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Electric-car maker and IBD Leaderboard stock Tesla Motors is divulging driver-assist details, ahead of its big "D" announcement awaited Thursday.
Analysts, investors, the press and electric-car enthusiasts have been speculating what the D could be: Model D? Diesel? Driver assist? Disappointment?
On Wednesday, word was out that Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA), which is an automotive partner to recent car-tech IPO Mobileye (NYSE:MBLY), has added lane-change and speed warning systems to some of its Model S sedans.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk hinted on Twitter Oct. 1: "About time to unveil the D and something else," with a picture of a garage door marked "D" and part of a black car peeking out. With it were the words "October 9, 2014" and "Tesla."
Maybe this is the "something else." Or it could be a substantial part of the D announcement.
A new statement issued by Tesla says: "Starting recently, some Model S being delivered in North America come equipped with two new features. The features are lane drift detection, which will deliver a warning via vibration in the steering wheel if the driver starts to drift from the lane without signaling, and speed limit display, which will inform the driver of the speed limit and alert them when it is exceeded. These features are necessary to meet the latest standards in the European market, but we have decided to integrate them into Model S delivered worldwide."
Tesla is known to be working one-on-one with Mobileye, a maker of advanced driver assistance (ADAS) systems that could one day guide cars that can drive themselves, while many of Mobileye's car partners work with it through suppliers. Mobileye partners include several big automakers such as General Motors (NYSE:GM) and Honda (NYSE:HMC).
In a research note late Tuesday Global Equities Research analyst Trip Chowdhry showed pictures of a Model S outfitted with some new driver-assist technology. It's a "Semi-Autonomous-Driver-Assistance—System," or SADAS, he says. Though as of Tuesday, he noted, the system had not been activated, though new Tesla Model S sedans are equipped with SADAS hardware. It may be activated over the air after Tesla's event Thursday, he wrote.
Last month Tesla issued an over-the-air update of software in the Model S that added several features such as traffic-aware navigation, and the ability to start the Model S remotely from an app available for Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhones and Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Android-powered phones.
Tesla stock fell a fraction Wednesday but is up 7% so far this month.
Read More At Investor's Business Daily: http://news.investors.com/technology/100814-720947-tesla-motors-adds-driver-assist-ahead-of-d-launch.htm#ixzz3Fd3AMtiV
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