Tesla

Teegate

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Sep 17, 2002
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Has anyone been in a Tesla? This past week myself and two daughters had a chance to be a passenger in one and were explained how everything works from my relative who own it. It is an interesting vehicle and accelerates faster than any car I have ever been in.

This is the "frunk."

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Jessica and my relative after their ride.

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The car is completely controlled by the computer screen. Just to the left of the screen, and above my youngest daughters hand, is the switch to put it into gear. It works as easy as a turn signal.The roof which you can see a part of is almost completely glass. While waiting to charge or at any time when it is in park you can play various games by using the steering wheel. A second player in the passenger sear can play using the buttons on the bottom right.

Jennifer playing a game. They are strange games. Not one I would be interested in.
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My relative explaining everything to us in the below photo. If you plan a trip it will automatically steer your car off route when you need to charge and drive you right up to the charging station. With a supercharger you can get 200 miles in 15 minutes. Or you can charge overnight at you home. Him and his wife traveled part of the country recently and slept in the car most nights. The seat folds down and you can run the air conditioner all night and obviously the car is not running.

He took us for a drive and when he took off it pinned us all to the back of the seats. Video soon, even though it does not really give you the true sense of how fast it was. When pulling out in dirt the car barely slips. The computer keeps that from happening.


This shows the charging stations across the country. We noticed there is one in Marlton near the Apple store.

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Jessica stayed back while all of us went for a test ride, and then she got in and I stayed back. As they pulled back into the driveway I ran at the car to see if it would recognize me. My kids said it did but on the screen it thought the trash can near me was a motorcycle for a second. He drove all the test drive with no hands except to turn around and to turn into the driveway. It will not turn into driveways, yet. If you have a problem, in let's say a construction site, you can report it and they can upload all of your data, and also get construction zone data from other cars and can compare them. If they fix the problem that day, or whenever, it will update and the problem is solved. Hopefully. He did say there are times when the car sees something that is not there and the car will switch lanes. If there is a car there it will brake. He said I should never tailgate a Tesla as they will stop on a dime at any random moment. He purchased the Tesla because the company he works for gave all employees a $5000 gift to buy an electric car. They are promoting electric vehicles in Vermont and the governor just signed a bill to have the state gas free by a few decades from now. It is the future.
 
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bobpbx

Piney
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Oct 25, 2002
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Pines; Bamber area
Nice! Very interesting. That is a great idea now, the way they can take the brain (computer) out if they want to change out the hardware.
 

Boyd

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Jul 31, 2004
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Very cool, thanks for posting all that! And just imagine the first drive when you get one for yourself. As you turn onto your favorite road in the pines, it will stop, automatically turn around and display "sorry, but vehicles are not permitted on this road". :siren:

Only half kidding, this could happen sooner than you think. And this kind of car is the perfect platform to control access, or to automatically charge a tax for every mile of "unnecessary driving".
 

46er

Piney
Mar 24, 2004
8,837
2,143
Coastal NJ
There are a couple running around in our area. Electric cars are very quick. They now have a formula based racing series for them, FE. Most major car mfgs that produce electric vehicles have entries, used as a proving grounds, the way gas vehicles are. Not my cup of tea. I can get 480+ miles before a fill up and that takes only 15 minutes, but they are the perfect urban option.
 
Has anyone been in a Tesla? This past week myself and two daughters had a chance to be a passenger in one and were explained how everything works from my relative who own it. It is an interesting vehicle and accelerates faster than any car I have ever been in.

This is the "frunk."

View attachment 12185


Jessica and my relative after their ride.

View attachment 12186


The car is completely controlled by the computer screen. Just to the left of the screen, and above my youngest daughters hand, is the switch to put it into gear. It works as easy as a turn signal.The roof which you can see a part of is almost completely glass. While waiting to charge or at any time when it is in park you can play various games by using the steering wheel. A second player in the passenger sear can play using the buttons on the bottom right.

