.

In the past, Tesla vehicles have displayed issues with recognizing Speed Limits correctly. Researchers at McAfee Advanced Threat Research managed to trick Tesla’s speed limit recognition technologies in the past by adjusting the appearance of the number “3” on a 35 MPH speed limit sign. This adjustment tricked the Tesla into thinking the speed limit was 85 MPH.

Some owners on Tesla’s forums stated their vehicles had issues recognizing speed limit signs accurately. Sometimes, the car would not register a speed limit sign at all. The problem caused some owners to have their vehicles driving through zones at excessive speeds, causing a safety issue and risking them to receive a ticket.

One owner in the forum stated, “Was wondering why some speed limits signs are not recognized on my Tesla. Don’t need a ticket.”

It seems that some owners whose cars still utilize Mobileye and Hardware 1 are the only drivers whose vehicles recognize signs accurately the majority of the time. However, when Tesla and Mobileye ended a partnership in 2016, Tesla was forced to make its own software to recognize speed limits. Tesla vehicles manufactured after the partnership ended use GPS-based speed limit recognition and not camera-based identification.

Arguably one of the most substantial hurdles Tesla must jump through on its journey to autonomous driving features is the accuracy of sign recognition. Without the ability to read road signs and speed limits, the autonomous features are pointless because the vehicle will not function properly. Tesla’s Artificial Intelligence program is working diligently to improve the functionality of Autopilot, and it starts with accurate street sign recognition.

When Tesla’s Head of AI Andrej Karpathy spoke about the processes of identifying street signs, he explained that the vehicles depend on code to recognize instructions. The issue with this is that many states utilize different words or layouts to describe the same action. For example, Karpathy stated Tesla holds the most extensive set of “Except Right Turn” signs in its database. These signs often say the same thing but are different sizes, fonts, or shapes, all of which are factors that can spell trouble for a software system.

Andrej Karpathy shows Tesla’s extensive database of Except Right Turn signs. (Credit: YouTube | Matroid)

The improvement of accurately recognizing signs will move Tesla closer to finishing its Full Self-Driving suite. After Tesla released the Stop Sign and Traffic Light Control feature, only City Driving remains on the list of FSD features that have yet to be unveiled. Recently, the company also published its safety statistics, marking Autopilot’s safest year to date. With added improvements over time, thanks to the contribution of data to the company’s Neural Network, Tesla can continue to improve upon its already impressive FSD performance.

Tesla Autopilot update for better speed limit sign recognition is coming soon

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Elon Musk threatens to move Tesla away from California amid ongoing lockdown dispute

Tesla CEO Elon Musk took to Twitter on Saturday to announce that the company will be moving its California-based headquarters to Texas or Nevada, and file a lawsuit against Alameda County.

The revelation comes on the heels of new guidance from California Governor Gavin Newsom to reopen lower risk businesses, including those in manufacturing, with limited operations as early as Friday. Tesla’s Fremont factory in Alameda County was expected to be part of the reopening, however, county Health Officer Dr. Erica Pan would later clarify that the electric carmaker was not “given the green light” to reopen.

As tensions mount between the California-based automaker and local county officials who have ordered Tesla’s factory to remain shut down, in a bid to curb the spread of COVID-19, CEO Elon Musk said that his company is preparing to sue the county and move its core presence outside of the state.

The ongoing dispute between Bay Area officials that are overseeing Tesla’s ability to reopen its car factory, and California’s last remaining automaker: Tesla, has only added to the ongoing debate among US citizens on how the government should properly address the spread of coronavirus.

Musk has been an avid supporter of using data to determine the level of restriction to be instituted on a local level. The outspoken CEO has also been a staunch supporter of battling the ongoing pandemic by donating medical equipment to hospitals and frontline staff most in need. Still, Musk’s actions did not come without controversy.

“Frankly, this is the final straw. Tesla will now move its HQ and future programs to Texas/Nevada immediately,” said Musk on Saturday. Adding, “Tesla is filing a lawsuit against Alameda County immediately. The unelected & ignorant “Interim Health Officer” of Alameda is acting contrary to the Governor, the President, our Constitutional freedoms & just plain common sense!”

Tesla has previously announced that it was looking at Texas as the home for its next “Cybertruck Gigafactory“. The company also has a strong presence in Nevada, with its first Gigafactory and the company’s main battery facility residing just outside of Reno.

As the company comes off of record-setting quarters, spearheaded by the success of its new Model Y crossover, investors will be looking at the presumed impact from the continued and mandated shutdown of its factory in Fremont, California.

Tesla has maintained its position of having the capacity to deliver over 500,000 vehicles this year, comprised heavily of Model 3 and Model Y.

Elon Musk threatens to move Tesla away from California amid ongoing lockdown dispute

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