COVER YOUR SEAT

Naked and sweaty: World Naked Bike Ride streaks through Austin

Tonight, amid the rock’n’roll madness of the Republic of Texas Biker Rally, Austin will become home to another annual two-wheeled gathering. Beginning a little before sundown, Austin becomes one of 80 international staging grounds for the World Naked Bike Ride, which is exactly what it sounds like.

In fact, it’s more than it sounds like. The WNBR is street theater: a mass protest built to criticize fossil fuel dependence, combat issues of body image and promote sharing of city streets between cyclists and motorists. There's more info about the ride's history and goals on its Wikipedia page, but don't click that link if you're at work. Just trust us.

Lore indicates that Austin was one of eight stateside cities to participate in the first World Naked Bike Ride in 2004, which, let’s face it, of course we were. A fair percentage of Austinites will take any excuse in the world to get naked, or to protest, or to ride a ton of bikes down the same street together. The WNBR is a triple threat of epic proportions.

According to the validated map, this year’s ride won’t take the group through the heart of Sixth Street like it did in 2010. It will sally south down Navasota, however, past the Texas State Cemetery, wherein the sheer volume of antique conservative congressmen rolling over in their graves might just cause the Earth to tremble.

If you’re game, visit the pre-ride gathering on 5^th and Springdale at 7:30 to drop off your streetclothes. Music will be provided, as well as body paint, for those who care to tailor their birthday suits. Admission will run you a measly sawbuck, and a free start point exists at Boggy Creek Park if you can’t scrape together $10.

Share the road! Burn fat, not oil! Less gas, more… er… bikes. Less gas, more bikes. That’s how that one goes.

Defensive Driving

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

Tesla parking lot

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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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