Lifestyle
Tesla advocate fighting cancer greeted by Elon, Franz, in special tour of Fremont factory
In a recently shared story on Facebook, a man diagnosed with cancer was given what could only be described as the best experience a Tesla owner and advocate could possibly wish for – meet Elon Musk and Franz von Holzhausen following a special tour of the Fremont factory.
The heartwarming tale was shared by Alan Miller, whose friend, Dr. Matthew Chan, was recently diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer. Heeding the advice given to him by his wife – “When people have cancer they go to a dark place and they don’t want you to pretend or ignore them, they just want to know when they’re in that place that you’ll be with them, by their side.” – Alan did exactly that by giving Matt an experience that would remind him that there will always be people by his side.
Matt is a Tesla superfan, and during one conversation, Alan asked him what he would like to do. After being prodded to think bigger, Matt stated that it would be awesome if he could meet Tesla CTO JB Straubel or Chief Designer Franz Von Holzhausen, the team behind Tesla’s iconic powertrain and vehicle design. “I want to meet the man behind the man – the one who is told to get the job done and has to figure out how to do it. Because that’s who I am,” said Matt.
Alan went on a social media crusade to make Matt’s wish come true, and he was floored by the response from the Tesla community. After numerous emails, conversations, and an anonymous phone call which supposedly provided the personal mobile number of JB Straubel’s cell phone, Matt’s personal tour of the Fremont, CA factory and a meet-and-greet with Tesla Chief Designer Franz von Holzhausen were arranged.
The initial plan for Matt’s tour was quite simple. He would get a personal tour of the Fremont facility, meet Franz, and go home. When the tour actually happened, however, things began to take an interesting turn. It didn’t take long before Matt, his sister Danielle, his brother-in-law Billy, and Alan realized that this tour was something far more special than what they were expecting.
Photos courtesy of Alan Miller via Facebook
After getting the VIP treatment in his tour of the Fremont facility, Matt sat for an hour with Franz, who talked about how much passion goes into the creation of Tesla’s vehicles. Franz conversed with Matt about various aspects of the cars’ design, as well as his goal of making “people fall in love with the car, but (they) not know why.” According to Alan’s Facebook post about the tour, Matt was utterly awestruck the entire time.
Following the meeting with Franz, Matt was invited to test drive a car with the Tesla designer. Before Matt could get into the car with Franz, however, a fully-loaded Model S rolled up, and Elon Musk emerged. According to Alan, Musk was incredibly polite and cordial, speaking to Matt for a few minutes before disappearing into the Fremont factory.
Courtesy of Alan Miller via Facebook
Matt’s Fremont experience was capped off by Franz personally signing his Model X 90D’s dashboard. By this time, Alan noted that his friend was on Cloud 9.
Stories such as these are not usually publicized by Tesla, and it is only through the online community that these tales are shared. Back in December, veteran Tesla owner and active community member Bonnie Norman also shared the story of a terminally-ill man who was bumped up the Model 3 reservation line to fulfill one of the last items on his bucket list.
Tesla proved once more that it isn’t just a company with a vision, it is also a company with a huge heart.
“Matt, you are a great friend and your parents, family and friends will always be there for you – whatever place, dark or not, you are in,” says Alan.
Elon Musk
Tesla ditches India after years of broken promises
Tesla has ditched its plans to build a factory in India after years of failed negotiations.
Tesla’s long-running effort to establish a manufacturing presence in India is officially over. India’s Minister of Heavy Industries H.D. Kumaraswamy confirmed on May 19, 2026 that Tesla has informed authorities it will not proceed with a manufacturing facility in the country.
Tesla first signaled serious interest in India around 2021, when it began hiring local staff and lobbying the Indian government for lower import tariffs. The ask was straightforward: reduce duties enough for Tesla to test the market with imported vehicles before committing capital to a local factory. India’s position was equally firm, with an ask of Tesla to commit to manufacturing first, then receive tariff relief. Neither side moved, and the talks quietly collapsed.
Tesla to open first India experience center in Mumbai on July 15
India had offered a policy that would reduce import duties from 110% down to 15% on EVs priced above $35,000, provided companies committed at least $500 million toward local manufacturing investment within three years. Tesla declined to participate. The tariff standoff was only part of the problem. Analysts pointed to significant gaps in India’s local supply chain, inadequate industrial infrastructure, and a mismatch between Tesla’s premium pricing and the purchasing power of India’s automotive market as additional factors that made the investment difficult to justify.
First signs of an unraveling relationship came in April 2024, when Musk abruptly cancelled a planned trip to India where he was set to meet Prime Minister Modi and announce Tesla’s market entry. By July 2024, Fortune reported that Tesla executives had stopped contacting Indian government officials entirely. The government at that point understood Tesla had capital constraints and no plans to invest.
