High tech

Musk Says More Updates Coming For Model 3

A Tesla Model 3 owner posted photos of the aftermath of a crash on Reddit and praised how the vehicle responded to the crash on Thursday. "I read that Tesla's are one of the safest cars on the road today. They are right!" the owner wrote. "The car is totaled but I am fine, my right ankle is swollen from hitting the gas pedal but i can still walk fine. Had this been a regular ICE vehicle I would be dead or in a lot worse condition. Everyone from the paramedics to the tow truck driver said that people don't usually walk away from this. I already put in another model 3 reservation." But the owner also noted the lack of a manual option to open the glovebox — a function that's controlled by the touchscreen — which prevented the owner from opening it to retrieve the car's title and insurance after the touchscreen shattered. Tesla CEO Elon Musk responded to an article about the crash on Twitter and said Tesla would update vehicles with a feature that would open the glovebox automatically after a crash once the car has stopped. Musk also said he would "look at" the idea of adding a thin layer of plastic to the front or back of the touchscreen to protect it from shattering. This is not the first time Musk has used Twitter to reveal updates in response to customer complaints, and his responses reveal how Tesla's over-the-air update technology can make the company more responsive to its customers, while giving it the option to deliver cars in what other automakers would consider an unfinished state. The temptation to deliver Model 3's quickly and address problems later in software updates could be tempting given Tesla's difficulties meeting its production goals for the vehicle, which has received more than 400,000 pre-orders. According to a Bloomberg analysis, a little over 7,000 Model 3 vehicles have been produced so far.