Global roundup: Tesla recalls 54,000 vehicles over self-driving software issues

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Global Tech Roundup: Tesla Recalls 54,000 Electric Vehicles, Facebook’s daily active users decline first time in 18 years amongst others.
Global Tech Roundup: Tesla Recalls 54,000 Electric Vehicles, Facebook’s daily active users decline first time in 18 years amongst others.

Hi Guys! It’s the end of another busy week in the world of tech. The week was full of surprises, from AltSchool pre-seed funding to Crowdyvest working on the debt recovery process. This week on Global Tech Roundup we will take you through a number of updates across the global tech scene starting with Tesla and Facebook.

Anyways, here is a quick roundup of some of the major stories around the globe that you might have missed.

Tesla recalls vehicles for driving past stop signs

As the largest EV manufacturer, Tesla is recalling roughly 54,000 electric vehicles to fix software that permits cars to go past stop signs, breaking most state laws and raising the risk of a collision.

Tesla Announces Recall of Autonomous Vehicles Which Drive Past Stop Signs
Tesla Model X

The recall affects Model S, Model X, Model 3, and Model Y vehicles with firmware update 2020.40.4.10 or newer and the beta version of Tesla’s Full Self Driving (FSD) driver-assist technology from model years 2017 to 2022.

According to the reports, the EV’s recent software changes enabled FSD to perform rolling stops, allowing cars to go through all-way-stop intersections at up to 5.6 mph without coming to a complete stop if specific conditions are satisfied.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), “failure to stop at a stop sign may increase the risk of an accident,” as reported by the NHTSA.

Although Tesla has not recorded any crashes with FSD linked to the “rolling stop” feature, as of January 27, the company will release an over-the-air software upgrade that will disable the “rolling stop” capability in the Full Self-Driving Beta (FSDB).

Facebook’s daily active users decline for the first time in 18 years.

For the first time in its 18 years of existence, social media giant Facebook saw a decrease in the number of its daily active users (DAUs).

Facebook's daily active users decline for the first time in 18 years.

According to reports from Facebook’s proprietary company, Meta, the company’s DAUs declined to 1.929 billion in the three months to the end of December, down from 1.930 billion in the previous quarter.

In addition, the company cautioned that revenue growth will decelerate due to competition from rivals such as TikTok and YouTube, as well as advertisers’ pulling back on spending. Also, in New York after-hours trading, Meta’s stock dropped by more than 20%.

The fall in Meta’s stock price took about $200 billion (£147.5 billion) off the company’s market capitalization. The company’s sales growth has been hampered, according to CEO Mark Zuckerberg, since audiences, particularly younger users, have defected to competitors.

Apple’s operating system’s privacy modifications also impacted Meta, which operates the world’s second-largest digital advertising network behind Google.

Mark Zuckerberg expressed confidence that the investments in video and virtual reality, like past bets on mobile advertising and Instagram stories, would pay off. Other social media services, such as Twitter, Snap, and Pinterest, saw their shares plummet as well.

Amazon has announced a price increase for Prime members.

Amazon has raised the price of its Prime membership in the United States from $119 to $139 per year, the first increase in the price of the popular subscription program since 2018.

Amazon has announced a price increase for Prime members.

For new members, the new pricing will take effect on February 18th, and for existing members, the new prices will take effect after March 25th. The monthly fee will also increase, from $12.99 to $14.99 per month.

Amazon Prime, which has 200 million users, waives shipping expenses on many items and gives customers access to Amazon’s video library, among other things. Rising labor and transportation expenses, according to Amazon Prime vice president Jamil Ghani, led to the hike.

Amazon’s Prime program has a dedicated following, and the company is banking that consumers will keep with it even if the costs go up.

The price increase was mentioned in Amazon’s quarterly financial report, which also revealed that the company generated $14.3 billion in profit during the quarter, nearly tripling its profit from a year ago. Following the announcement, Amazon’s shares jumped more than 17% in after-hours trade.

Yahoo Japan withdraws from Europe due to regulatory issues.

Yahoo Japan has announced the suspension of its services in the European Economic Area and the United Kingdom, effective April 6th. However, the halt will not impact the company’s email, credit card, or ebook services in those regions.

Yahoo Japan withdraws from Europe due to regulatory issues.

In a statement, the firm cited the cost of complying with European rules, including GDPR, as the reason for ceasing operations in Europe. The statement emphasized the challenge of providing continuous service to clients in the European Economic Area and the United Kingdom.

In a separate statement to the Japanese journal IT Media, Yahoo Japan stated that meeting the expense of compliance and responding to the associated legislation would be “difficult.”

Suspending its services in Europe may be a difficult decision, but the firm recognizes that its European user base will not be sufficient to justify the expense of complying with EU rules, so it sees it as the only alternative at this time.

However, quitting in Europe is a huge choice, since a well-known online firm with a large presence in its core market may feel it is difficult to function in Europe.

Yahoo Japan is a completely independent company from the American former internet giant now controlled by Apollo Private Equity.

Yahoo Japan is still a major web portal and search engine in Japan, with a plethora of other Japanese-language services such as online auctions, e-commerce, and well-regarded weather and mapping apps.


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