Tesla Cybertruck welcomed home by next-gen Roadster as it returns to Design Center

A recent sighting of the Tesla Cybertruck has shown that even the electric car maker’s most daunting vehicle comes home for the holidays. Recorded in Hawthorne, CA, the Cybertruck sighting depicts the massive all-electric vehicle returning to its home at Tesla’s Design Center, joining what appeared to be a 1:1 Cybertruck model and the next-generation Roadster. 

Footage of the heavyweight zero-emissions beast was initially posted on Facebook by Tesla enthusiast Charles R Jones II, and later shared on Twitter by Tesla Owners of San Joaquin Valley founder @FamilyFirstJ. The clip was brief, and a look at the license plate of the Cybertruck reveals that it was the same prototype driven by Elon Musk during his dinner with friends at an upscale Malibu restaurant. 

Similar to Elon Musk’s night out with the vehicle, the Cybertruck in this recent sighting seemed to sport some slight modifications on its headlights. The vehicle featured what appeared to be a solid, uniform strip of light during its unveiling event. But since being sighted on the road with Elon Musk, the Cybertruck’s headlights seemed to have been adjusted to have a more traditional look, with its left and right sides being brighter than the middle. 

The Tesla Cybertruck may still be a couple of years away from production, but interest in the vehicle has remained high since its eventful unveiling. The vehicle has garnered hundreds of thousands of reservations, with Elon Musk’s most recent update hinting that 250,000 Cybertrucks have been reserved. That number was mentioned just days following the Cybertruck’s unveiling. With this in mind, Cybertruck reservations today are likely more. 

The Cybertruck is Tesla’s most unique vehicle to date, utilizing a stainless steel “Exoskeleton” instead of traditional stamped body panels. This gives the Cybertruck its angular, XY design. It also allows the electric car maker to produce the all-electric pickup at a lower cost, since the Exoskeleton does not require the use of a stamping press and a paint shop. The Cybertruck’s design helps Tesla achieve its aggressive pricing for the vehicle as well, which starts at less than $40,000. 

The Tesla Cybertruck will be offered in three variants, an RWD configuration that starts at $39,900, a mid-tier Dual Motor AWD variant that costs $49,900 before options, and a range-topping tri-motor AWD version that starts at $69,900 before options. All of these vehicles are equipped with basic Autopilot a standard, as well as useful features like 110v/220v onboard outlets and a payload capacity of 3,500 lbs. Off-road performance also appears to be in the bag, thanks to the Cybertruck’s 35-degree approach angle, up to 16″ clearance, and 28-degree departure angle.

Tesla Cybertruck welcomed home by next-gen Roadster as it returns to Design Center

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Tesla owners in Australia band together to help firefighters, wildfire victims

Tesla owners in Australia have banded together to help victims of the country’s raging bushfires, and to support the firefighter volunteers on the frontlines who are trying to keep the blazes under control.

Toby Patton, who manages the Twitter account Australian Tesla Owners started a fundraiser that will benefit the New South Wales Rural Fire Service. He created a GoFundMe account and aims to raise $10,000 for the firefighters. So far, the fundraiser has raised almost $1,300.

“The Australian Tesla Owners community is coming together to help raise funds for the NSW Rural Fire Service, we are aiming to raise as much as possible so if you or someone you know is able to provide a donation of any amount at all, it means that the NSW Rural Fire Service will be better able to attack the fires and provide better support to all residents of NSW,” the GoFundMe page reads. 

Likewise, Tesla owners from all over Australia launched the #FrunksUp4Fires campaign on Twitter, calling for donations for clothes, toys, non-perishable food items, toiletries, and other items that may be useful for the most vulnerable victims of the bushfires.

The date for the collection of the said items will be on Jan. 25 and donors will be able to put the items on Tesla frunks at a location that is yet to be determined. The group is asking for help from everyone who might have something to spare.

As of Sunday night, local reports say that there are still 98 fires burning in New South Wales with around 50 bushfires yet to be contained. In NSW alone, the Rural Fire Service (RFS) estimates total area burned to about 3.41 million hectares.

Firefighters describe the situation as unprecedented and catastrophic with a total of six deaths and 829 houses destroyed. Authorities have also issued travel warnings across the state and have urged Christmas travelers to delay their travels as the bushfires intensify.

“To put it in perspective, in the past few years we have had a total area burned for the whole season of about 280,000 ha. This year we’re at 3.41m and we are only halfway through the season,” said Angela Burford, a spokesperson of RFS.

The bushfires started in September and are expected to spread well past Christmas.

Tesla owners in Australia band together to help firefighters, wildfire victims

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First look at Tesla’s Holiday Software Update in action: Text messaging support, voice commands, and more

Tesla has begun the soft rollout of its “Holiday Software Update” following CEO Elon Musk’s announcement that owners would be receiving a sneak preview of Full-Self Driving, among “other things.”

Model 3 owner and YouTuber Tesla Raj gives us our very first look at software version 2019.40.50 in action, which includes vastly improved Driving Visualizations, a more robust Tesla Theater, Camp Mode, Voice Commands, and Phone Improvements with text messaging support.

“You can now read and respond to text messages… When a message is received press the right scroll wheel button to have your text message read out loud and press again to respond by speaking out loud,” reads the release notes for the latest over-the-air update.

The latest 2019.40.50 firmware gives Tesla owners with Autopilot Hardware 3 a preview of its upcoming Full-Self driving capabilities, showcasing an increasingly more intelligent Tesla Neural Net that’s able to identify and display multiple traffic lights, stop signs, and even garbage cans on the vehicle’s touchscreen. The ability to render road markings and vehicle types, in detail, on-screen paves the way for Tesla’s upcoming “feature complete” Full-Self Driving suite.

Tesla’s Holiday Software Update also includes more advanced voice commands with the ability to launch vehicle applications completely hands-free. “Voice commands have been rebuilt to understand natural language. For this initial release, we focused on commands that minimize having to touch the screen so you can keep your eyes on the road,” reads the Release Notes for version 2019.40.50, along with the list of new voice commands.

In addition to new games like Stardew Valley and Backgammon being introduced in the lastest over-the-air update, the roster in Tesla Theater also improves with the addition of video game streaming platform Twitch.

A big thanks to Tesla Raj for sharing with Teslarati this fantastic first look at Tesla’s holiday software update, which we’ve embedded below.

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First look at Tesla’s Holiday Software Update in action: Text messaging support, voice commands, and more

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