The more fundamental issue is that Tesla’s existing factories are currently operating at approximately 60% capacity, making a commitment to building new manufacturing capacity in a new market difficult to defend to investors. Tesla will continue selling imported Model Y vehicles through its existing showrooms in Mumbai, Delhi, Gurugram, and Bengaluru, but local production is no longer part of the plan.
Elon Musk
Trump’s invite for Elon just reshuffled Tesla’s big Signature Delivery Event
Tesla rescheduled its final Model S farewell to May 20 after Musk joined Trump in China.
Tesla has rescheduled its Model S and Model X Signature Edition delivery event to Wednesday, May 20, 2026, after abruptly calling off the original May 12 celebration. The event will take place at Tesla’s factory at 45500 Fremont Boulevard in Fremont, California, the same location where the Model S first rolled off the line in 2012. Invitees received a follow-up email asking them to reconfirm attendance and download a new QR code ticket, with Tesla noting that all travel and accommodation expenses remain the buyer’s responsibility.
The reason behind the original cancellation came into focus the same day it was announced. President Trump invited Elon Musk, Apple’s Tim Cook, BlackRock’s Larry Fink, Boeing’s Kelly Ortberg, and executives from Goldman Sachs, Blackstone, Citigroup, and Meta to join his trip to China this week for a summit with President Xi Jinping. The agenda covers trade, artificial intelligence, export controls, Taiwan, and the Iran war, following weeks of escalating friction between Washington and Beijing over AI technology, sanctions, and rare earth exports. Trump wrote on Truth Social, “I am very much looking forward to my trip to China, an amazing Country, with a Leader, President Xi, respected by all.”
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The vehicles at the center of all this are the last Model S and Model X units Tesla will ever build. Priced at $159,420 each, the 250 Model S and 100 Model X Signature Edition units come finished in Garnet Red with a one-year no-resale agreement, giving Tesla right of first refusal if the owner decides to sell. As Teslarati reported, the Model S defined Tesla’s early identity as a serious luxury automaker, and the Fremont factory line that built it is now being converted to manufacture Optimus humanoid robots.
Musk’s inclusion in the China delegation drew attention given his very public relationship with Trump, and the invitation signals the two have moved past and past grievances. Trump originally brought Musk on to lead the Department of Government Efficiency following his inauguration, and despite a sharp public dispute in mid-2025, the two have appeared together repeatedly in recent months. A seat on the China trip, the most diplomatically consequential visit of Trump’s current term, puts Musk back at the table on U.S. economic policy at a moment when Tesla’s China revenue remains one of the company’s most important financial pillars.
Lifestyle
Tesla Semi hauls fresh Cybercab batch as Robotaxi era takes hold
A Tesla Semi was filmed hauling Cybercab units out of Giga Texas for the first time.
A Tesla Semi loaded with Cybercab units was recently filmed leaving Gigafactory Texas, marking what appears to be the first documented delivery run of Tesla’s autonomous two-seater. The footage shows multiple Cybercabs secured on a flatbed trailer being hauled by a production Tesla Semi, a truck rated for a gross combination weight of 82,000 lbs. The location is consistent with Giga Texas in Austin, where Cybercab production has been ramping since February 2026.
The sighting follows a wave of Cybercab activity at the Austin facility. In late April, drone operator Joe Tegtmeyer spotted approximately 60 Cybercabs parked in two organized groups in the factory’s outbound lot, the largest concentration observed to date. Units being staged in an outbound lot is a standard pre-delivery step, and the Semi footage is the logical next frame in that sequence.
En route with @tesla_semi pic.twitter.com/ZfuOjaeLH1
— Tesla Robotaxi (@robotaxi) May 7, 2026
This is not the first time Tesla has used its own Semi to move Tesla products. When the Semi was unveiled in 2017, Musk noted it would be used for Tesla’s own operations, and over the years Semi prototypes were spotted carrying cargo ranging from concrete weights to Tesla vehicles being delivered to consumers. In 2023, a Semi was photographed transporting a Cybertruck on a trailer ahead of that vehicle’s delivery launch.
The Cybercab itself was first revealed publicly at Tesla’s “We, Robot” event on October 10, 2024, at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, where 20 pre-production units gave attendees rides around the studio lot. Musk stated at the event that Tesla intends to produce the Cybercab before 2027. The first production unit rolled off the Giga Texas line on February 17, 2026, with Musk posting on X: “Congratulations to the Tesla team on making the first production Cybercab.”
Tesla’s annual production goal is 2 million Cybercabs per year once multiple factories reach full design capacity, with the company targeting a price under $30,000 per unit. Tesla has confirmed plans to expand its robotaxi service to seven cities in the first half of 2026, including Dallas, Houston, Phoenix, Miami, Orlando, Tampa, and Las Vegas, building on the unsupervised service already running in Austin. Musk has said he expects robotaxis to cover between a quarter and half of the United States by end of year.
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