Tesla's lost value, China's self-driving cars, AI gets booed, but OpenAI's Sora wows: Tech news roundup

Here in the United States, we’re big fans of throwing good money after bad when it comes to self driving. Myriad companies with myriad approaches are all trying to tackle the problem, looking at it from every conceivable angle in hopes that one of them will condense the chaos of human action into something easily understood by an algorithm. China, however, takes a different approach: Making sure every car understands, as best as possible, what’s happening around it. According to new tests, that’s the winning move. - Steve DaSilva / Jalopnik Read More

Silicon Valley’s richest nerds seem dead certain that AI will make our world a better place. Not everyone is so convinced, however. At SXSW this week, a sizzle reel that featured conference panelists talking effusively about the new technology was roundly booed by disgusted audience members. - Lucas Ropek / Gizmodo Read More

Tesla’s “no haggle” direct-buy pricing model was once heralded as the future of how Americans would buy cars. Several years later, the dealership system is still going strong. Now, according to a recent study, CEO Elon Musk’s insistence on adjusting MSRPs based on market conditions has had detrimental effects on Tesla’s resale value. - Tom McParland / Jalopnik Read More

OpenAI’s Sora is slated for a 2024 release, meaning we’re just months away from hyperrealistic AI video. Sora seems poised to change the video world, in the same way AI image generators have changed the graphic design world. Midjourney, Stable Diffusion, and Dall-E have blurred the lines between real and fake images, and the same thing is about to happen in video. - Maxwell Zeff / Gizmodo Read More

Electric vehicles are here to save us, aren’t they? After all, they kick out zero emissions at the tailpipe and can be powered by electricity that’s generated by wind or water, right? Wrong; it turns out an EV isn’t the greenest car you can buy in America right now, it’s a plug-in hybrid instead. - Owen Bellwood / Jalopnik Read More

A medical team at Cromwell Hospital in London strapped on the $3,500 Apple Vision Pro during two spinal surgeries. Doctor’s are calling the device a “game-changing” tool, beefing up Apple’s claims that the headset has a future as a medical device. - Thomas Germain / Gizmodo Read More

Chinese electric vehicle maker BYD announced its latest ultra-cheap car on Wednesday as it continues accelerating a price war in its home country.

The Shenzhen-based company, which has been backed by the likes of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, said the updated version of its e2 EV hatchback will be priced at 89,800 yuan ($12,485), 12.6% less than the previous price of 102,800 yuan ($14,303). It’s just the latest new model unveiled by BYD over the past month as the automaker looks to retain its dominance in China’s EV market and maintain its aggressive stance against Tesla. - William Gavin Read More

Billionaire and sister to former U.S. secretary of transportation Elaine Chao, Angela Chao, drowned in her Tesla Model X after accidentally reversing into a pond on a 900-acre Texas ranch last month. She’d reversed her Tesla Model X when she meant to drive forward during a K turn — a common problem with the vehicle among owners. - Erin Marquis / Jalopnik Read More

Amazon’s future success will come from advertising and AI, not the pharmacy business, Brad Erickson of RBC Capital Markets says

A chilling new report from the New York Times brings into focus what we in the automotive press has been saying for years and years: the mountains of data your car generates is unsecured, and it is being used without your knowledge or consent. - Erin Marquis / Jalopnik Read More