Tesla states on its page about safety and security features that all Model 3 and Model Y came with cabin cameras, while only Model S and Model X units made after 2021 have them. Curiously, these cameras only started monitoring drive awareness in May 2021. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) now wants Tesla to explain their purpose and effectiveness.
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The safety regulator is investigating crashes with Autopilot and Full Self-Driving (FSD), in which driver monitoring could have played a crucial role in avoiding deaths. Until the May 2021 update, the cameras were supposed to prevent robotaxis from being trashed, as Musk confirmed in a tweet on April 12, 2020. In other words, they would only be used if Tesla ever accomplished its CEO's repeated autonomous driving promises, which it never did.

According to Reuters, NHTSA gave Tesla until October 12 to answer the nine-page letter filled with questions about "the role that the Cabin Camera plays in the enforcement of driver engagement/attentiveness." The safety regulator also wants "recoverable data elements pointing to its influence." In other words, it wants Tesla to prove the cabin camera is effective in preventing distraction and overreliance.

Consumer Reports proved the cabin camera could not avoid these scenarios in a test with its Model S with FSD. The consumer protection organization covered the camera and got no warning or disengagement of the system. Tesla only updated that last June, but it only works with FSD, not Autopilot.

Tesla’s advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) have been under massive scrutiny lately. The California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) said the company was misleading customers with Autopilot and FSD. According to Reuters, the company asked the DMV for a hearing. It wants to present its defense on the DMV accusations.

Although NHTSA seems to be finally acting, some people think it gave Tesla an unreasonable amount of time to answer. Some asked why doesn’t the safety regulator let Tesla answer next year or even later. Losing its Senate-confirmed administrator only two months after confirmation also makes people wonder what is happening at NHTSA. The U.S. is facing the highest traffic-death rates in years, and the safety agency quickly needs to show it is working to prevent them quickly.

Tesla has just updated its website related to the Tesla Semi, refreshing some of the specs and releasing new images and videos.

The Tesla Semi is currently expected to enter the market by the end of this year, according to the company's CEO Elon Musk.

One of the most interesting things is that the button to order/reserve the vehicle has disappeared, while there is a new one - "Get updates."".

We can only guess that there are two reasons for that: Tesla already has a lot of reservations (probably a four-digit and maybe even a five-digit number), which exceeds the near-term supply. The other reason might be the necessity to increase the prices (originally announced in 2017). The new website does not contain pricing info - previously prices of regular versions varied from $150,000 (standard range version) to $180,000 (long range version).Tesla describes the Semi as "a Beast" - "More powerful, more efficient and fully electric. Semi is the future of trucking."

The company has maintained the core numbers, including two battery versions for about 300 miles (483 km) or 500 miles (804 km) of driving range when fully loaded.

The exact battery capacity has never been released, but assuming the expected energy consumption at "less than 2 kWh per mile", we can assume that it must be about 600 kWh and 1,000 kWh (1 MWh) depending on the version.

The gross combination weight of the Tesla Semi with a fully loaded trailer is 82,000 lbs (37,195 kg).

With such a load, the Tesla Semi is promised to accelerate from 0 to 60 mph (96.5 /km/h) in 20 seconds, as well as being able to achieve a highway speed limit at a 5% grade. Those are very important practical measures to smoothly operate the truck - merge safely and keep pace with traffic as well as drive up steep grades.

According to the refreshed website, the production version of the Tesla Semi will be equipped with three independent motors on the rear axles, compared to four in the initial specs.

A new thing appears to be the charging info: up to 70% of range can be replenished in 30 minutes, using "Tesla’s Semi Chargers," which we believe refers to Tesla Megachargers.

Combining the charging time with the estimated battery capacity, we can calculate that the average charging power over a 70% state-of-charge (SOC) window is as high as 840 kW or 1,400 kW (1.4 MW).

It's pretty high power output, although nothing extraordinary on the C-level (in relation to the battery pack size): an average of about 1.4C.
Tesla mentioned also that the vehicle is expected to save up to $200,000 within its first three years of ownership on energy (electricity vs. fuel):

"Charging with electricity is approximately 2.5 times cheaper per mile than refueling with diesel.* Operators can see estimated fuel savings of up to $200,000 within their first three years of ownership. With remote diagnostics, over-the-air software updates and fewer moving parts to maintain, operators will spend less time at service centers and more time on the road.

