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BMW and VW says Tesla’s Grohmann Engineering must fulfill past contractual obligations
BMW and VW are pushing back against the newly formed partnership between Tesla and Grohmann Engineering amid reports that the Silicon Valley automaker has requested Grohmann to cease work on existing customers, as it pushes to bring Model 3 to market in July.
Recently publicized spats over wages and benefits arising from fears over job instability from Grohmann’s 700 employees, and reported clashes between Grohmann founder and Tesla Chief Elon Musk, has led to strong tensions behind closed doors. BMW and VW claim that the rebranded Tesla Grohmann Automation has sent mixed messages about its intentions, yet Germany’s largest automakers continue to take a strong stance and asking Grohmann to fulfill its contractual obligations.
However, a report from German publication Wirtschaftswoche indicates that Grohmann’s work counselor Uwe Herzig said (via Google Translate) that “the workload caused by new Tesla projects was so great that it has only been working on Tesla projects for a few weeks.”
It is clear that a competitor buying up a key supplier is cause for concern, but at this point what is not clear is whether or not Tesla has failed to fulfill any of its contractual obligations. BMW and VW have both gone on record stating that they both expect the new Tesla Grohmann Automation unit to fulfill existing contracts.
While the short-term pressure is causing tension for Tesla and headaches for its entrenched competition in Germany, Tesla is confident that there is a bright future for Grohmann. A Tesla spokeswoman (via Google Translate) shared that the company is confident that Tesla Grohmann Automation will “grow significantly over time, despite concentration on internal orders.”
Beyond just retaining existing employees, Tesla Grohmann has flooded the local market with job advertisements even going so far as to hire headhunters to find skilled workers, according to local reports. One of the job descriptions for an Engineer can be seen on Tesla’s careers page, listed below.
Engineer
Department: Engineering
Location: Prüm, Germany
Req. ID44211
Job Type: Perm Eu
Supercharge your career!
We are hiring world-class Engineering talent to help us build the machine that builds the machine. Looking for excellence in Electrical/Mechanical/Automation Engineering and other technical disciplines. A passion for technically complex tasks and problem solving is essential.
Tesla is committed to hiring and developing top talent from across the world for any given discipline. Our world-class teams operate with a non-conventional product development philosophy of high inter-disciplinary collaboration, flat organizational structure, and technical contribution at all levels. You will be expected to challenge and to be challenged, to create, and to innovate. These jobs are not for everyone; you must have a genuine passion for solving some of the most challenging problems in the world.
Wir suchen Weltklasse-Ingenieure, die uns dabei helfen, die Maschine zu entwickeln, die die Maschine baut. Gesucht wird nach exzellenten Experten für Elektrotechnik / Maschinenbau / Automatisierungstechnik und anderen technischen Disziplinen. Besonders wichtig ist die Leidenschaft für technisch komplexe Aufgaben und der Wille Probleme zu lösen.
Tesla sucht weltweit Toptalente aus den unterschiedlichsten Bereichen, die sich weiterentwickeln möchten. Unsere Weltklasseteams arbeiten im Rahmen einer unkonventionellen Entwicklungsphilosophie, die auf enge fachübergreifende Zusammenarbeit setzt. Flache Hierarchien und intensiver technischer Austausch auf allen Ebenen sind weitere Merkmale. Wir erwarten, dass Sie genau so herausfordern wie Sie Herausforderungen annehmen, um Neues zu konzipieren und zu schaffen. Diese Aufgabe nicht für jeden geeignet. Sie müssen die unbedingte Leidenschaft haben einige der schwierigsten Probleme der Welt zu lösen.
Wir freuen uns auf Ihre Bewerbung!
Tesla has opened a new sweepstakes to allow the public to be among the first to take an initial ride in a Cybercab. This all-electric, steering-wheel-less, pedal-less vehicle is the centerpiece of the company’s autonomous ride-hailing platform, