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I was on FSD Beta with the speed set at 118 km/h (73 mph) on the 20 direction Montreal, and the system automatically moved to the left lane to pass a car.

As I was passing the car, I felt FSD Beta veering aggressively to the left toward the median strip. Fortunately, I use FSD Beta as recommended by Tesla, which means my hands on the wheel and my eyes on the road.

I was able to steer back toward the road, which disengaged FSD Beta. It was super scary as I almost lost control when correcting FSD Beta and again, I was passing a vehicle. I could have crashed into it if I overcorrected.

When you disengage Autopilot/FSD Beta, Tesla encourages you to send a message about why you disengaged the system.

I did that, but I wasn’t sure what happened, so my message was something like: “Autopilot just tried to kill me, so please fix it.”

It’s Official: Cars Are the Worst Product Category We Have Ever Reviewed for Privacy
Mozilla Foundation

Some not-so-fun facts about these rankings:

• Tesla is only the second product we have ever reviewed to receive all of our privacy “dings.” (The first was an AI chatbot we reviewed earlier this year.) What set them apart was earning the “untrustworthy AI” ding. The brand’s AI-powered autopilot was reportedly involved in 17 deaths and 736 crashes and is currently the subject of multiple government investigations.

• Nissan earned its second-to-last spot for collecting some of the creepiest categories of data we have ever seen. It’s worth reading the review in full, but you should know it includes your “sexual activity.” Not to be out done, Kia also mentions they can collect information about your “sex life” in their privacy policy. Oh, and six car companies say they can collect your “genetic information” or “genetic characteristics.” Yes, reading car privacy policies is a scary endeavor.

• None of the car brands use language that meets Mozilla’s privacy standard about sharing information with the government or law enforcement, but Hyundai goes above and beyond. In their privacy policy, it says they will comply with “lawful requests, whether formal or informal.” That’s a serious red flag.

• All of the car brands on this list except for Tesla, Renault, and Dacia signed on to a list of Consumer Protection Principles from the US automotive industry group ALLIANCE FOR AUTOMOTIVE INNOVATION, INC. The list includes great privacy-preserving principles such as “data minimization,” “transparency,” and “choice.” But the number of car brands that follow these principles? Zero. It’s interesting if only because it means the car companies do clearly know what they should be doing to respect your privacy even though they absolutely don’t do it.

Tesla Could Be Fined Daily Over Autopilot’s Secret Nag-Free ‘Elon Mode’
Feds want answers around the accessibility of a mode that allows drivers to use Autopilot without keeping hands on the wheel.

https://www.thedrive.com/news/ford-mustang-mach-e-recalled-because-battery-cant-handle-owners-flooring-it :
Ford is recalling nearly 35,000 units of the 2021 and 2022 Mustang Mach-E equipped with the extended-range battery over concerns that the electric crossover could lose power while driving. The recall is the Blue Oval's second attempt to resolve an issue with a component found inside of the Mach-E's high voltage battery pack that may fail while DC fast charging or flooring the car's accelerator pedal one too many times.

Ford first issued a software update as part of a 2022 recall. The update would monitor the temperature of the affected part and reduce battery power to avoid overheating, though this appeared to not fully address the defect as owners still reported problems following the update, sparking a federal investigation over the effectiveness of the fix.

"Direct Current (DC) fast charging and repeated wide open pedal events can cause the high voltage battery main contactors to overheat," reads the NHTSA recall report. "Overheating may lead to arcing and deformation of the electrical contact surfaces, which can result in a contactor that is prevented from closing or a contactor that welds closed."

Electric cars risk becoming uninsurableThe TelegraphDifficulty pricing battery repairs forcing insurers to refuse cover

Electric cars risk becoming effectively uninsurable as analysts struggle to put a price on battery repairs, the researcher for the car insurance industry has said.

Jonathan Hewett, chief executive of Thatcham Research, the motor insurers’ automotive research centre, said a lack of “insight and understanding” about the cost of repairing damaged electric car batteries was pushing up premiums and resulting in some providers declining to provide cover altogether.

Electric cars can be particularly expensive to repair, costing around a quarter more to fix on average than a petrol or diesel vehicle. Experts have previously warned electric vehicles are being written off after minor bumps because of the cost and complexity of fixing their batteries.

Mr Hewett said: “The challenge is that we have no way of understanding whether the battery has been compromised or damaged in any way.

“The threat of thermal runaway means that a catastrophic fire can take place if the cells of the battery have been damaged in a collision.

“What we’re struggling to understand at the moment is how we approach that diagnostic technique.

“It’s like a doctor trying to understand what’s wrong with you without any notes or an X-ray.”

John Lewis Financial Services stopped providing car insurance for electric cars last month for new and existing customers, as its underwriter Covéa analysed risks and costs.

Aviva removed insurance products for the Tesla Model Y earlier this year before restoring them several months later.

Vehicle repair costs rose 33pc over the first quarter of 2023 compared to 2022, helping to push annual premiums to record highs, according to the Association of British Insurers.

Average electric car insurance costs rose 72pc in the year to September, compared to 29pc for petrol and diesel models, according to Confused.com.

Mr Hewett said premiums would eventually begin to level out and match those of petrol and diesel cars once actuaries had the tools needed to better understand the risks of insuring electric cars, saying the issue would likely be “short term”.

However, he added: “The battery is an extremely expensive component of an electric vehicle and until we find efficient ways of dealing with it we have the challenge of high premiums for electric vehicles, which nobody wants.”

Some customers are now being quoted over £100 a week to insure their electric vehicles, with others reporting premiums doubling or tripling compared to a year before.

One reason attributed to the steep rise in the cost of electric car repairs stems from recommendations for electric cars to be kept 50ft apart in repair yards over fears they might explode.

Government guidelines suggest electric vehicles with damaged batteries should be “quarantined” from other cars due to the risk of battery fires, which are typically harder to put out than fires in petrol or diesel cars.

The London Fire Brigade has warned that fires involving lithium batteries are the fastest-growing fire risk in London, after it was called out to 87 e-bike and 29 e-scooter fires in 2022.

Paris’s transport operator withdrew 149 electric buses from operation last year after two ignited on separate occasions.

The website Tesla-Fire.com lists 25 reports of Teslas catching fire globally since the beginning of 2023.

Thatcham Research said insurers would need to spend an additional £900m a year on quarantine facilities for damaged cars as a result of the safety measures by 2035, as more battery-powered vehicles take to the roads, with the changes forecast to add £20 a year onto all car insurance premiums.

Conservative MP Greg Smith, who sits on the Commons transport committee, said: “[The lack of battery diagnostics] is yet another reason why electric vehicles aren’t remotely suitable for the mass market yet and why we should be looking to other technologies, like synthetic fuels and hydrogen, that will be more reliable and friendly to the planet.”