Tesla begins rolling out new Navigate on Autopilot and Enhanced Summon features

Navigate on Autopilot was supposed to be the first release in Tesla’s V9 software update, but they decided to pull it for further validation.

The feature is designed to enable the system to autonomously change lanes on the highway from on-ramp to off-ramp based on speed and the destination entered into the navigation system.

Tesla began releasing the feature last year in its 2018.42 software update, but it doesn't automatically perform lane changes. Navigate on Autopilot indicates lane changes, and the driver needs to initiate them when the flashing lights stop.

Currently, CEO Elon Musk said " Tesla started rolling out the feature without confirmation of lane changes in an update last week, and the rollout started a few days ago. Always start slow, find rare corner case issues, fix them, keep rolling out... "

The CEO warned that deployment will be slow as they identify corner cases to address these issues before expanding to the wider fleet.

Tesla owners have been testing the feature for weeks in an early access program. Along with the updated version of Autopilot, Tesla has apparently also started releasing Enhanced Summon, an updated version of the Tesla Summon feature. It can actually drive itself in parking lots.

In the beta release notes, Tesla describes Summon as "a parking assist feature that helps you steer your car toward yourself or a destination of your choice by driving out of parking spaces and maneuvering around objects when necessary."

These are features Tesla has been talking about since October 2016. It’s great to finally see them making their way to customers. That said, it’s important to remember that these features are still beta, and users should always remain vigilant and ready to take control.

If done correctly, they should make driving more convenient without compromising safety, but that depends on Tesla making the features safe and on drivers using them as intended.

Tesla's giant Gigafactory in Nevada is only one-third complete and has already started producing batteries at top speed, Elon Musk revealed on Thursday. The Tesla CEO also provided an update on the Shanghai Gigafactory, which broke ground in January, revealing what the factory looks like in just nine months.

"These factories are less about the car itself than they are about the car itself," Musk said during the unveiling of the Tesla Model Y entry-level compact SUV at Tesla's design studio in Hawthorne, California. "The difficulty and value of manufacturing is underestimated. It's very difficult. It's relatively easy to make a prototype, and it's very difficult to mass produce a prototype."

The GigaFactory, which Musk called a "machine that builds machines," is part of Tesla's grand plan to make electric cars more affordable by mass-producing batteries, making them available to a wider audience. The Shanghai GigaFactory will produce affordable Model 3 and Model Y vehicles, part of Musk's belief that cheap cars should be made on the same continent as consumers.

Although Tesla has reportedly only produced 550,000 vehicles in its entire history, the Shanghai factory is expected to produce around 500,000 vehicles per year once it is completed. Musk showed off the current image of the Shanghai site, just over two months after the groundbreaking ceremony:

Musk said that "today it (the Nevada plant) produces more lithium-ion than the rest of the world combined," without providing further details to support the claim. Benchmark Minerals cites global production as currently around 160 GWh, while Wood Mackenzie puts that number at 198 GWh by the end of 2018. Conversely, Tesla's website claims that the plant produces more kilowatt-hours of batteries than all other automakers combined.

Although only about one-third complete, Musk said the Nevada gigafactory is now four to five times larger than the Pentagon and 70 feet tall. It takes about two hours to walk through the entire factory.

The two factories work alongside Tesla's two existing factories. The company's first factory was the Fremont plant, which was originally owned by the Nummi joint venture, but Toyota took most of the equipment. Today, the Vermont complex is one of the largest buildings in the world by floor space, with 20,000 people working in Vermont on four or five shifts. Musk has likened it to a "huge cybernetic collective," and Tesla also operates a solar giant factory in Buffalo and plans to build a giant factory in Europe.

The achievement of building these factories was highlighted by comparing them to rockets. While rockets are 10 times harder to build than to design, Musk argues that designing the system for manufacturing a car is 100 times harder than designing the car itself.

"The last time any car company achieved mass production was about 100 years ago," Musk said. "This problem is definitely not about car design. This problem is about setting up a production system."

