Tesla Space #44: ⚡ Wario arrived with your robotaxi

QUICK SEMI ROUNDUP

Now, you’ve actually got a choice to make. Either read my Semi roundup and everything new I learned (good stuff incoming) below, or just watch our latest video I put together about it with the team!

It has a bunch of my live photos and videos in it from the spot, and everything important I learned:

If you decided to go for the written version, I’ll do it here in bullet points, to force myself to write it all in a bit of a shorter format for you:

My key learnings I shared with you last week:

• Tesla Semi is fully ready as it is right now for the European market entry — if they wanted to. Two separate US team members confirmed this to me.

• They don’t want to — Semi will be launched in Europe sometime after 2026, they’ll ramp up the Semi factory and cater North American market first. Dan Priestley told me they’ll likely again use first Semis for their own Giga Berlin operations.

• They only needed to do a bunch of small changes for what they call the European Development Platform (in-house, driver told me this) compared to US version, like blinker lights and wheel covers. No cab length changes are necessary because of new regulation length allowance around aerodynamic cabs.

On the Semi truck specifics and my ride in it:

• Tesla is already saving space in the existing design of the Semi for the sleeper cab version – evident from the metal frame outside the truck in the back of the cab (my video here).

• I became one of the first few “regular” people to get an actual ride in the Tesla Semi. It was a quiet, smooth ride. Great visibility, great turning radius, driver said regen is strong enough that he didn’t use the brake once.

• The Tesla team member driving confirmed they have developed an independent front suspension.

• Three cameras on each mirror, and storage compartments on both sides give it quite the space — they pop open through a door button or touchscreen tap.

• The competition is very interested in this truck, from several people bringing tape measurers, to a Chinese group all crouching near the wheels of the truck.

See images and videos on these on two of my viral threads on X: The one about the ride and larger plans | the other one about the sleeper cab and details. Combined with the Dan’s speeches I filmed and to which I’ll link to below, this coverage went to do over two million impressions on X. Pretty wild. Even got a response from Elon, although not quite the kind I expected.

New stuff I learned:

In our private discussion, I asked Dan Priestley whether the Tesla Semi will incorporate both MCS - or Megawatt Charging Standard and CCS2 that is currently widespread in Europe also for trucks until MCS is standardized, to which both Dan and Graham Carrol, the head of business development for Tesla Semi Program next to him:

“We will never do CCS” for Semis in Europe.

They also said of course that interoperability is key, and they will work together with customers to find what best suits their needs.

I told Dan Priestley during our chat that Tesla should really consider doing such test drive – or test ride – events in the US. Dan did say that it is just so hard to create a space for using trucks like this – all the trucks they produce are in operation and they don’t have so-called “show trucks” like other manufacturers, instead they try and maximize utilization of each unit.

Dan Priestley also gave two talks at the conference, and naturally I was there in the front seat for both to film them:

• A keynote speech (my video), and

• A case study of PepsiCo’s Tesla Semi fleet, where he shared the stage with Dejan Antunović, the Electrification Program Manager at PepsiCo (video with my notes).

Some brief learnings from these:

• The Tesla Semi fleet has driven over 7.5 million kilometers to date, which is about 4.66 million miles.

• Tesla also has an all-electric Tesla Semi truck in their fleet that has operated for less than 18 months and it already has driven over 250,000 miles in that timeframe, and those miles have all been done at around North American gross vehicle weight limits.

• Dan confirmed on his speech, that “Tesla Semi will be street legal in Europe and be compatible with European trailers.”

• PepsiCo’s current Tesla Semi fleet per depots are:

  • Modesto California, 15 Tesla Semis for regional long-haul

  • Sacramento California, 21 Semis for beverages (heavier payloads), 18 of them are local with shorter mileage, and 3 are long-haul, going into Center California etc. 

  • Fresno, California, currently deploying 50 trucks, so far positive reaction there, 45 of those will be city or localized transport, 5 will be regional long haul. 

On the Frito Lay side they've seen consistent 0.8 kWh per kilometer (1.29 kWh per mile) efficiency over the two years. This is so significant that I actually let out a whistle in the audience you can hear on the video… sorry not sorry!

Heavy-duty Pepsi side Semis are at 1kWh/km (1.609 kWh/mi) efficiency, per Dejan. This would make the trucks the most efficient electric Class 8 in production in the world today.

I’m very excited to see the Semi ramp up and also start operations this side of the pond. We’ll leave the coverage at that, here’s a pic from the event:

TESLA, GLOBALLY

Tesla still holds the top spot in the Gartner Digital Automaker index. What has changed over the years is that legacy automakers like Toyota, VW fall further behind, while EV-only makers and Chinese EV startups rise to the top. (link)

Elon Musk met with various world leaders today in New York during the United Nations General Assembly, like the Italian Prime Minister, President of South Africa, President of Argentina.

Here’s a video of Elon’s speech giving the PM of Italy, Giorgia Meloni, a Global Citizens Award. Just last week, he met the President of El Salvador (video). It really seems like Elon is just cosplaying the President of Earth or something.

Tesla has launched a new "Schedule a Drive" page, which notes you can also experience the FSD.

Quick takes:

• We are now 16 days away from the Robotaxi event (10/10).

• Tesla produced 100 millionth 4680 cell across all their factories.