Jennifer playing a game. They are strange games. Not one I would be interested in.
View attachment 12187



My relative explaining everything to us in the below photo. If you plan a trip it will automatically steer your car off route when you need to charge and drive you right up to the charging station. With a supercharger you can get 200 miles in 15 minutes. Or you can charge overnight at you home. Him and his wife traveled part of the country recently and slept in the car most nights. The seat folds down and you can run the air conditioner all night and obviously the car is not running.

He took us for a drive and when he took off it pinned us all to the back of the seats. Video soon, even though it does not really give you the true sense of how fast it was. When pulling out in dirt the car barely slips. The computer keeps that from happening.


This shows the charging stations across the country. We noticed there is one in Marlton near the Apple store.

View attachment 12188

Jessica stayed back while all of us went for a test ride, and then she got in and I stayed back. As they pulled back into the driveway I ran at the car to see if it would recognize me. My kids said it did but on the screen it thought the trash can near me was a motorcycle for a second. He drove all the test drive with no hands except to turn around and to turn into the driveway. It will not turn into driveways, yet. If you have a problem, in let's say a construction site, you can report it and they can upload all of your data, and also get construction zone data from other cars and can compare them. If they fix the problem that day, or whenever, it will update and the problem is solved. Hopefully. He did say there are times when the car sees something that is not there and the car will switch lanes. If there is a car there it will brake. He said I should never tailgate a Tesla as they will stop on a dime at any random moment. He purchased the Tesla because the company he works for gave all employees a $5000 gift to buy an electric car. They are promoting electric vehicles in Vermont and the governor just signed a bill to have the state gas free by a few decades from now. It is the future.

Definitely not moving to Vermont. I agree that electric vehicles make sense for urban use, but will keep my 2004 Toyota until one of us dies. I am uncomfortable with the onboard monitoring that transmits who, what, where data to ?.
 

Boyd

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I am uncomfortable with the onboard monitoring that transmits who, what, where data to ?.

You'd better just stay home then, because the rapidly growing number of license plate readers and cameras already transmit who, what and where data about your 2004 Toyota to ?. :D Do you have a cell phone? Who/what/where is constantly transmitted by that even if you aren't in the car. Privacy died a number of years ago and we all just have to deal with it, because it's never coming back.

I had a Volkswagen for awhile that included their "car-net" connected features. According to the manual, even if you didn't subscribe to the service, the only way to prevent it from transmitting who/what/where data was to physically remove the sensors and transmitter.
 
You'd better just stay home then, because the rapidly growing number of license plate readers and cameras already transmit who, what and where data about your 2004 Toyota to ?. :D Do you have a cell phone? Who/what/where is constantly transmitted by that even if you aren't in the car. Privacy died a number of years ago and we all just have to deal with it, because it's never coming back.

I had a Volkswagen for awhile that included their "car-net" connected features. According to the manual, even if you didn't subscribe to the service, the only way to prevent it from transmitting who/what/where data was to physically remove the sensors and transmitter.


My iphone 5s doesn't share anything with Apple, or anyone else. I turned off those functions, and regularly clear history and delete website data. Location data not sent, no Apple icloud I D. I'm willing to trade less functionality for some semblance of privacy. No transponder on the car for same reason.
 
Jul 12, 2006
1,318
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Gloucester City, NJ
My iphone 5s doesn't share anything with Apple, or anyone else. I turned off those functions, and regularly clear history and delete website data. Location data not sent, no Apple icloud I D. I'm willing to trade less functionality for some semblance of privacy. No transponder on the car for same reason.

I think you'd be surprised, if you knew what was really happening.
 

imkms

Explorer
Feb 18, 2008
587
224
SJ and SW FL
I agree that electric cars are the future. And if they could get the price point down while also improving battery capacity to allow 500 mile runs between charges and then have it charge in under 10 minutes with charging stations as common as today’s gas stations, I would consider one.
 
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Boyd

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Jul 31, 2004
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My iphone 5s doesn't share anything with Apple, or anyone else.

