Whistleblower-Tesla Autopilot ‘Experiments on Public Roads;’ Cruise Fined for Withholding Crash Info; Lenovo Legion-King Sized Answer to Steam Deck; iOS 17.2 Improves iPhone 15 Pro Telephoto Cam

A former Tesla employee turned whistleblower has called Tesla cars with Autopilot ‘experiments in public roads.’ Arstechnica.com reports that the individual, who leaked thousands of accident reports and other documents expressed his doubts about the safety of Tesla’s Autopilot system in an interview with the BBC published today. “I don’t think the hardware is ready and the software is ready,” ex-Tesla employee Lukasz Krupski said. “It affects all of us because we are essentially experiments in public roads. So even if you don’t have a Tesla, your children still walk in the footpath.” 

Krupski was also featured last month in a New York Times article titled, “Man vs. Musk: A Whistleblower Creates Headaches for Tesla.” Tesla CEO Elon Musk once thanked Krupski after the employee “put out a fire at a Tesla car delivery location in Norway, seriously burning his hands and preventing a disaster,” the report said. He was sued by the auto maker last year. Krupski reportedly intends to sue Tesla for compensation over his firing. 

GM owned self-driving company Cruise has been whacked with fines and may also get sanctioned after not disclosing details about a crash on October 2nd in San Francisco. In that accident, the Cruise vehicle dragged a pedestrian some 20 feet. TechCrunch.com says the California Public Utilities Commission is hauling Cruise in for an appearance on February 6th to defend itself in a hearing…against accusations that it failed to provide “complete information to the Commission” regarding the incident, and “for making misleading public comments regarding its interactions with the Commission.”  Cruise didn’t give the PUC requested video of the crash for some 15 days after it was requested. The fines could end up totaling $2.25 million. 

Valve has just released the latest iteration of its Steam Deck handheld gaming system, with a number of worthwhile updates. Now, Lenovo has released the rival Legion Go…which stretches the concept of ‘handheld’ even more than the Steam Deck. The $700 gaming machine from Lenovo has an 8.8 inch OLED screen, making it the biggest screen on any handheld gaming system around. The controllers attach to the sides like on the Nintendo Switch. Engadget.com notes that it is fairly speedy and works well, and the screen is very good…the real down side comes with it’s size…the thing weighs 1.88 lbs  and it’s 11-3/4 inches across…so more of a laptop than a handheld. It will run between an hour and a half and three hours depending on what gam you are playing. 

Apple has said in release notes that the upcoming iOS 17.2 software update improves focusing speed when trying to shoot small, faraway objects with the telephoto on iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max. According to 9to5mac.com, the update also enables support for spatial video on those handsets…which is really meaningless for all of us until the Vision Pro headset comes out early next year…and frankly only applies to the few, deep-pocketed early adaptors who buy the pricy thing! At any rate, the software update should be public next week…I will be interested to try the faster focusing on small, distant objects.

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.