*Based on average diesel prices in California between February 2022–July 2022 and typical electric rates."
It will be interesting to see when and where Tesla will start series production of the Tesla Semi, as well as how the ramp-up will progress.

At Tesla Battery Day, Elon Musk promised the new 4680 cells would be revolutionary. They would give the EV maker an edge that even the most promising car companies would only achieve many years from when Tesla first offered them. The first teardowns show some key elements are missing, which makes 4680 cells just ordinary NMC 811 batteries, even if bigger than most of the other cylindrical solutions.
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Taylor Ogan created a Twitter thread to explain each of the promises that the production of 4680 cells has failed to fulfill. The first one is that they would have silicon in the anode. Although the CEO of Snow Bull Capital talked about the “first teardown” and presented Munro Live’s video in his tweets, we have found another one, conducted by the University of California (UC) San Diego and shared by The Limiting Factor.

While the Munro Live team obtained a 4680 battery from a Model Y made in Texas that Munro & Associates bought, The Limiting Factor got its 4680 cell from Galileo Russell from Hyperchange. We have no idea how the Tesla investor and YouTuber managed to obtain a 4680 battery six months ago or even earlier than that. Both videos confirm that both versions of the 4680 battery use graphite, not silicon.

Another promise Musk made at the Tesla Battery Day was that the 4680 cells would use a cobalt-free, high-nickel cathode. Munro’s teardown analyzed the cathode and said it is a typical NMC 811 chemistry. In other words, it does not present two of the main advantages these cells would have. The Limiting Factor also stressed that the battery shell is three times thicker than that used in 2170 cells, dropping their energy density.

Ogan also asked about the dry battery electrode coating (DBE) technology Tesla was supposed to use in the 4680 cells more than a year ago. It is not clear if the dismantled cells use this technology, but Tesla would probably brag about that if it did. The only promise that seems to have been accomplished is the tabless design. For a battery that was supposed to give an incredible edge to Tesla, calling it disappointing is an understatement.

Safety is at the core of our design and engineering decisions. In 2021, we began our transition to Tesla Vision by removing radar from Model 3 and Model Y, followed by Model S and Model X in 2022. Today, in most regions around the globe, these vehicles now rely on Tesla Vision, our camera-based Autopilot system.

Since launch, we have continued to make incremental improvements in both feature parity and safety. Compared to radar-equipped vehicles, Model 3 and Model Y with Tesla Vision have either maintained or improved their active safety ratings in the US and Europe, and perform better in pedestrian automatic emergency braking (AEB) intervention.

Today, we are taking the next step in Tesla Vision by removing ultrasonic sensors (USS) from Model 3 and Model Y. We will continue this rollout with Model 3 and Model Y, globally, over the next few months, followed by Model S and Model X in 2023.

Along with the removal of USS, we have simultaneously launched our vision-based occupancy network – currently used in Full Self-Driving (FSD) Beta – to replace the inputs generated by USS. With today’s software, this approach gives Autopilot high-definition spatial positioning, longer range visibility and ability to identify and differentiate between objects. As with many Tesla features, our occupancy network will continue to improve rapidly over time.

For a short period of time during this transition, Tesla Vision vehicles that are not equipped with USS will be delivered with some features temporarily limited or inactive, including:

• Park Assist: alerts you of surrounding objects when the vehicle is traveling <5 mph.
• Autopark: automatically maneuvers into parallel or perpendicular parking spaces.
• Summon: manually moves your vehicle forward or in reverse via the Tesla app.
• Smart Summon: navigates your vehicle to your location or location of your choice via the Tesla app.

In the near future, once these features achieve performance parity to today’s vehicles, they will be restored via a series of over-the-air software updates. All other available Autopilot, Enhanced Autopilot and Full Self-Driving capability features will be active at delivery, depending on order configuration.

Given the incremental improvements already achieved with Tesla Vision, and our roadmap of future Autopilot improvements and abilities, we are confident that this is the best strategy for the future of Autopilot and the safety of our customers.