You may not understand how cell phones work. Your location is always known by the cell provider - it has to be, because that's how cell phones work. What they can do with that information is a grey area that has been the subject of intense controversy, apparently the providers are still selling your data even though they promised not to. Law enforcement can get your location data from them, and I'm not sure that a court order is even required. There are also sneaky ways that apps like facebook , google and others can figure out your location even when you have your phone set not to share it.

If you are concerned about somebody knowing who and where you are, get rid of your cell phone or keep it turned off. But even if you do that, license plate readers are scanning you pretty much everywhere you go and their use is exploding - not just in big cities or on the turnpike either. A search will find plenty of stories like this one:


“The LPR is going to tell us who it is, who it belongs to, who it’s registered to, time stamped, and it’s going to have facial recognition.”

"Farabella said that Millville police have had one cruiser equipped with a licensed plate reader for about a decade"


Like I said, privacy is dead and nobody even invited us to the funeral. We just have to get used to it, things are only going to get worse.
 

46er

Piney
Mar 24, 2004
8,837
2,143
Coastal NJ
I agree that electric cars are the future. And if they could get the price point down while also improving battery capacity to allow 500 mile runs between charges and then have it charge in under 10 minutes with charging stations as common as today’s gas stations, I would consider one.

And has to have an acoustic exhaust sound like some new cars do. A constant hummmmmmmmmm would drive me bonkers.

 
You may not understand how cell phones work. Your location is always known by the cell provider - it has to be, because that's how cell phones work. What they can do with that information is a grey area that has been the subject of intense controversy, apparently the providers are still selling your data even though they promised not to. Law enforcement can get your location data from them, and I'm not sure that a court order is even required. There are also sneaky ways that apps like facebook , google and others can figure out your location even when you have your phone set not to share it.

If you are concerned about somebody knowing who and where you are, get rid of your cell phone or keep it turned off. But even if you do that, license plate readers are scanning you pretty much everywhere you go and their use is exploding - not just in big cities or on the turnpike either. A search will find plenty of stories like this one:


“The LPR is going to tell us who it is, who it belongs to, who it’s registered to, time stamped, and it’s going to have facial recognition.”

"Farabella said that Millville police have had one cruiser equipped with a licensed plate reader for about a decade"


Like I said, privacy is dead and nobody even invited us to the funeral. We just have to get used to it, things are only going to get worse.
 
Some specifics: Yes, I know how cellphones work, the towers carry the individual phone and track it. Phone can be located even if turned off. Battery must be removed to obviate this. In my case, there are no downloaded apps and I never registered my iphone or ipad with apple, no apple id. Only documentation is from initial device purchase. I am not on Facebook, Linked In, etc.
License plate readers are everywhere, unavoidable especially on main roads or developed ares. Toll roads, bridges, parking garages, hotels, etc. Surveilance cameras heip polce but I'm wary. Hope we never reach the saturation seen in Great Britain.
I'm concerned about the fast spread of facial recognition software; the reason the New Jersey DMV doesn't want you to smile for your license picture.

There is always a tradeoff: I turn on the location indicator on my phone when I drive long distance so they can find the body. And there are many reasons I choose to live in a rural area, privacy one of them.

But I refuse to take the fatalistic attitude that as an individual the complete loss of privacy is inevitable. Every new tech intrusion will have a hack: people are as inventive as they are contrary!
 
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bobpbx

Piney
Staff member
Oct 25, 2002
14,153
4,258
Pines; Bamber area
Yeah Jersey Girl. Your goose is already cooked. I can tell you are driving on route 55 right now, and slightly over the speed limit. There is a chevron at the next exit if you need gas.

:D
 
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46er

Piney
Mar 24, 2004
8,837
2,143
Coastal NJ
Ditch the cell phone; I only carry one in the car and only on long trips. If your overly concerned, carry it in a shielded bag until you need it. Use a VPN for online computer stuff.
 
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