2020 Tesla Model S on 2040-cars

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Driver of stolen Tesla involved in fiery crash dies

On July 4, someone reportedly stole a Tesla Model S from a Tesla store in Los Angeles and, after driving it at speeds over 100 miles per hour, crashed into a light pole, splitting the car in two, causing a fire and severely damaging other cars and injuring their occupants. The fact that the driver survived the fiery wreck was surprising to experts, but now we have news that the driver has passed away. The driver, 26-year-old Joshua Michael Flot of Inglewood, CA, actually passed away July 7 but the news and his identity were not announced until today so the police could notify his family. As far as we know, this is the first death involving a driver or passenger in a Tesla Model S. According to safety experts Bloomberg interviewed, the crash and the fire should have killed Flot immediately. "It looked like a non-survivable crash," said Casey Grant of the National Fire Protection Association. Bloomberg has more on how dangerous a steel pole crash can be, here. Indeed, the pictures are astonishing, with the Model S completely destroyed and one half of the car wedged into a nearby building. Tesla spokesman Simon Sproule issued a statement that said, "We are saddened by the harm that resulted from the July 4 theft and crash. We are assisting the authorities as needed as they continue their investigations."

Tesla Model S successfully hacked by Zhejiang University team

The $10,000 prize for successfully hacking a Tesla Model S has been claimed. A team from Zhejiang University in China claimed victory at the Symposium on Security for Asia Network (SyScan360) event in Beijing by exploiting a "flow design flaw," whatever that means, to gain access to vital systems including the door locks, horn and window controls, while the vehicle was moving.
The group that was able to hack a Tesla reported its findings to the electric car automaker, so this security breach will hopefully be fixed in short order. The event was welcomed by Tesla, which said it "[supported] the idea of providing an environment in which responsible security researchers can help identify potential vulnerabilities."
Last year, potential security pitfalls of high-tech electric and hybrid cars came to light when the US Defense Department's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (better known as DARPA) successfully hacked into hybrids from Ford and Toyota. Questions about the security of the Tesla Model S have been raised before. If you're wondering why all this might be such a big deal, we suggest you watch this.

The Price Is Right plays One Away with Tesla Model S

When it comes to game shows, The Price Is Right is about as mainstream as American TV gets, beaming lust for fancy new prizes into millions of homes every day. Recently, the show held its annual Dream Car Week, which this year included a Tesla Model S along with a Porsche Cayenne, a Land Rover Range Rover Sport, a Maserati Quattroporte and an Aston Martin V8 Vantage.
The contestant invited to come on down an take a crack at the bright-red Model S was Vanessa Ansoorian, who told host Drew Carey that she had originally promised her brother a car if she won one, but once she saw what it was, she began rethinking her stance. Of course, before being able to drive away with the electric car, she needed to win the game, which in this case was One Away. That means that she got a string of numbers - 6-8-4-1-1 - and needed to move each digit up or down one to find the car's price. Can you get it? We won't give away the right answer, or if she won the car, but we look forward to your guesses in the comments below, where you can also watch the tense video clip.
In 2010, The Price Is Right also offered up a Tesla (in that case, a Roadster) on Earth Day. You can see how that attempt went here.