Tesla

When it’s in the Bay Area. Tesla has sent out invites for its “ride-hailing service,” conspicuously absent any Robotaxi branding.

A regulatory filing surfaced Monday morning in Korea showing the underperforming electronics giant won an order to build chips for an unnamed large global tech company in a contract that runs through 2033.

Tesla has been promising more affordable models as the thing that will help pull it out of its current rut. But in an earnings call Wednesday, the company’s CEO came right out and confirmed rumors that it would just be a stripped down version of the Model Y, rather than a brand new vehicle program. “It’s a Model Y,” Musk said. “I let the cat out of the bag there.” The cheaper Model Y is currently in production and expected to go on sale in the fourth quarter of 2025. (Musk’s response to the question starts at 1:00:14.)

The delivery took place in Austin, Texas, last month. Apparently the vehicle did fine until it arrived at its destination, at which point it promptly parked in a fire lane. This photo appeared in the company’s second quarter earnings report for shareholders. Nice work, everyone.

EV prices could go up by as much as $1,000 thanks to the Trump administration’s decision to impose a 93.5 percent tariff on graphite imports from China. Tesla lobbied against the levy, arguing that US-based graphite producers aren’t prepared to supply the essential battery material “at the quality and purity required by Tesla and other battery cell manufacturers.” But those pleas fell on deaf ears. In addition to Tesla, companies like Ford and Panasonic that are building battery plants in the US are going to be negatively impacted.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Troy Jones, director of Tesla’s North American sales, is leaving after 15 years at the company. This comes after Tesla reported a steep drop in sales for the second quarter. Other execs have similarly been fleeing. Elon Musk fired Omead Afshar, who formerly led operations in North America and Europe. And the company’s director of human resources for North America, Jenna Ferrua, departed in June, according to the Journal. The C-suite is getting thin.

Don’t expect Elon’s EV company to turn its fortunes around any time soon after launching in India today. It may be the world’s third-biggest auto market, but EVs make up less than 5 percent.

The xAI chatbot will arrive on Tesla vehicles by “next week at the latest,” according to Elon Musk, who previously said in January that it was “coming soon.” This wasn’t mentioned during last night’s live demo of Grok 4.

Apparently following through on his threat to challenge Republicans who supported Donald Trump’s budget bill, Musk tweeted, “Today, the America Party is formed to give you back your freedom.” He also said it will be ready next year -- a “consistently proven wrong” theme for Musk.

A bunch of Tesla fans seem to think that the popular YouTuber needs to shave his head now that Tesla has successfully launched its (very limited, still in beta) robotaxi service. After all, that was the bet he made last year, right? Not so fast, Marques says. Here he is on the Waveform podcast reminding us about the actual bet he made.

When I first saw the Robotaxi wordmark, I assumed someone had already vandalized the car like a Waymo caught in a protest. The creative experts consulted by Fast Company are even more critical of the cyberdork aesthetic:

By most accounts, the company’s robotaxi launch in Austin yesterday went off without a hitch. Most of the Tesla fans and influencers who received invites to test it out said the experience was “smooth” and “natural.” But you knew something was going to happen, and that something turned out to be a robotaxi briefly driving in the opposite lane of traffic. Not a good look.