Wedbush Securities took an in-depth tour of Tesla's Gigafactory 1 in Nevada and its Fremont factory in California. They came away with some interesting insights, including that the Model Y could bring higher profits in 2020.

Tesla sometimes arranges tours of its operations for financial analysts, and in a new note to clients, Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said he recently took one of those tours.

At Gigafactory 1, Ives described a simplified battery manufacturing process that he believes gives the company a "competitive advantage" over other automakers.

After touring the massive factory, the analyst is confident that Tesla will be able to build the newly unveiled Model Y in 2020 and boost profits “out of the gate”:

“We continue to firmly believe that Model Y production/assembly moving fully out of Giga in 2020 will significantly expand Giga’s footprint and potentially drive higher profitability for this key new model.”

Even after unveiling the Model Y to the public this month, Tesla has kept production plans for the vehicle secret, but everything indicates it will happen at Gigafactory 1 in the second half of 2020 .

Ives also continues to believe in Model 3:

"We believe Tesla with the Model 3 has an opportunity to change consumer car buying behavior and capitalize on this unprecedented market opportunity and its leadership in the electric vehicle market, while Wall Street is now focused on the demand opportunity, not the production issues,"

Along with the release of the new note, Wedbush announced that it was maintaining its "outperform" rating on Tesla's stock and its 12-month price target of $390.

Dan Ives is ranked #584 out of 5,249 analysts on TipRanks with a 62% success rate and an average return of 6.8%. He has been recommending Tesla for the past year:

Tesla has historically had great difficulty controlling costs and ramping up early production of new vehicles.

Big money may be on the horizon again for the Model Y, but they should be careful.

For every vehicle program at Tesla, certain situations have always been complex, such as the complexity of the Model X or the first attempt at mass production of the Model 3.

Tesla can learn from its mistakes and provide smoother production for the Model Y.

Time will tell.

Let’s first look at the prices that everyone is concerned about:

This time, Model Y released 4 versions.

1. Standard version: Long range version (Long range) has a range of 300 miles, a top speed of 130 mph, and an acceleration of 0-60 mph in 5.5 seconds. It is priced at US$47,000 (approximately RMB 316,000) and will be delivered in spring 2021;

2. The dual motor AWD version has a range of 280 miles, a top speed of 135 mph, and an acceleration of 0-60 mph in 4.8 seconds. It is priced at $51,000 (about 343,000 yuan) and will be delivered in the fall of 2020.

3. Performance version has a range of 280 miles, a top speed of 150 mph, and an acceleration time of 0-60 mph of 3.5 seconds. It is priced at $60,000 (about 403,000 yuan) and will be delivered in the fall of 2020.

4. Performance version: 280 miles of range, top speed 150 mph, 0-60 mph acceleration 3.5 seconds, price $60,000 (about 403,000 yuan, delivery in autumn 2020;

Except for the entry-level standard version, which will be delivered in spring 2021, the other three models are scheduled to start delivery in the fall of 2020. With the release of Model Y, Tesla's "SEXY" model release plan has been completed (except that Model E eventually became Model 3), and the naming system for subsequent models is unknown.

The SUV 7-seat version is a surprise

The launch of this compact SUV did not have many explosive points like its previous three models. In terms of design, Model Y is neither epoch-making like Model S when it was launched, nor has the high-tech content of Model X's gull-wing doors. Perhaps the only surprise is that Model Y has a 7-seater version, a somewhat unexpected but very practical design.

Inside the car, the Model 3's iconic dashboard-less, 15-inch full touch screen, simple center console, and hidden air-conditioning vents all have the same flavor on the Model Y. Musk once publicly stated on Twitter that 75% of the Model Y's parts are common to the Model 3.

In terms of performance parameters and vehicle specifications, Model Y is basically similar to Model 3. But as Musk said before, because the vehicle is heavier and larger, even if it is equipped with the same battery pack as Model 3, the cruising range of Model Y will be reduced by about 10%.

In addition, Model Y is expected to be put into production at Tesla's Shanghai factory in the future.