• Elon on e-buses: “Buses will not be needed when Tesla rolls out unsupervised full self-driving, as they will take people point to point for a similar cost to a bus ticket.”

• Tesla has launched a new "Schedule a Drive" page, which notes you can also experience the FSD.

• Tesla is planning to build a Cyberbear statue outside of its Global Engineering Headquarters in Palo Alto in an ode to the state that was its home for many years.

• Tesla China says a new Tesla comes out of their Giga Shanghai factory about every 30 seconds. That's an avg of nearly 2,900 vehicles per day or over 20,100 vehicles per week.

TESLA VEHICLES

With our Semi coverage last week, I didn’t even get the chance to report on the weird robotaxi sighting on the Warner Bros lot. An employee on site found this vehicle, accompanied by another Tesla behind it, on the 13th of September.

It’s unclear if this is a decoy launched by Tesla on purpose, or if the actual robotaxi is hidden behind all this cartoonish deco, but it seems like it basically could. The telltale sign for me is the camera spot on the B-pillar there, which we’ve already reported has been tested on the engineering vehicles, and sits perfectly into one of the early prototype images (I drew it in the green circle for ya):

Of course, the first thing I did when I saw this camo was… memes. This one went especially wide on X with around 2,400 likes by now and whatnot:

The other meme only got half that…

Quick takes:

• 🇺🇸 The Tesla Model Y is very close to becoming the #1 bestselling vehicle in the US, of any fuel type, according to new data from Experian — with a 2.8% market share, just slightly below the Toyota RAV4.

• 🇨🇳 In China, Tesla Model Y is also the best-selling SUV of any fuel type, so far this year.

• 🇺🇸 In July, Tesla delivered 5,175 Cybertrucks in the US, while other EV pickups combined sold just 5,546 units during the same period.

• 🇺🇸 🇨🇦 Tesla Shop now has Model 3/Y projection lights (aka puddle lights) in North America for $65 (CA$90). Here’s how they look on real-life video, as it has been available from Tesla China for half a year already.

• New largest custom Cybertruck Lightshow record: 78 Cybertrucks “dancing” to Kanye’s All of the Lights at the Florida Cyberfest.

• Rappers (DaBaby here, 35M monthly listeners) now using Cybertruck as album covers, and launched even a song titled Cybertruck.

• 🇨🇦 Cybertruck likely to arrive in Canada late October per Siddhant Awasthi (CT Vehicle Program manager) and deliveries starting in 🇲🇽 Mexico now.

• Watch tip: Firefighters training to crack Cybertruck's windows, invited to try it by ALSET Collision. Took 3 swings for the first crack to form, and 12+ to actually break through.

• Reading tip: A deep dive into what makes Cybertruck’s audio system so great (with dismantling the system).

• Reading tip: Wes Morrill explains Conway’s Law and how it applies to Tesla’s design. He says it’s “engrained as a mindset in all the teams and encouraged by our leadership.”

• Reading tip: “How the Tesla Roadster Changed Automotive History”

SUPERCHARGING

🇦🇺 Tesla launched its 100th Supercharger site in Australia and wrapped the Supercharger in green and gold, Australia's national colors which is why it looks so much like that Raygun… don’t lie I know you saw it.

Autumn 2024 Supercharger location voting is now open for Europe, and North America & Asia coming soon. If you haven’t come across this before, Tesla has a 3-month voting cycle where you can cast 5 votes to different locations globally. Tesla then prioritizes building out the winner locations, usually highlighting 10-20 winners globally. The winner of the Summer cycle was Ostroda, Poland, and other winners can be found here.

I personally l o v e this initiative, especially as it brings local Tesla owner communities together to get their picks in the winner spot.

The Tesla Diner site at 7001 Santa Monica Blvd, Hollywood is continuing to take shape, almost a year after it broke ground. They are doing the final grading of the parking/charging lot and installing decorative LEDs on the outside of the diner. Here’s a drone video from last week.

• Tesla has now begun to charge for Supercharging by the partial kWh, rather than by rounding down to the nearest kWh.

• Wes Morrill (lead engineer of Cybertruck) says he would “recommend against using an extension cord on a supercharger (or any DC charging station with a liquid cooled cable). Have seen multiple instances of the cable overheated and shorting DC +/-.” A2Z, whose NACS DC extension cord product Wes was replying this about, confirms they key points they’ll improve before launch after discussion with Wes. It’s great seeing the industry work together on actual problems and safety. 

FSD, TECH & SOFTWARE

Tesla FSD v12.5.4 started rolling out, for both HW3 and HW4 vehicles. The release includes a new larger radius (radius expanded by 66ft going from 213ft to 279ft) for Actually Smart Summon (ASS) and includes vision-based attention monitoring with sunglasses. This means FSD with “no nags” can now be used also with sunglasses.

The official range of the ASS, measured from your phone’s location, is now 279ft (85 meters, it was 66ft before the update). The Summon can also operate for a max 7.5 minutes.

You can also choose a “completion sound” when the car reaches the destination, and, as common for Easter Eggs with Tesla, you can enable “Emissions on Abort”, which lets out the fart sound whenever the Summon session is aborted. In short, the ASS now has fart sounds.

Tesla shows a great two-angle video of the Actually Smart Summon (ASS 🍑).

And here’s another great video on this improved ASS from AIDRIVR. Seeing the “what the frunk” faces on the videos of a Tesla driving without someone in the car is wild.