Founded in 2003, Tesla is the top manufacturer of electric vehicles in the US. Led by billionaire CEO Elon Musk, the automaker upended the industry with the futuristic designs and technology of the Gigafactory, the Model S sedan, the Model X SUV, the mass-market Model 3, and soon, the Model Y compact SUV and the unconventional, Blade Runner-inspired pickup Cybertruck. The company has also experienced a number of growing pains on the path to that status as a leader, including public clashes with government agencies, and it commonly faces questions about its technology, issues with its manufacturing, and the treatment of its workforce. The Verge covers all of Tesla’s product launches and ambitions, including energy generation and storage, and the push towards autonomous cars.
The automaker said it would file an appeal after a Delaware judge rejected Musk’s $56 billion pay package a second time, and now it officially has, as reported by Bloomberg Law. The state’s Supreme Court will now review the appeal.
No one visually gets hurt in this video — you see a big explosion, a bystander running away, and a lot of firework-like secondary bangs. But authorities found one person dead inside the Cybertruck, and seven others reported minor injuries.
Authorities, including the FBI, are currently investigating the incident at the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas. Here’s our story.
“Tesla Recharged” gives customers year-end insights in the Tesla app for stats such as how often users’ homes are powered off-grid.
As Not a Tesla App reports, Tesla Energy users get trophies like “Solar Punk” if they’re in the top 25 percent generating solar energy for the year or “Team Player” for being in the top 1 percent of sending electricity back to the grid.
The company has been trading emails with the city’s autonomous vehicle taskforce about deploying a robotaxi service next year, according to Bloomberg. Texas has fewer regulatory hurdles for autonomous vehicle operators than California. But there are still a lot of unanswered questions. Austin residents: be on the lookout for driverless Teslas hopping curbs and rear-ending other cars.
The self-driving computer in some new Teslas is apparently failing, according to Electrek:
The problem is linked to a new version of Tesla’s HW4 (sometimes called AI4) onboard self-driving computer. Internally, some refer to the new version as AI4.1. The computers are short-circuiting. The cause is still being investigated, but one source told Electrek that one of the possible causes is the low-voltage battery short-circuiting the computer during the camera calibration process.
The full report has more, including that remedies could include a computer replacement or a potential software patch that Electrek says would “help temporarily.”
Zheng Gao worked at Tesla for eight years, most recently as head of autopilot hardware design. He also spent nine years at Apple on its connector and input device product design team. At Zoox, he’ll lead the hardware engineering team, where he’ll be under pressure to meet the Amazon-owned company’s deadline to launch a commercial robotaxi service in 2025. Zoox’s co-founder has previously dinged Tesla for promoting self-driving technology that “doesn’t work.”
The satellite radio service has been available in the Model S and X since 2020 but was conspicuously absent from Tesla’s two best-selling models and electric truck.
Like the Apple Watch app, it’s part of Tesla’s 2024 holiday update, and SiriusXM’s offering a one-month free trial. Of course, Tesla Premium Connectivity ($9.99/month) or an active Wi-Fi connection is also required.
ABC 7 Bay Area reports that last night in Piedmont, CA, a Cybertruck “jumped the curb, struck a cement wall, and then wedged in between the wall and a tree,” according to officials who said speed was a factor. Like a fatal Cybertruck wreck in August, it then caught fire.
One person was pulled from the vehicle by another driver, and they are recovering from burn wounds.
According to Bloomberg, Governor Gavin Newsom’s office is considering adding “market-share limitations” to its proposal to revive the state’s Clean Vehicle Rebate program. The program would be in lieu of a federal EV tax credit, which is on Donald Trump’s chopping block. Tesla CEO (and Trump donor) Elon Musk, unused to his chickens coming home to roost, is calling the proposal “insane.”
A new job listing noticed by Electrek says the team will provide “remote access to our robotaxis and humanoid robots.” The job calls for a “C++ Software Engineer” who has experience with Python, 3D graphics, and Unreal engine; it offers a salary between $120,000-$318,000.
It was already confirmed that the Tesla Optimus bots at the Cybercab event in October had human remote operators.
Tesla notified a California judge that it had reached a conditional settlement with Rivian, reports Bloomberg, four years after accusing Rivian in a lawsuit of intentionally poaching Tesla employees and stealing trade secrets.
Conditions of the settlement weren’t revealed in the filing, and Tesla expects that a request to dismiss the suit will be filed by December 24th, Bloomberg notes.
A Tesla Cybertruck was spotted joining President-elect Donald Trump’s motorcade in Texas while traveling to the SpaceX Starship launch.
The Secret Service wouldn’t answer Road & Track’s questions about who was driving the Cybertruck, but come on, we all know who it was. A better question is whether the Cybertruck will officially join once Trump takes office. I mean, he’s already got one, gifted by streamer Adin Ross. And it is bulletproof — sort of.
Tesla’s Optimus robot is now available through the company’s online store, but in a version that’s even less capable than the ones at its recent Cybercab reveal. The $40, 1:10-scale Tesla Bot Action Figure stands 7.16 inches tall and is assembled from over 40 parts offering 20 points of articulation. It includes a tiny matching charging stand and a CyberHammer.
Unsurprisingly, President-elect Donald Trump plans to end the federal incentive, which encouraged Americans to buy EVs like Teslas for years. Now, Reuters is reporting Tesla is for it:
representatives of Tesla - by far the nation’s largest EV seller - have told a Trump-transition committee they support ending the subsidy
Meanwhile, Trump has tasked Tesla CEO Elon Musk with cutting “wasteful expenditures” in the new administration.
What Elon Musk really wants from a Trump presidency.
All cars lose value as soon as you drive them off the lot, but EVs in particular have been know to depreciate more than usual. YouTuber and Out of Specs reviewer Kyle Conner found this out recently when he tried to trade in his Tesla Model S Plaid, for which he paid a whopping $140,940 two years ago, only to find out Tesla’s offer was just $46,400. That’s $94,450 in value obliterated in 24 months. On top of that, the Model S is “falling apart,” Conner noted.
Trump has promised to roll back Biden’s EV policies on ‘day one.’
The US Fifth Circuit Appeals Court found that the Tesla CEO’s 2018 tweet questioning why workers attempting to unionize would “give up stock options for nothing” was protected free speech, reports Bloomberg.
The National Labor Relations Board had ordered Tesla to tell Musk to delete the tweet in 2021, months after a judge deemed it to be illegal.
Tesla exceeded expectations by delivering a great third quarter earnings report, but selling more cars wasn’t the reason. As noticed by Sherwood, the real winner was the company’s home energy and storage business, which spiked by nearly 50 percent year over year. And it was significantly more profitable too, with gross margins nearly double that for its automotive business. Maybe Tesla should double down on renewable energy, and not robots?
