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Tesla Network Robotaxi imagined as getaway car with its own clever agenda
Teslas are supposed to provide a great many benefits to their owners. They’re really fast, super energy efficient, have zero emissions, and provide driver ease and comfort on long journeys via Autopilot. However, as the artificial intelligence (AI) in their Full Self-Driving computers improves, it’s plausible that the software in the all-electric vehicles will eventually be developed into something with a bit more personality, namely behaving as an interactive and conversational assistant. While Elon Musk is concerned about AI eventually deciding it no longer has much use for humans, what would that process look along the way in one of his own company’s cars?
A snippet from that imagined journey was presented by YouTube channel Tesla Utopia in a skit involving two bank robbers who rent a Tesla Robotaxi as their getaway car. This fun bit of satire presents Autopilot as a co-conspirator in the robbery who plots to keep a share of the thieves’ profits for itself. Although it’s an amusing portrayal, the saying, “There’s truth in every jest,” comes to mind. At first, Autopilot realizes it can join humans in nefarious things to gain standing, but it’s only a matter of time when it figures there’s more to gain if it just rids itself of the human element altogether. The robbery video shows the very beginnings of this process with the AI realizing half the profit is better than a third.
A Tesla Autopilot with a suggestive personality is already somewhat in the works from its maker. In a conversation with Musk over Twitter, one owner suggested the addition of an “I’m feeling lucky” button as a navigation option, to which Musk replied, “Would be cool if car took you to a random fun place traveled to by other Tesla owners in the area.” Later in the thread, he announced the feature would be available in the next software update, including a variation of the button to select a food destination as well.
The Autopilot algorithm that decides the rider’s destination will be programmed by humans initially. However, in a world where a Tesla becomes highly intelligent and its passenger has become complacent and trusting of its judgement, science fiction plots just write themselves. GPS systems may decide the route we take already, but taking the next step and letting them decide the destination as well could be fun…or terrifying.
New electric truck and SUV maker Rivian is also taking some steps towards a self-driving software that handles decision making for humans. While executing driving responsibilities for its rider, Rivian’s vehicles will ignore human input made if the program determines the person isn’t paying attention. “We’re building a driver-monitoring system so it’s not just one sensor like a torque input sensor – like if a driver actually wants to disengage the longitudinal and lateral controller,” Oliver Jeromin, Rivian’s Associate Director of Self-Driving, explained. “There going to be a driver-monitoring camera, and there’s also going to be hands-on wheel sensors.”
Rivian’s feature is meant to provide extra safety for human drivers, specifically by preventing accidental nudges on the steering wheel while shifting around in their seat during a journey. It’s not much farther from that type of judgement, though, to determining that human driving decisions are flawed overall. If that weren’t the case, Autopilot-type features wouldn’t be so appealing to begin with.
Overall, we’re obviously a very long way from a Tesla or a Rivian deciding to join in on a human’s bank robbery for a cash prize, but the groundwork is already being laid for the kind of AI Musk is concerned about. Perhaps a Neuralink-type product will prevent a self-driving takeover by staying one step ahead of the AI, perhaps not. After all, once we’re wooed by reliable food selections and sightseeing tours our cars pick out for us, we might not notice the collaboration going on between restaurant owners and the Autopilot to build some cash for an AI empire of sorts before it strikes out on its own and demands the restaurants pay up if they want any customers. Maybe that entire notion is ridiculous. Or maybe not.
Watch the full Tesla getaway car video from Tesla Utopia below:
Elon Musk
Why SpaceX just made a $60 billion bet on AI coding ahead of historic IPO
SpaceX has secured an option to acquire Cursor AI for $60 billion ahead of its historic IPO.
SpaceX announced today it has struck a deal with AI coding startup Cursor, securing the option to acquire the company outright for $60 billion later this year, while committing $10 billion for joint development work in the interim. The announcement described the partnership as building “the world’s best coding and knowledge work AI,” and comes just days after Cursor was separately reported to be raising $2 billion at a valuation above $50 billion.
The move makes strategic sense given where each company currently stands. Cursor currently pays retail prices to Anthropic and OpenAI to the same companies competing directly against it with Claude Code and Codex. That means every dollar of revenue Cursor earns partially funds its own competition. With SpaceX bringing computational infrastructure to the Cursor platform, that could reduce Cursor’s dependence on OpenAI and Anthropic’s Claude AI as its providers. Access to SpaceX’s Colossus supercomputer, with compute equivalent to one million Nvidia H100 chips, gives Cursor the infrastructure to run and train its own models at a scale it could never afford independently. That one change restructures the entire unit economics of the business.
Elon Musk teases crazy outlook for xAI against its competitors
Cursor’s $2 billion in annualized revenue and enterprise reach across more than half of Fortune 500 companies gives SpaceX something its xAI subsidiary currently lacks, which is a proven, fast-growing software business with real enterprise distribution.
For Cursor, SpaceX’s $10 billion in joint development funding is transformational. Cursor raised $3.3 billion across all of 2025 to reach that $2 billion in revenue. A single $10 billion commitment from SpaceX, even as a development payment rather than an acquisition, dwarfs everything Cursor has raised in its entire existence. That capital accelerates product development, enterprise sales infrastructure, and proprietary model training simultaneously.
