It was a sunny bright afternoon on Veterans Day earlier this month, just a couple of weeks before Notley’s official 100th birthday on December the 13th. Notley watched as a rare 1927 Bugatti pulled to a stop right in front of her. She is a World War II veteran with the Women’s Army Corps and a long-time Latin teacher. Notley enjoyed the big surprise visit from Bugatti. They led a caravan of luxury cars specially arranged for this celebration, courtesy of local nonprofit Rides for Hope KC.
Notley shares that a hundred years are long. It’s a century, but she thinks that it’s been a good right and she is glad that she made it this far. Notley also says she is very pleased.
Rides for Hope KC also celebrated the observance of Veternas day, along with staff and residents of Shawnee Hills Senior Living.
Parade of Vintage and Luxury Bugatti Cars
Tracey Anderson, who is with Rides for Hope KC, shared that they organized the celebration and drove some good for a woman. They had heard about her fascinating story and just with the love of cars that they share, they couldn’t get out there fast enough to show their respect and honor for Mrs. Notley, with a parade of vintage and luxury cars.
A Lifetime of Serving and Teaching
Born on December 13th, 1920, Notley grew up in Detroit. She spent her childhood participating in the Girl Scouts organization. While at Thomas M. Cooley High in Detroit, she even learned Latin and graduated in 1938.
After high-school, Notley went to Western College for Women in Oxford, Ohio. She continued to study English literature and Latin, and she enjoyed playing bridge with her friends. Ater Notley graduated college, she enlisted in the Women’s Army corps and served during WWII.
On Veteran’s Day at Shawnee Hills Senior Living, Notley leaned forward to lay her hands on the 1927 Bugatti, along with a parade of other luxury and vintage cars. She never owned one. At the celebration, Notley sang a few remnants of Army songs like, “Hail Hail, the Gang’s All Here,” and she reminisced her lifelong passion for race cars.
Notley is grateful and happy about how the event was organized. Rides for Hope KC made her special day even more special.
CEO Musk’s Take on Tesla’s Latest Self-Driving Cars Says “It’s Actually Not Great”
While self-driving cars are a marvel in themselves, they still have a long way to go. Elon Musk, CEO, Tesla himself, feels that the beta version of the self-driving car is not that great but reassures us that the team is working really hard to improve the bugs.
Tesla’s Full Self-Driving feature is giving out really impressive performance most of the time; it’s falling short at certain crucial times. In the videos shared by beta testers, we can see the car approaching the construction site and steering towards a hole. In another video, we can see it getting scratched by plowing through bushes that were overgrown.
Development Hell
The development of the self-driving car has been a long rock ride. In 2016 Elon had mentioned how he thought autonomous cars were no more a distant dream. He had said for him a completely autonomous car is just two years away – we are now in 2021, 5 years after the statement, still running beta tests on the car. Tesla had also begun delivering cars with Autopilot hardware a few months later and had started selling future access to the feature.
Yet, even after so many years, the full self-driving feature is not fully ready yet! Tesla is trying out new ways to make the feature more efficient. Earlier, Tesla changed the software programming that relied on a combination of cameras and radar. This new approach sets them apart from others working on developing the same. This shift in approach has further delayed the release of the car.
Latest Timeline
There is a lot of confusion about whether Tesla will be able to hit its level 5 autonomy. Musk’s hope to achieve that by the end of the year seems unrealistic from an engineering perspective. Tesla currently is operating at level 2 autonomy.