Tesla just launched a new in-car AI voice assistant in China, partnering with ByteDance's Doubao for vehicle controls and DeepSeek for conversational queries. The hands-free "Hey Tesla" assistant debuts on the new six-seat Model Y L. It marks a pragmatic localization push to close the smart cabin gap with domestic EV rivals like BYD and Nio.
Tesla just inked a $16.5 billion deal with Samsung to manufacture its next-generation AI6 chip at Samsung's new Texas foundry. The custom silicon is designed as an all-in-one chip powering FSD, Optimus humanoid robots, and data center training. Elon Musk hinted that actual spending could end up several times higher.
OpenAI just hired four high-profile engineers from rivals Tesla, xAI, and Meta to bulk up its scaling team. The recruits include former Tesla VP David Lau and xAI infrastructure lead Uday Ruddarraju, who helped build the 200,000-GPU Colossus supercomputer. The move signals escalating talent wars as OpenAI pushes forward on massive infrastructure projects like Stargate.
Elon Musk just shared that Tesla tentatively plans to kick off its robotaxi service on June 22 in Austin, Texas. The rollout will start small with 10 to 20 Model Ys across a limited radius, though Musk warned the date could shift as the team remains paranoid about safety.
Tesla’s humanoid robot engineering lead Milan Kovac just announced his departure from the company after a decade, with Autopilot chief Ashok Elluswamy reportedly taking over. Why it matters: Elon Musk has pegged Tesla's future on building 5,000 Optimus bots this year, making this high-profile leadership shakeup a major test for its robotics timeline.
Elon Musk just shared a clip of Tesla’s Optimus humanoid robot dancing, showing off significantly smoother balance and coordination. Musk explained the robot learned the movements purely through reinforcement learning in simulation before transferring to the real world. While still slightly awkward and backed by a safety tether, it highlights Tesla's progress closing the tricky sim-to-real reality gap.
Tesla just secured a commercial ride-hailing permit in California, clearing the path to compete head-on with Uber and Lyft. The catch is that human drivers are still mandatory—the permit doesn't cover autonomous vehicles. Tesla plans to have employees drive other staff first before rolling the app-based service out to the public.
xAI just purchased a 1-million-square-foot property in Southwest Memphis to expand its massive Colossus supercomputer cluster. The facility complements an existing site that features an $80 million wastewater recycling plant and the world's largest Tesla Megapack deployment to reduce strain on local grids. Why it matters: Elon Musk's race for raw computing scale isn't slowing down, and xAI is locking down the physical footprint needed to power next-gen frontier models.
Uber and Waymo just launched autonomous rides in Austin, Texas, giving Uber riders a chance to get picked up by an all-electric Jaguar I-PACE with no human driver behind the wheel. The ride comes at no extra cost, and passengers can easily opt in or out. It plants robotaxis right in Tesla's home territory ahead of its own planned rollout.
OpenAI just published historical emails and timelines hitting back at Elon Musk's repeated lawsuits. The records reveal Musk himself pushed to turn OpenAI into a for-profit entity back in 2017 and even incorporated a company, but walked away after being denied majority control and the CEO role.
Tesla just showed off an upgraded hand for its Optimus humanoid robot, featuring human-like tendons and 22 degrees of freedom in the hand alone. All actuation moved to the forearm to enable finer dexterity, though the demo was once again teleoperated by humans rather than fully autonomous.
Advocacy group Americans for Responsible Innovation just launched a petition urging President-elect Trump to appoint Elon Musk as a special White House AI adviser. The group says Musk uniquely balances technological advancement with AI safety, though critics point out potential conflicts of interest across his business empire.
Tesla is reportedly hosting its October 10 Robotaxi unveiling at the Warner Bros. studio lot in Burbank, California. The controlled movie set features simulated suburban homes and downtown streets, allowing Tesla to pre-map the route and avoid real-world traffic during live demos. Staging the debut on a private lot will guarantee a smooth show, but critics note it skirts the real test of chaotic public roads.
Agibot, founded by former Huawei "Genius Youth" Peng Zhihui, just unveiled a new family of five humanoid robots designed to rival Tesla's Optimus. The flagship bipedal Yuanzheng A2 stands 175 cm tall and runs on multimodal AI capable of tasks as delicate as threading a needle, targeting both household and factory floors.
Elon Musk just announced that Tesla will have genuinely useful Optimus humanoid robots in low production for internal factory use next year, pushing back his earlier target of late this year. If all goes to plan, Musk hopes to scale into high production for external customers by 2026.
Tesla just showcased its second-generation Optimus humanoid robot at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai, making it a rare U.S. presence at the event. However, the unit remained completely stationary inside a glass enclosure without visitor interaction. While Elon Musk believes Optimus could eventually catapult Tesla to a $25 trillion valuation, mass production remains some ways off.
Elon Musk and Meta's Yann LeCun just clashed in an unfiltered spat on X over scientific publishing and AI hype. After LeCun slammed Musk's apocalyptic claims and wild deadlines, Musk questioned LeCun's recent research credentials. Why it matters: The clash exposes the widening rift between open academic science and secretive, hype-driven commercial labs.
Elon Musk just posted on X that Tesla will officially unveil its long-promised robotaxi on August 8th. The autonomous vehicle is reportedly built on Tesla's next-generation platform, as reports surface that the company is shelving its $25,000 mass-market EV to go all-in on self-driving.
OpenAI just published a sharp rebuttal to Elon Musk's lawsuit, releasing old emails to push back against his claims. The records show Musk once pushed to merge OpenAI into Tesla, demanded controlling equity, and explicitly agreed that building AGI didn't require open-sourcing the science. Why it matters: OpenAI is dismantling Musk's narrative before the court, showing he backed their pivot until he walked away.
Elon Musk just shared a video of Tesla's Optimus robot folding a t-shirt, but admitted it wasn't acting autonomously. While the demo showed off impressive hardware dexterity, the bot was essentially following scripted motions in a controlled setup. Why it matters: Mechanical progress is evident, but fully autonomous household chores remain a distant goal.
