New: Tesla said it didn't have critical data in a fatal crash. Then a hacker found it. "For any reasonable person, it was obvious the data was there."
The story of white hat hacker @greentheonly's role in the case the led to a $243 million verdict against Tesla.
After a Tesla driver using Autopilot plowed into a young Florida couple in 2019, killing a 22-year-old woman, crucial data detailing how the wreck unfolded was missing. A hacker found it and Tesla said in court it had been on its own servers all along.
The hacker's findings proved crucial. The dispute over accessibility to the data likely had a "significant impact" on the $243M verdict, a person close to Tesla said. wapo.st/46dCoQI
The plaintiffs had been preparing to go to trial without the data. “if they were able to drag this on a little longer, or the plaintiff couldn’t ... get the Autopilot [computer] cloned in time," @FredericLambert told me, it could've played out otherwise wapo.st/46dCoQI
@FredericLambert In a last-ditch effort to locate the data, the plaintiffs obtained the Autopilot computer from the Florida Highway Patrol. They turned to @greentheonly, known for his work recovering data from damaged Teslas. They won a $243 million verdict this month. wapo.st/46dCoQI
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New: Musk is presiding over DOGE from the Secretary of War's suite in the Eisenhower Building, using a gaming computer (plugged into a power strip in middle of the room) and keyboard with rainbow LEDs. The Wifi settings were recently changed to better accommodate personal devices
Some DOGE representatives enter federal agencies with their personal laptops. They seek immediate access to data. If they face pushback they'll put Elon Musk or his deputy Steve Davis on the phone. They aim to "get to the core" of systems too quickly for bureaucrats to react.
At times, DOGE representatives have decried civil servants as stupid or slow, federal workers have said. They've put immense trust in AI, and are using tech tools to ID cuts and firings. If "it breaks, you can just add things back in," one person said of Musk's philosophy
NEW: Elon Musk was working unlawfully when he built the startup that made him a millionaire in the 1990s, according to interviews, documents and records obtained by The Washington Post. Board members found out and mobilized to fix it: "We don't want our founder being deported."🧵
Musk, who has emerged as the foremost critic of "open borders," has described his immigration status at the time as a "gray area." But Zip2's one-time CEO Derek Proudian said Musk's status "was not what it should be" in order "to be legally employed running a company in the U.S."
Musk's immigration status became a focal point as the startup was considering going public because it would be relevant to any securities filing. An initial investment in Musk's startup was contingent on the founders obtaining legal work status within 45 days.
NEW: The final 11 seconds of a fatal Tesla Autopilot crash. The Post reconstructed the moments leading up to a deadly wreck that was set to go to trial this week. It shows how Jeremy Banner’s 2018 Tesla Model 3 barreled toward a semi truck at nearly 70mph washingtonpost.com/technology/int…
Banner died instantly when his car plowed into the truck in 2019, shearing off the roof as it slid under the trailer. It continued on for another 40 seconds after the crash, nearly 1680 feet, before coasting to a stop. via @TrishaThadani @rachelerman + mewashingtonpost.com/technology/int…
@TrishaThadani @rachelerman The visual reconstruction, from @imogen_piper and @IrfanUraizee, shows the fateful final moments before a Tesla strikes another vehicle without human intervention.
The reporting also shows that braking any time up to 1.6 seconds before impact could have avoided collision.
NEW: Elon Musk sent a Signal message ordering his staff to aid in the Twitter Files: "please give Bari [Weiss] full access to everything at Twitter. No limits at all.”
That triggered a frenzy inside Twitter, which was under a decade-old FTC order.
IT staff refused to onboard Weiss, worried if she was granted the full access Musk requested Twitter would be breaking the law. The order was a response to previous privacy concerns.
Days later, two executives with oversight of matters related to the Twitter Files were fired.
Weiss' access was overseen by a chaperone, new Twitter Trust and Safety chief Ella Irwin, whose name appeared in a watermark on one of the documents. washingtonpost.com/technology/202…
NEW: Elon Musk said he would cut nearly 75 percent of Twitter's staff if he takes control, far deeper cuts than the company's current leadership has proposed. The initial cuts would target lower performers, who scored less than a 3 on performance reviews. washingtonpost.com/technology/202…
One prospective investor likened the approach to a private equity takeover, the leveraged buyout that leaves companies gutted. Some expressed concern about Twitter's ability to police its platform without staff. “What’s he gonna replace it with, AI?” washingtonpost.com/technology/202…
Musk souring on & reentering the deal left some unamused. “[It’s] like you bought a new car, you decided you didn’t want it, and then you crash it,” one person said. “And then you’re like ‘I’ll keep it.’” washingtonpost.com/technology/202…