Tesla Launches ‘Dog Mode’ to Keep Pets Inside Cars Safe

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By Douglas A. McIntyre Updated Published
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Tesla Launches ‘Dog Mode’ to Keep Pets Inside Cars Safe

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For people who want to keep their pets in the car as they do things humans do, like errands and food shopping, Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA | TSLA Price Prediction) has launched a new “Dog Mode” to protect animals left in its vehicles. The electric car company said the new technology will keep the temperature at a preset level no matter how hot the temperature becomes outside.

In a tweet, Tesla management said: “Introducing Dog Mode: set a cabin temperature to keep your dog comfortable while letting passersby know they don’t need to worry.” In an illustration, Tesla shows two dogs in a car with the temperature preset to 70 degrees.

According to PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), 56 dogs and other animals died in cars in 2018 through October 10. PETA’s number includes only heat-related deaths. The organization gave a list of animal car deaths by date, location and type of animal. Research shows that when it is 75 degrees out, temperatures in cars can rise to 104 degrees in only 20 minutes. PETA also gave suggestions that Tesla owners with Dog Mode do not need. Among these are to keep animals at home, never leave an animal in a vehicle in hot weather, call 911 if you see a pet in a car and recognize the symptoms of heat stroke.

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Incidentally, Tesla launched “Sentry Mode” at the same time. The new technology is meant to keep people from breaking into Tesla vehicles. The company’s management points out that someone breaks into a car in the United States every 40.8 seconds (2017 data). Sentry Mode uses the vehicle’s external cameras as a “guard.” The mode operates at several levels. The technology works this way:

If a minimal threat is detected, such as someone leaning on a car, Sentry Mode switches to an “Alert” state and displays a message on the touchscreen warning that its cameras are recording. If a more severe threat is detected, such as someone breaking a window, Sentry Mode switches to an “Alarm” state, which activates the car alarm, increases the brightness of the center display, and plays music at maximum volume from the car’s audio system.

Tesla gave car owners a way to set Sentry Mode in a release that gives details of how controls should be set to activate the new feature.

In just two hours, Tesla management has released technology to protect both pets and owner’s cars.

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About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.

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