Coronavirus comeback

UT Austin to resume on-campus classes during fall semester

UT will resume classes on campus in August, but require to students to stay home after Thanksgiving.

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The fall semester at the University of Texas at Austin — complete with on-campus classes — will start as scheduled August 26 but will end around Thanksgiving, the university announced May 20.

In a letter to the UT community, President Greg Fenves and his incoming interim successor, Jay Hartzell, said students won’t return to the Austin campus after their Thanksgiving break. After the holiday, they’ll complete their coursework and take final exams remotely.

“With COVID-19 still expected to be active this fall, we hope to avoid the possibility of students becoming infected during the Thanksgiving break and then spreading the virus to classmates upon their return after Thanksgiving,” Fenves and Hartzell wrote.

Unlike some schools around the country, UT has opted for on-campus classes this fall, instead of only online classes or a hybrid of both.

In an effort to curb coronavirus infections, UT shifted entirely to online instruction in March. Graduation activities for spring 2020 graduates are being held virtually May 23 rather than in person. In-person graduation ceremonies for the fall semester will be postponed.

Both spring and fall 2020 graduates will be invited to an on-campus ceremony that’ll be held sometime in 2021.

“We thank our 2020 graduates for their understanding and flexibility as we work to provide them with a celebration that is fitting of their extraordinary achievements,” Fenves and Hartzell said.

Other highlights of the letter:

Throughout the summer, all UT employees who are authorized to work on campus must cover their faces with a mask or cloth covering unless they’re in a private office or private space. There’s no word on whether students will be required to wear face masks or coverings when they return to campus this fall.
Testing for people exhibiting coronavirus symptoms and routine testing for students, staff, and faculty will be offered on campus this fall. UT expects more than 500 tests to be performed every day. Work is underway to set up a UT-specific testing lab.
The use of mobile apps is being explored to monitor pedestrian traffic on campus and in buildings.

Defensive Driving

Austin-based Tesla faces new probe focused on remote driving feature

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The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is investigating 2.6 million Teslas.

Federal regulators have opened an investigation into 2.6 million Teslas after reports of crashes involving the use of company technology that allows drivers to remotely command their vehicle to return to them, or move to another location, using a phone app.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration also said Tuesday, January 7 that Austin-based Tesla did not report any of the accidents. Tesla is under order to report crashes on “publicly accessible roads” involving vehicles being operated through its autonomous driving technology.

The new investigation follows another probe launched in October looking into the company's “Full Self-Driving” system after getting reports of crashes in low-visibility conditions, including one that killed a pedestrian. That investigation covers 2.4 million Teslas from the 2016 through 2024 model years.

Tesla did not respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press.

One driver filed a complaint after a crash while using Tesla's “Actually Smart Summon” technology and NHTSA is looking into another three similar incidents based on media reports, the NHTSA said. The agency is looking into 12 total incidents reported by users of the technology.

Each of the vehicles failed to detect posts and other parked vehicles, according to the NHTSA.

Regulators say the vehicles struck objects because the users had "too little reaction time to avoid a crash, either with the available line of sight or releasing the phone app button, which stops the vehicle’s movement.”

Shares of Tesla Inc. slid more than 4 percent in late afternoon trading Tuesday.

Musk has complained that U.S. regulations are too onerous and are holding back the development of self-driving cars. Ethics experts are worried that once President-elect Donald Trump takes office, Musk will push him to ease oversight of Tesla, which just suffered its first decline in annual sales in more than a decade.

Musk donated an estimated $250 million to Trump's presidential campaign and is a frequent guest at Trump's Mar-a-Lago, vetting cabinet nominees and meeting with foreign heads of state. Trump has put Musk in charge of an advisory group, the Department of Government Efficiency, that will recommend where to cut government expenses and staff at federal agencies and reduce regulation.

The NHTSA said it will look into the top speed that Teslas can reach when users deploy its “summons” technology, as well as restrictions on public roads and line of sights requirements. It also said it expects to check for any “connectivity delays" with the app that could result in increased stopping distance.

Tesla’s Model 3 owner’s manual says that its “summons” feature is designed for use only in parking lots and driveways on private property and is disabled on public roads.

The new probe covers 2016-2025 Model S and X vehicles, 2017-2025 Model 3, 2020-2025 Model Y equipped with Tesla's Full Self-Driving driver assistance system.

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