When Tesla unveiled the Model 3 last year, tech and auto observers couldn't help but notice that the car lacked an instrument cluster. Instead, Tesla representatives suggested that drivers would be able to ascertain all the information they needed right from the car's 15-inch tablet located on the center console.
Because the design Tesla showed off was so outside the norm, many Tesla enthusiasts began speculating that Tesla must have a cool and advanced design it was planning to show us later on down the line. This speculation was only fueled by coy remarks from Tesla CEO Elon Musk who said via Twitter that everything would all make sense soon enough.
Responding to a question about the lack of a dashboard/HUD, Musk last April said that "it will make sense after part 2 of the Model 3 unveil."
Of course, part 2 of the Model 3 unveil came and went and we still didn't hear anything about Tesla's plans for the dashboard area. Meanwhile, speculation surrounding Tesla's plans to incorporate a futuristic HUD on the Model 3 began to grow wildly.
Looking to keep expectations grounded, Musk over the past few days has come out and said that the Model 3 will not have a HUD and that users won't really care.
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/846768171486855169
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/846768497904369664
Musk later added that drivers don't need an instrument cluster on the dash because "the more autonomous a car is, the less dash info you need." Driving the point home, Musk asked the following question: "How often do you look at the instrument panel when being driven in a taxi?"
All that said, the Model 3 dashboard will more or less look like this.
While such a design may make sense in a world where cars are fully autonomous, the reality is that many drivers today not only want, but need quick and easy access to pertinent information like range, speed and more.
Addressing this, Musk took to Twitter once again where he explained that the final Model 3 design will display such information on the center console.
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/847178475970547712
California's attorney general said on Wednesday his office would press ahead in seeking the death penalty for a man who pleaded guilty to killing eight people in a 2011 shooting rampage, even though local prosecutors were sanctioned for acting improperly. The state's top elected law enforcement official assumed responsibility for the penalty phase of the case against Scott Dekraai after a California appeals court upheld a lower-court order recusing the Orange County District Attorney's Office over prosecutorial misconduct. Defense lawyers sought to remove local prosecutors and bar them from seeking the death penalty on grounds that jailhouse informants were improperly used to wring a confession from Dekraai.
Volkswagen is a dirty word around environmentalists these days. After claiming eco-friendly creds with its diesel engines, and then being caught red-handed cheating emissions tests with those same cars, VW's reputation (and finances) are struggling.
One of the few bright spots on the horizon is the development of VW's electric vehicle platform, which is set to start pumping out cars in 2020. That's a long time after Tesla first made electric cars mainstream, but going off this electric SUV concept from VW subsidiary Skoda, the Germans are going to come out fighting.
The Skoda Vision E is a sleek-looking concept for an electric SUV, powered by a pair of electric motors and with a range of 300 miles. Top speed isn't exactly impressive at 112 miles per hour, but electric cars are more about acceleration than top speed anyways.
The design is typical of the crossover, sporty-looking SUVs that are in vogue right now, although as Skoda explains, being all-electric gives some design benefits:
At 4,645 mm long, 1,917 mm wide and 1,550 mm tall, the ŠKODA VISION E has great road presence. Thanks to the long wheelbase of 2,850 mm, as well as the short overhangs at the front and rear, the designers have created an extremely spacious interior – as always with ŠKODA. In the future-oriented vehicle concept, the elevated seating position typical of SUV models and the generous space combine with a dynamic silhouette and gently sloping roof line in the style of a coupé.
Most intriguing is the level of driving autonomy Skoda is promising. It's claiming level 3 autonomy, which means that the car can drive itself without needing the driver to pay attention, but only in certain circumstances. It would be an enhanced version of Tesla's existing Autopilot, but without the requirement for the driver to keep his hands on the wheel.
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