Tesla rolls out Sentry and Dog modes

here are often news reports of dogs, and even young children, being left in cars that overheat in the sun with harmful or even fatal results. Tesla's new Dog Mode would solve that problem by keeping the car inside at around room temperature.

Dog Mode and Sentry Mode

Originally Elon Musk, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Tesla announced that Dog Mode was in the works last October.

A Twitter user asked when the Sentry Mode, designed to use the car's cameras to record incidents that take place when the car is empty will be rolled out. In his reply, Musk said that both the Sentry Mode and Dog Mode would be arriving this week.

A recent article notes: "Tesla already has Cabin Overheat Protection, which engages the climate control to keep the interior at a safe temperature, but "Dog Mode" will likely one-up it by allowing the climate control to run like it normally would, providing a room-temperature environment for animals left in the car briefly. The mode might also let the screen display a message that the dog is in a safe environment and that the owner will be right back."

It still not a good idea to leave animals in a car for any lengthy period of time, even with the climate control running, but for people who need to do so, Dog Mode will provide them with peace of mind.

So far neither mode has appeared as yet but Tesla has put out an update to other safety and convenience features.

Tesla software updates

Electrek reports on new developments: "Tesla is starting to release a new software update to add a few new features to its vehicles including blind spot warning and auto-folding mirrors."

Blind Spot Warning Chime

When making a lane change, you can turn on an audible chime that will warn you when there could be a possible collision with a vehicle or obstacle when you change lanes. This will be very helpful to avoid collisions caused by a blind spot or simply a failure to see a vehicle or object. The Autopilot system has the capacity to detect vehicles in blind spots. It had been suggested that Tesla display more blind spot alerts and Tesla accepted that suggestion. Now the warning can be activated even when not on Autopilot.

Auto-folding mirrors

People who park in tight location often find that their mirrors can be broken while parking or by someone else while parked. The self-folding mirrors help solve that problem. You might do this manually with some mirrors but the auto-folding mirrors do it automatically. You activate the system and it saves locations where you want to fold your mirrors when you are at that location. When you leave the location the mirrors will automatically unfold.

If your car has Homlink you can integrate the folding mirror feature with your garage so you hit your mirrors while parking in the garage.

It may take a while to get these updates as Tesla typically releases them in batches so that it could take some while before the updates reach all vehicles.

Previously published in Digital Journal

Large Tesla investor increases stake by about $32 million

The second largest shareholder of Tesla stock Baillie Gifford and Co. has increased its share in the well known maker of electric cars and energy storage batteries. CEO Elon Musk is the largest shareholder who owns about 20 percent of Tesla.

Increased investment cost about $32 million

A regulator filing posted last Friday showed that Baillie had increased its investment in Tesla from 7.64 percent at the end of the third quarter to 7.71 per cent at the end of the fourth quarter. This may not seem like much but comes out to Baillie purchasing almost 109,000 Tesla shares during the fourth quarter. Based on last Friday's price that was around $32 million.

Baillie has a large investment in Tesla

Baillie is described by Wikipedia as follows: "Baillie Gifford is an investment management firm which is wholly owned by 44 partners,[1] all of whom work within the firm. It was founded in Edinburgh in 1908 and still has its headquarters in the city. Assets under management and advice of £196.3 billion (as at 30 September 2018)."

Baillie now owns a total of 13.2 million Tesla shares according to the regulator's filing. Based on the latest share price of $304.26 this is worth more than $4 billion.

Tesla made profits the last two quarters

Although Tesla has not made a profit for a full year yet, it has made some profit in the last two consecutive quarters. In the fourth quarter it turned a profit of $139 million. There were excellent sales of the model 3 even though there was some stock left over at the end of the year as reported in a recent Digital Journal article. It also had higher import duties on components from China. It had to reduce prices on the Model S and Model X in China. Also the discounts offered by the US government are declining.

As the appended video reports Musk just acquired the Maxwell battery technology company for about $218 million dollars.

Baillie also has invested in a Chinese company

Baillie has shown increased interest in electric vehicles (EVs). In October he took a stake in Nio, a Chinese EV manufacturer that recently became publicly traded. Baillie now owns 11.4 percent of Nio after purchasing 85.3 million shares.

Previously published in Digital Journal