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.
Tesla recently showed off a new version of its Roadster. Well, a new version of its old version of the Roadster, anyway. But this one flies! The Verge’s Andy Hawkins joins the show to explain the last decade of the Roadster saga, make sense of the flying and kickflipping new vehicle, and cast out into the future of Tesla’s cars for humans. If there even is one.
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Yes, of course there are pay package incentives in play for Musk. But that’s not all.
The incredible flying Tesla Roadster may only have been for show, but it was still a pretty good show. Wired has a great breakdown of how the tricks worked, explaining the physics of static friction and vertical acceleration behind the Roadster’s many stunts.
The company is asking for $5,000 upfront for Roadster pre-orders, followed by $245,000 within 10 days. But even if you fork over the money, Tesla won’t guarantee your car will be delivered. According to the terms and conditions of the pre-order (emphasis ours):
You understand that Roadster is still under development at the time you entered into this Agreement and so we cannot guarantee when your vehicle will actually be delivered or if it will be delivered.
Turns out nothing is guaranteed in this world, not even flying cars.
Hagerty’s Henry Catchpool sat down with Tesla VP for Engineering Lars Moravy to talk through the details of last night’s impressive Tesla Roadster demonstration. But behind all the flipping and flying (falling?) stunt work is some impressive engineering — as well as some surprising reveals. (The Roadster is rear-wheel drive?!?)
It’s okay to marvel at the stunt — it’s pure spectacle.
What else do you need from the Tesla Roadster? I mean, it can apparently fly and do kickflips too, but this video shows what you’ll actually be seeing inside the driver’s seat, including an interactive 3D X-Ray of the car you can check out on its infotainment system.
I mean, duh. But still I’m glad they are making that explicit.
It took nearly a decade for Tesla’s next-gen sports car to arrive, but it’s finally here. The timing couldn’t be worse.
Tesla said in a post on X that it’s delaying its outdoor Roadster event slated for October 1st until October 15th due to a severe weather forecast. The delay comes a week after Tesla re-opened reservations for the next-gen Roadster it originally revealed almost a decade ago.
If you want to know where the power in tech currently lies, you only need to look at this photo of the head table at Donald Trump’s state dinner for Chinese President Xi Jinping. I see Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, AMD’s Lisa Su, Apple’s Tim Cook, and SpaceXaiTesla’s Elon Musk seated by the leaders of the world’s two superpowers. The CEOs and / or founders of Alphabet (Google), OpenAI, Microsoft, Amazon, Qualcomm, Micron, Dell, and… Zoom, were also in attendance.
The long-delayed truck is finally in production and reaching customers this week. Now Tesla has to prove that it was worth the wait.
The teaser came at the very end of tonight’s Semi re-launch, showing a brief flash of an illuminated light bar, followed by a glowing “Roadster” logo. Not much to go on, but we’ll likely see a lot more at the October 1st event.
The AI agent can “manage your inbox, clean up your calendar, or talk through existing files/chat/tasks – all hands-free,” the company says. Some Tesla owners posted videos using Grok Bot to order Starbucks for them. The AI bot is only available to SuperGrok Heavy subscribers, who pay $300 a month for access. Bloomberg just reported that Grok Bot topped 400,000 weekly users roughly a month after launching.
Nearly a decade after it was first revealed, Tesla is planning on re-revealing the next-generation Roadster on October 1st. For real this time. Maybe? For those willing to take another chance, Tesla is now accepting $50,000 reservations again — $5,000 immediately, followed by a $45,000 wire transfer — about two weeks before the official re-reveal.
The initial deposit is “fully refundable,” for what it’s worth. Will notable Roadster reservation cancellers like Sam Altman and MKBHD take the plunge again?
The electric automaker has until September 30th to answer a series of questions about how its steering-wheel- and pedal-less Cybercab complies with federal safety standards.
The second-generation Tesla Roadster appears to be set for a reveal on October 1st. That’s nearly nine years since the prototype was first shown off in November of 2017, and we’re still probably at least another year or so out from availability.
Miami is looking like the next market for Elon Musk’s steering-wheel-less autonomous vehicles. But a few of the gold two-seaters were spotted in New York City — albeit with steering wheels and human safety monitors driving manually. It’s likely just a marketing maneuver, since fully autonomous vehicles are prohibited in New York. Governor Kathy Hochul recently reversed a decision to allow Waymo to deploy its vehicles outside the city after pushback from labor groups.
YouTuber Josh West thought he was going to show his wife a good time by booking a Cybercab for their date night in Austin. Instead, a hard-braking episode left her with a sore neck, and then the Cybercab tried to drop them off in an empty parking lot at night. “Kind of wonky,” an amiable West says. “Definitely work left to do.”
Issues with the butterfly doors and bizarre drop-off locations cloud what is an otherwise impressive, future-forward experience.
Some of the pro-Tesla content creators that the company invited to its closed-door Cybercab event are starting to post their first rides.
Right now, Tesla is holding a private event with a bunch of pro-Tesla influencers to celebrate the “launch” of its autonomous Cybercab vehicle. But in a break from the past, the company is not livestreaming the event. Several influencers posted on X that the company made them sign NDAs and barred them from posting any content until the event is over. Not really the sign of confidence a lot of investors were looking for!
According to the company’s newly launched Robotaxi website, children under the age of 13 are not permitted to ride in the Cybercab — even if they’re riding with an adult. Kids between the ages of 8-13 are allowed in Tesla’s Model Y robotaxis, but only when riding with an adult. And those under 8 are not allowed at all. Even stranger, the Cybercab’s compliance documents (PDF) include detailed instructions for installing child seats. Which is it, Elon?