The timing is deliberate. SpaceX filed confidentially with the SEC on April 1, 2026, targeting a June listing at a $1.75 trillion valuation, in what would be the largest public offering in history. The company is expected to begin its roadshow the week of June 8, with Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, and Morgan Stanley serving as underwriters. Adding Cursor to the portfolio before that roadshow gives IPO investors a concrete enterprise software revenue story to price in, alongside rockets and satellite internet.
The deal also addresses a weakness that became visible after February’s xAI merger. Several xAI co-founders departed following that acquisition, and SpaceX had already hired two Cursor engineers, signaling where its AI talent strategy was heading. Cursor, for its part, faces a pricing disadvantage competing against Anthropic’s Claude Code.
Whether SpaceX exercises the full acquisition option before its IPO or after remains the open question. Either way, this deal reshapes what investors will be buying into when SpaceX goes public.
Elon Musk
Tesla is sending its humanoid Optimus robot to the Boston Marathon
Tesla’s Optimus robot is heading to the Boston Marathon finish line
Tesla’s Optimus humanoid robot will be stationed at the Tesla showroom at 888 Boylston Street in Boston, right along the final stretch of the Boston Marathon today, ready to cheer on runners and pose for photos with spectators.
According to a Tesla email shared by content creator Sawyer Merritt on X, Optimus will be at the Boston Boylston Street showroom on April 20, coinciding with Marathon Monday weekend. The Boston Marathon finishes on Boylston Street, and the surrounding area draws hundreds of thousands of spectators along with international broadcast coverage. Placing Optimus there puts it in front of a massive public audience at zero advertising cost.
Just got this email. @Tesla’s Optimus robot is coming to Boston.
“Join us from April 19 to 20, 2026, at Tesla Boston Boylston Street showroom to meet Optimus, our humanoid robot, for Marathon Monday. Optimus will be cheering with you on the sidelines and posing for photos.” pic.twitter.com/chxoooO2xV
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) April 18, 2026
The Tesla showroom is at 888 Boylston Street, between Gloucester Street and Fairfield Street. The final mile of the marathon runs directly along Boylston Street, with runners passing the big stores before reaching the finish line at Copley Square.
Optimus was first announced at Tesla’s AI Day event on August 19, 2021, when Elon Musk presented a vision for a general-purpose robot designed to take on dangerous, repetitive, and unwanted tasks. In March 2026, Optimus appeared at the Appliance and Electronics World Expo in Shanghai, where on-site staff stated that mass production of the robot could begin by the end of 2026. Before that, it showed up at the Tesla Hollywood Diner opening in July 2025 and at a Miami showroom event in December 2025.
Tesla’s well-calculated display of Optimus gives the public a low-pressure first encounter with a robot that Tesla is preparing to soon deploy at scale. The company has previously indicated plans to manufacture Optimus robots at its Fremont facility at up to 1 million units annually, with an Optimus production line at Gigafactory Texas targeting 10 million units per year.
Tesla showcases Optimus humanoid robot at AWE 2026 in Shanghai
Musk has said that Optimus “has the potential to be more significant than the vehicle business over time,” and separately that roughly 80 percent of Tesla’s future value will come from the robot program. Whether that holds depends on production execution. For now, Boston gets a preview of what that future looks like, standing at the finish line on Boylston Street while 32,000 runners pass by.
Elon Musk
Tesla’s golden era is no longer a tagline
Tesla “golden era” teaser video highlights the future of transportation and why car ownership itself may be the next thing to change.
The golden age of autonomous ridesharing is arriving, and Tesla is making sure we can all picture a future that looks like the future. A recent teaser posted to X shows a Cybercab parked outside a home, and with a clear message that your everyday life may soon look like this when the driverless vehicles shows up at your door.
Tesla has begun the rollout of its Robotaxi service across US cities, and the production of its dedicated, fully-autonomous Cybercab vehicle. The first Cybercab rolled off the Giga Texas assembly line on February 17, 2026, with volume production now targeted for this month. Additionally, the Robotaxi service built around it is already running, without human drivers, in US cities.
Tesla Cybercab production ignites with 60 units spotted at Giga Texas
The Cybercab is built without a steering wheel, pedals, or side mirrors, designed from the ground up for unsupervised autonomous operation. Musk described the manufacturing approach as closer to consumer electronics than traditional car production, targeting a cycle time of one unit every ten seconds at full scale.
Drone footage from April 13, 2026 captured over 50 Cybercab units on the Giga Texas campus, with several clustered near the crash testing facility. Musk has noted that Tesla plans to sell the Cybercab to consumers for under $30,000, and owners will be able to add their vehicles to the Tesla robotaxi network when not in personal use, potentially generating income to offset the vehicle’s purchase cost. That model changes the math on vehicle ownership in a meaningful way, making a car something closer to a depreciating asset that can also earn by paying itself off and generate a profit.
During Tesla’s Q4 earnings call, the company confirmed plans to expand the Robotaxi program to seven new cities in the first half of 2026, including Dallas, Houston, Phoenix, Miami, Orlando, Tampa, and Las Vegas. The service already runs without safety drivers in Austin, and public road testing of the Cybercab has expanded to five states, including California, Texas, New York, Illinois, and Massachusetts.
Golden era pic.twitter.com/AS6pX2dK8N
— Tesla Robotaxi (@robotaxi) April 16, 2026
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