Lifestyle
Bringing a Tesla to a Car Show
Northeast Philadelphia is perhaps the most perfect example of a classic, blue-collar town in America. With a population of 300,000 in this section of the city alone, it certainly has enough size to qualify as its own town. Filled with trademark row homes, it is densely populated and tight-knit, with many families choosing to settle mere blocks from where one or both adults grew up.
If Americans of all ages and backgrounds can agree on one thing, it’s that we love our cars! Specifically, we love American Muscle. There were no fewer than two dozen mustangs at this year’s Car Show, sponsored by a local oldies radio station (WOGL) and the credit union whose property it was held on. In fact, the gentleman who was parked beside me had one of the most beautiful mustangs I’ve ever seen. So it’s almost sad that he spent the entire day watching lines of people waiting to talk to me about my Tesla.
“Make no mistake about it, the shift has happened.”
In May of 2015, I decided to participate in this Car Show. It was the first time I had ever done so, but with our Model S all shined up and ready to be shown, I went home with a beautiful trophy. I spent all day fielding questions and several times being told that “I need gas” or “I’d miss the sound” or “it’s just not the same.” This from traditional gear heads, so I was always gracious. Overall people were positive and pleasant – plus very curious – but most hadn’t ever heard of Tesla.
368 days later? I estimate that more than 75% of the people I spoke with had heard of the car. A solid 50% knew exactly what it was and knew at least one thing about it. Unlike the few that thought they knew something about it last year, almost every fact I overheard someone claiming was true. “This car technically scored over 5 stars in safety,” “They’re making one that starts at $35,000 soon,” and “It’s both designed and built right here in America!” were some of things I was happy to hear.
As of today, it is still true that Tesla has not spent any money on placement or advertising in traditional mediums. There are no billboards, no glossy magazine spreads and certainly no commercials during the Super Bowl. Tesla has relied on word of mouth, social media and a really nice boost from the local news (overheard today: “I saw it on Channel 6, people were lining up!”) to get more and more Americans familiar with this idea of an electric car.
For this reason, I urge every owner, if you have the chance, to bring your Tesla to a local car show.
This year, I opened not to technically register my car for judgement. I was there just for the simple joy of getting to talk about it all day, as well as doing my duty to spread the word about the car.
Here are some of my favorite memories:
- Jay from near Hamilton New Jersey was well versed on the Superchargers in town. He knows someone with a Tesla and had a “curious story” to tell me. That acquaintance got a letter from Tesla that he was using that charger too much. Jay was there with a wood-sided station wagon from the 1970s, but also owns a 1980s Ford Escort that had been modified and converted into a replica Batmobile from the 1960s TV show version. He was a charmer, and guessed me a PR professional with a future in broadcasting.
- Two very short and very mature ladies (better than 70 I’d guess) were at the show together. They had not heard of the car but had a ton of questions. They were all very good, intelligent questions. Very quickly, one mentally calculated that the maintenance costs (or lack thereof) make this car totally worth it. I happen to agree.
- An electrician could not wait to ask me some specific questions about the amps/volts required to power this car. He made a very interesting observation. He likened this shift in technology to the advent and popular adoption of central air conditioning at home. He wanted to stay up-to-date knowing that all new homes built should probably be done with the ability to easily add a car charger in the garage, just like the accommodation of central air.
- Several folks who have already looked into or knew someone who was looking into buying this car. Remember, Northeast Philadelphia is a very traditional area, with modest wages and home values.
- Hundreds of men, women and children excitedly asking questions to understand what it’s like to live, drive and road trip with a Tesla. Some of whom stuck around for 10 minutes solid and really wanted to know everything.
I am so thrilled, if a little exhausted, at how differently the conversations today were framed compared to this time last year. Sure I had to tell people the same things we’re all used to repeating – around 250 miles; well it depends on the source of electricity but 1-2 hours per night; they invented these super fast chargers along major routes that are free – but this time they had heard of the car and wanted to know more.
Ford, Chevy and GM, be afraid. Be very afraid. Your key demographic has now heard of this not-so-little start up in California.
Here’s a Mustang, just for good measure.
Elon Musk
How to use Grok Bot to block spam calls and texts
Musk told users to ask Grok Bot to scrub their phone numbers from spam lists.
Elon Musk has a new use case for Grok Bot, and it is the spam call. On Thursday he replied to an X user named Arash with a short instruction: “Ask your @Grok @Bot to remove your phone number from spam call & text lists!” Arash had said he got tired of the calls, had an AI bot find his number on listing sites and file removal requests, and packaged the process as a free skill for others.
The skill is called Spam-Call Scrubber, which is described to find a phone number on people search sites and data brokers, submits the opt outs, completes the confirmation emails those sites send back, and rechecks on a schedule the user picks. Using it requires the Grok Bot app. The pitch is time saved, since most broker opt outs sit behind separate forms on separate sites.
Ask your @Grok @Bot to remove your phone number from spam call & text lists!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 15, 2026
Musk said Grok Bot now gives each bot its own email address, and that it can detect scam emails. On Thursday he also said SpaceX would make users whole if the bot botches a purchase or leaks a card, then told users to shop away from Amazon after the retailer blocked the agent, as Teslarati reported. The terms of service we reviewed at the time put responsibility for what an agent does on the user.
