Tesla cures range anxiety, self-driving, and New Jersey all in one week

An over-the-air software update makes it unlikely a Tesla driver will ever again run out of battery power. And oh-by-the-way, Tesla said Thursday at a Silicon Valley press conference, another software update by summer will make the Tesla Model S a self-driving car. On the east coast, New Jersey legalized Tesla sales and a Connecticut legislature committee voted overwhelmingly in favor of direct Tesla sales, as New York State already does.

Overall, it was a very good week for Tesla, a company that had blogged merely of a March 19 press conference that would show how Tesla is curing range anxiety once and for. Tesla showed a lot more. Tesla is showing the importance of embedded telematics in cars for enhancements or bug fixes, and for more than just AV head unit fixes, as Ford will be doing with Sync 3.

Same range, more info on charging stations

Tesla's Elon Musk Sunday tweeted(Opens in a new window) that Tesla would "end range anxiety ... via OTA software update. Affects entire Model S fleet." The announcements are a Range Assurance app that tracks available Tesla supercharger stations and well as third-party stations; the Trip Planner app navigates you to a destination via "the best charging options [for] your route." This was about giving the patient more information on his condition, rather than providing a cure for the underlying malady: 208 miles with the standard 60 kWh battery, 265 miles with the 85 kWh battery, less in the winter, or if you treat the Model S as a Porsche and not a hypermiling Prius.

The software updates are intriguing. Range Assurance not only tracks the location of Tesla Supercharger (one-hour charging) stations in real time, but discounts stations in heavy use or inactive (broken?), and also "warns you before you drive out of range." Trip Planner builds on the Range Assurance, discarding busy and broken chargers, and optimizing the hops between chargers. Tesla says it also considers uphill and downhill terrain, and even current headwinds. Most stations are at locations where you can get a meal or coffee, and the car texts you when the batteries are full.

Tesla does a good job making owners feel good about over-the-air updates. When Ford needs to update Sync, owners and the media treat is a repair to an imperfect product. (For good reason.) Tesla pushes OTA as making a good product better. This is how the Tesla blog(Opens in a new window) puts it: "Model S gets faster, smarter, and better as time passes. With Tesla's regular over-the-air software updates, Model S actually improves while you sleep. When you wake up, added functionality, enhanced performance, and improved user experience make you feel like you are driving a new car."

Safety enhancements

The same update includes safety enhancements as well: automatic emergency braking and collision mitigation braking on top of the existing forward collision warning, plus blind spot detection and side collision warning. Valet mode limits the Model S when someone else, typically a garage attendant, has possession. It locks the glovebox and trunk, limits speeds, and masks any personal information. Tesla says there'll be a new audio codec, unspecified radio tuning improvements, and active cruise control refinements.

Most automakers don't do over the air updates, yet. Those that do limit them to mods to the infotainment system. The idea an automaker would tweak active cruise control would be anathema. Others are willing to let someone else lead, and Tesla is happy to do that. Regardless, this shows the value of having embedded telematics in cars.

The self-driving Tesla: how real, how autonomous?

The biggest part of the announcement was "autopilot," Tesla's term for self-driving -- self-driving at least some of the time, on major roads such as limited access highways. This, too, would be an over-the-air update: no trip to a Tesla service center, no new parts to install. It means, of course, that Tesla either has magical powers ... or it already has the cameras, radars, and sonar sensors needed to let the car drive autonomously.

Most autonomous driving technology seen on cars from Acura, Audi, BMW, Cadillac, Mercedes-Benz, and others is more like this: lane centering on interstate highways with gentle curves, plus adaptive cruise control, plus better sensing of when a car cuts in front of you (the biggest challenge current for ACC). That alone is pretty darn impressive. It is enough to protect people who text while driving, but a decade from now, it won't be seen as all that impressive. Today, it is.

It's unclear -- perhaps even dubious -- how much, if at all, Tesla will go beyond this. The components of any self-driving or sort-of self-driving car come from a finite group of suppliers. Automakers buy them and adapt the software and controls. The hardware Google mounts on its prototype self-driving cars costs more than a Tesla. Tesla owners would have notice the bump on the roof if Tesla installed, but didn't activate, a $50,000 lidar scanner to map its surroundings.

There are also regulatory issues. Much of the blogosphere and mainstream media is atwitter -- so to speak -- with concerns about how this can't happen until the feds approve, that insurers have to sign off, states have to be notified, etcetera. As Tesla knows from dealer franchising laws (more below), state legislatures don't roll over to accommodate Tesla just because Tesla is a cool car company and, say, Pennsylvania wants a bunch of nerds three time zones away to get even richer that the local nerds at Carnegie-Mellon.

What autopilot really is depends on how Tesla describes it now and then implements it later this year. The safest regulatory path would be to have Tesla do aggressive self-centering steering along with adaptive cruise control, and keep the cutout that disables self-steering if it senses your hands are off the wheel for more than 10 seconds or so. You couldn't climb in the back seat to change a baby's diaper. But you could dig a USB cord out of your backpack to plug in your iPad, and the car would probably be fine.

Tesla's leadership and we'll-solve-this attitude might give the rest of the industry a little more backbone to say: Let's find ways to implement sort-of-autonomous-driving this decade, on interstates. Among other things, a parade of cars all on autopilot fits more cars onto a highway at rush hour, and returns better fuel economy, because they reduce the gas-wasting speed up and slow down when inattentive drivers jam on their brakes hard, then speed up before the space in front allows another driver to sneak in.

Tesla direct sales legal in New Jersey now, Connecticut up next

A year ago, New Jersey banned direct sales of Teslas because the law since the 1970s allowed only franchised auto dealers to sell new cars. The law that passed 30-2 was Tesla-specific in that it applies, for now, only to manufacturers licensed in New Jersey before 2014 and selling only zero-emission vehicles. It requires a service center (created) as well as the two existing showrooms. The president of the New Jersey Coalition of Auto Retailers called the bill "special legislation to accommodate one Silicon Valley startup" (true) and that eliminates competition (by making one more car brand available in New Jersey?). So far, few have said what's obvious to consumers: Suburban malls hurt small town shops, Costco and Sam's Club pricing is tough on malls, and Amazon is tough on local storefronts of any size. But buyers do get more choices and better deals, and they mostly like that. New York State already allows direct sales by Tesla.

In Connecticut, the transportation committee of the state General Assembly voted 25-3 Wednesday to allow direct sales by auto manufacturers. It's expected the law would change by the end of 2015. Connecticut auto dealers have said this would be a loophole in the state's franchise legislation (which it might) and risk 13,000 jobs at auto dealers. The chairman of the transportation committee, Rep. Antonio Guerrera, has said both "[Tesla is] one of the best cars" he's driven, and the legislation has the potential to "wipe out a whole other industry."