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.
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?
We still have no word on when this supposed event is taking place. All we know is that it’s in Austin, which predictably has seen a surge of gilded Cybercabs hit the streets. Reuters says it’s supposed to start at 5:45PM ET, citing a Cybercab engineer’s tweet that I can’t seem to verify. Either way, we’ll be monitoring the event and will hopefully have more updates to share later today.
The occasional trillionaire is betting his company on a stripped down, camera-only, steering-wheel-free two-seater. How safe is safe enough?
Hat tip to investor Reilly Brennan, who noted in his Future of Transportation newsletter that Waymo software engineer Reed Morse has been beefing with Tesla fans on X over sensors and service area maps. Morse said Tesla is “mostly bluffing” its way through its upcoming Cybercab launch. It’s just more evidence that despite being the undisputed leader in driverless robotaxis, Waymo still feels the need to point out the fallacies in Tesla’s approach to robotaxis.
NBC News identified 43 videos that appear to show Tesla drivers asleep at the wheel, 17 of which were posted this year alone. This is, of course, a well-worn problem for Tesla, which has tried to curb the trend with stricter driver monitoring systems. But drivers are easily subverting these guardrails with sunglasses, allowing them to continue sleeping despite eye-tracking technology.
The low-volume truck that Elon Musk once claimed would sell over 250,000 units annually is now about $5,000 more expensive, according to Reuters. Two trims are going up in price: the dual-motor version is now $74,990, up from $69,990; and the all-wheel drive Cybertruck is $84,990, up from $79,990. Tesla has futzed with the truck’s lineup before, introducing a $60,000 all-wheel drive version and jacking up the Cyberbeast trim by $15,000. But it’s done little to juice sales, with only 3,519 Cybertrucks delivered in Q1 2026, down 45 percent year over year.
As more robotaxis hit the road, the fight over the rules governing the technology is intensifying.
Guests are being invited to “experience the future of full autonomy” at the event in Austin, Texas. The gold-tinted driverless vehicle has been popping up around the country, although often with a steering wheel and pedals, as employees continue to gather data. In the lead up to the event, the company has increasingly been operating its fleet of Model Y robotaxis without human supervision.
Eleven automakers, including Tesla and Xiaomi, launched software updates to comply with China’s largest recall ever over mechanical door release handles that may be hard to find or operate during emergencies. China previously banned Tesla-style concealed door handles because people were getting trapped inside their cars. The country also ordered Tesla to add driver monitoring to over 2 million vehicles to make sure drivers keep their eyes on the road, Electrek reports.
Nevada’s transportation authority unanimously approved permits for Tesla, Waymo, and Uber, paving the way for up 7,000 robotaxis to flood the streets of Clark County over the next 12 months, TechCrunch reports. Tesla received approval for 5,000 robotaxis — though the company’s reps said they’d be thrilled if they get to 2,500 — while Waymo and Uber were authorized for 1,000 each. Amazon’s Zoox already has a permit for 100 robotaxis in the city. The vote positions Las Vegas as the next major robotaxi market, with Amazon, Uber, Waymo, and Tesla all battling for customers.
Swedish trucking company Einride says it will buy 500 Tesla Semis, representing the largest order for the electric Class 8 truck yet reported. But as Electrek notes, it’s not clear that Einride has enough money to fund the purchase. The trucking company has about $77 million in the bank, which is less than the estimated $145 million it will cost to buy the Tesla Semis.
TechCrunch reports that the new factory would be located 45 minutes outside of Houston:
The new factory, called Project Crystal Sun, could cost as much as $10.1 billion. Tesla has applied for tax incentives to partially offset the cost, saying that it is exploring other sites “across multiple U.S. states.” The factory would create about 9,700 full-time jobs, Tesla said.
Correction, August 21: fixed the “million” typo in the headline to correctly say “billion.”
Tesla’s chief car designer Franz von Holzhausen said the second generation Roadster is coming “very soon,” while eagerly rubbing his hands together on the latest episode of Jay Leno’s Garage. What was hailed as “the quickest production car ever made” when announced in 2017, has so far missed its 2020, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025 dates. Will 2026 be any different?
This Reddit user claims a Tesla employee left the door open on this Cybercab while charging. Sure! There’s steering wheel inside, which we’ve seen before. But also there’s something called “Rodeo controls” on the touchscreen, with buttons labeled “Short oops,” “Long oops,” “Win,” and “Voice notes.” These are no doubt controls for safety driver to record incidents or mistakes made by the self-driving system. Business Insider previously reported the existence of Tesla’s Project Rodeo, in which safety drivers would deliberately delay taking manual control longer than a typical driver.
No specs or timeframe accompanied the photos, or even a justification for why you’d want satellite internet in a taxi that targets dense urban environments where cellphone signal is strong. The car certainly doesn’t need it to drive, but, as Electrek notes, it’s a nice recurring revenue stream for SpaceX, and further justification for the two companies to merge and make Richie Rich another $1 trillion richer.
An escape clause in Elon Musk’s $1 trillion Tesla pay package approved last year would eliminate daunting operational targets if SpaceX were to purchase Tesla, as many expect. Under the terms, an acquisition treats those performance goals as met. Depending on the acquisition price SpaceX sets for Tesla, which Musk can heavily influence, a merger could instantly award him hundreds of millions of Tesla shares and consolidate his voting control.
The massive $16.8 billion chip facility, which is being built by Tesla and SpaceX with help from Intel, will be located in Grimes County, population 29,268. After securing over a billion dollars in tax breaks from two rural school districts, SpaceX says it will break ground later this year. The fab will supply AI chips to power Musk’s plans to build a “robot army” that includes self-driving cars and humanoid robots, as well as for the data centers he plans on launching into space.
“Fake news,” is how he responded to a Wall Street Journal report on the possible sale of Tesla’s business in its second-largest market:
Now, some Tesla executives have been told to prepare for a separation of the China business ahead of a potential merger, a person familiar with those talks said. And Tesla advisers have discussed possible options for a separation, including a spinoff, sale or closure, another person said.
Musk responded similarly to reports of mass layoffs at Twitter, canceling the $25,000 Model 2 ... you get the idea.
“When I logged into my Tesla account and view my lease/contract with it, it loads a PDF which just shows the Book of Enoch?” the anonymous owner said in a Reddit post (first spotted by Electrek). “What do I even do with this? Lol.” The Book of Enoch is a 2,000 year old apocalyptic religious book about angels and demons, so it’s anyone’s guess why it would pop up for a Tesla solar customer looking for their lease. AI-prompted mixup seems like a likely bet.
Props to Fred Lambert at Electrek for catching this: the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is requesting from Tesla all information about a document called “Radar Saves Us” in its investigation into Full Self-Driving crashes. The details could prove that Tesla knew its camera-only approach to autonomous driving was flawed, which could trigger another massive recall for the company.
Tesla filed an NHTSA crash report that lists the driver as “Remote (Commercial / Test),” which Electrek says is a first for Tesla. It’s one of numerous accidents with Tesla’s robotaxis in the past year, and involved a Model Y hitting a tree stump while trying to get out of a dead end road.
Not what anyone expected — or wanted — but a Tesla-branded balance bike is now available for the junior edgelord in your life.
New Jersey wants driverless cars, so long as they have multiple sensors. But Tesla’s are camera-only.
