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Tesla Cybertruck’s stiff structure, sharp design raise safety concerns -experts

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The angular design of Tesla's Cybertruck has safety experts concerned the electric pickup truck's stiff stainless-steel exoskeleton could hurt pedestrians and cyclists and damage other vehicles on roads.

Reuters spoke to six safety professors and officials who viewed videos of crash tests conducted by Tesla on its first new vehicle in nearly four years and shown during a webcast delivery event last week.

Crash test videos that Tesla live-streamed at a Nov. 30 event were heavily discussed on social media. Experts who spoke to Reuters said they needed crash-test data to reach firm conclusions about the safety.

"The big problem there is if they really make the skin of the vehicle very stiff by using thick stainless steel, then when people hit their heads on it, it's going to cause more damage to them," said Adrian Lund, the former president of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), whose vehicle crash tests are an industry standard.

Tesla touted the structures of the truck that absorb impact during the crash. Tesla CEO Elon Musk said in a social media post on Tuesday that he was "highly confident" Cybertruck will be safer than other trucks for occupants and pedestrians.

Tesla, did not immediately respond to requests for comment on concerns raised by safety experts.

The vehicle designed with flat planes and long, linear edges is visually distinct. It is the first car with a stainless-steel exterior since the launch of the DeLorean car which was featured in the 1985 movie "Back to the Future." The material has even broken the stamping machine that forms the panels, Musk said, touting the vehicle's toughness.

During the launch event at the factory in Austin, Texas, Tesla said cold-rolled, stainless body panels are designed to absorb impact during a crash.

The front and rear structures have energy-absorbing ribs that help dissipate energy, and during a side impact the skin of the door carried a majority of the crash load, it said.

George Washington University auto safety professor Samer Hamdar raised concerns about limited "crumple zones," but added that other features might make up for that. Crumple zones are parts of the car that deform in a crash in a way to more safely absorb the energy of an impact.

"There might be a possibility of shock-absorbent mechanism that will limit the fact that you have a limited crumple zone," Hamdar said.

Starting at $60,990, Cybertruck will not be a high-volume vehicle like Tesla's Model Y, but Musk has said Tesla was likely to reach a production rate of roughly 250,000 Cybertrucks a year in 2025.

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South Korea authorities launch probe after three die in Hyundai car test

The Ulsan plant is Hyundai’s biggest manufacturing facility, with its own port and an annual production capacity of 1.4 million vehicles

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South Korean authorities launched an investigation on Tuesday after three people died during a car test at a Hyundai Motor plant in the city of Ulsan, police told Reuters.

The two Hyundai researchers and one Hyundai contractor were found unconscious in a car at around 3:00 p.m. while they were testing it in a "chamber," according to Hyundai's labour union.

South Korean media reports said the three had suffocated.

A police officer in Ulsan said the police and the labour ministry were investigating the incident, including its cause.

A fire department official told Reuters that it first received a report at 3:17 pm that the accident happened at Hyundai's No.4 factory.

"Hyundai Motor Company is deeply saddened by the incident that occurred at our plant in Ulsan, South Korea," Hyundai said in a statement, saying it would "cooperate fully with all relevant authorities to determine the cause of this incident."

The Ulsan plant is Hyundai's biggest manufacturing facility, with its own port and an annual production capacity of 1.4 million vehicles, including exports of 1.1 million units.

In November last year, Hyundai Motor broke ground on a 2 trillion won ($1.44 billion) plant in Ulsan dedicated to making electric vehicles in South Korea, as the automaker accelerated a shift away from petrol-powered cars.

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Russia fines Google more than the world’s total GDP over YouTube bans

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Russia has fined Google $2.5 decillion after the US tech giant took action against pro-Kremlin TV channels on YouTube following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

Russia imposed a daily fine four years ago - a fine that has since swelled to an unprecedented level - ($20,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 - a 33-digit figure).

To put this into perspective, global GDP reaches an estimated $110 thousand billion (12-digit figure), according to the IMF.

Speaking to Russia’s TASS news agency, one expert, Roman Yankovsky from the HSE Institute of Education, said Google “clearly will not pay this penalty, and the Russian Federation will not be able to recover this money from the company."

Euronews reported that a short calculation shows that he is right.

Google's holding company, Alphabet, has a market capitalisation of slightly more than $2 trillion. Even with earnings of $80.54 billion from the last quarter, the tech giant doesn’t seem to be able to afford to pay the fine.

Google first barred pro-Moscow channel Tsargrad TV, which is owned by oligarch Konstantin Malofeev, four years ago.

At the time, Google was fined a daily penalty of 100,000 roubles and warned that amount would double every 24 hours if it went unpaid.

The original fine has been compounded by further penalties after Google eventually blocked a total of 17 Russian TV channels as a result of international sanctions, The Telegraph reported.

The tech giant now owes a staggering $2.5 decillion.

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Apple launches new iPad mini with AI features

Apple said it would roll out the first set of AI features in the U.S. version of the English language this month through a software update with iPadOS 18.1.

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Apple on Tuesday launched its new generation of the iPad mini packed with AI features including writing tools and an improved Siri assistant, as the iPhone maker races to boost its devices with artificial-intelligence capabilities, Reuters reported.

The new iPad mini is powered by Apple's A17 Pro chip, which is used in the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max models. With a six-core central processing unit, the A17 Pro would boost CPU performance by 30% compared to the current generation iPad minis and is central to running Apple Intelligence, Apple's AI software.

Apple said it would roll out the first set of AI features in the U.S. version of the English language this month through a software update with iPadOS 18.1.

The features will be available for iPads with A17 Pro or M1 chips and later generations, Apple said, adding it will roll out additional features including image-generation tools, Genmoji and ChatGPT-powered capabilities over the next several months, read the report.

Apple in September unveiled its long-awaited, AI-boosted iPhone 16 lineup, but with the AI features still in test mode, the company failed to excite some investors while early sales data raised some questions around demand.

Still, research firm Canalys on Monday said the iPhone 16 would help Apple's sales in the fourth quarter and drive momentum into the first half of 2025, after Apple reached a record high third-quarter shipments.

The iPad mini, starting at $499, is available for pre-orders starting on Tuesday and will begin arriving to customers and Apple store locations next week, Apple said.

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