For Tesla owners, Grok Bot is not just a phone app. Tesla brought Grok Bot into its vehicles on September 22, and we argued earlier this week that the Cybercab’s real advantage may be the errands it runs during a ride. Every Cybercab and the rest of the Model Y Robotaxi fleet has it enabled. The more routine tasks like this one become, the more a rider has reason to hand over something personal in the back seat.
The new Spam-Call Scrubber skill can be downloaded for free and works on sites that honor removal requests, while noting that listings can reappear, and illegal robocallers do not check any registry. Whether Spam-Call Scrubber cuts anyone’s call volume is something the first wave of users will find out, and Musk’s endorsement guarantees that wave is coming.
For a century, the car has asked the same thing of its owner, which is basically to pay attention. Even the best ride-hailing app like Uber or Lyft only moved the problem into someone else’s hands. You stopped driving, but you still sat in a stranger’s car, while half listening, and wondering whether to take a phone call in the car without being rude. The Cybercab has no wheel, no pedals and no driver. With Grok @bot now live inside it, it becomes something else entirely, and I think that matters more than the fleet count that everyone is tracking.
Grok @bot is an agent, not a voice assistant. A rider signs in once, and from then on can say what they need and watch it happen. Order dinner from a favorite restaurant. Fill the grocery cart. Move money, answer email, adjust a calendar, push a work project forward. Tesla engineer Yun-Ta Tsai confirmed it is enabled across every Cybercab and the rest of the Model Y fleet, and Tesla’s own pitch is that Full Self-Driving handles the commute while Grok handles the errands.
Think about what that does to a thirty minute ride. Uber sells you a trip, while Waymo sells you the same trip in a more private setting. Tesla is selling the thirty minutes themselves, returned to you with an assistant attached. Errands that used to eat a Saturday get done between pickup and drop off. The ride stops being dead time between two places and becomes a place of its own.
Tesla integrates Grok Bot into its vehicles for the ultimate personal assistant
Best of all, your Bots follow you into any Cybercab, and presumably your own Tesla, then logs you out automatically when you step out. Anyone can bolt a chatbot onto a screen, but much harder to own the vehicle, the autonomy stack and the assistant at once. It also quietly ties SpaceX’s Super Intelligence business to Tesla’s fleet, after Tesla converted its xAI stake into SpaceX equity. The relationship between those two companies is getting harder to describe as separate.
This is also where the hard questions start, because an agent that can spend your money in a vehicle other people also ride in needs some answers. How does it handle a voice it shouldn’t trust? What gets recorded, who can see it, and for how long? What happens when a rider leaves halfway through a task?
If Tesla gets those answers right, the scoreboard changes. We have been counting Cybercabs and wait times. The more telling number may be what riders accomplish per trip. That is data almost no one else will ever have, and it is the real reason to watch Grok @bot.
What do you think? Leave me a comment.
Lifestyle
Tesla’s mirrorless Cybercab will give riders a visibility upgrade
Tesla engineer confirms Cybercab update letting riders pull up rear and repeater cameras on demand.
Tesla is working on a Cybercab update that would let passengers pull up the vehicle’s rear and side cameras on demand, and the request came straight from a rider.
The exchange played out on X late Friday. Cybercab rider Dan Burkland shared photos of the two-seater’s cabin screen after an evening ride, praised the UI team’s work, and left one request: let riders open the rear and repeater cameras whenever they want, “especially for peace of mind.” Tesla UI software engineer Evan (@CarCoder) answered with two words: “In development.”
The Tesla UI team absolutely crushed it with the infotainment software. Nicely done @CarCoder!
One feature request: Allow folks to pull up the rear & repeater cameras on demand. This would be great especially for peace of mind. https://t.co/mNAOSLx6pE
— Dan Burkland (@DBurkland) October 10, 2026
The idea fits a pattern Teslarati has tracked since public rides began. Days after paid Cybercab service opened in Austin, Tesla sent riders a survey that asked them to rate the touchscreen, the app and the cabin, and to pick the features they wanted most. We reported on that survey in September, and a camera view is the kind of small software change Tesla can push quickly if riders keep asking.
It also speaks to something unique about the vehicle. With no steering wheel, no pedals and no driver, passengers have no mirror to check and no way to see behind them. The hardware is clearly built for camera awareness, from the repeater cameras to the rear camera. Letting a passenger look through those same cameras would give a nervous first time rider a way to confirm what is around the car.
The timing matters because the fleet is growing fast. Tesla’s Robotaxi account said on Saturday that more than 300 Cybercabs are now serving Austin, an eightfold increase in 30 days, and Tesla AI chief Ashok Elluswamy named Dallas as the next city. More cars and more cities mean more people riding in a driverless vehicle for the first time, which is exactly when small trust features carry weight.
For now, the feature is confirmed only as in development. If Tesla follows its usual pattern with Cybercab software, riders could see it appear in a point release without any announcement, and Teslarati will watch for it.
Tesla made napping in a Robotaxi easier with its latest update
FCC green lights SpaceX’s move to a showdown with Verizon and AT&T
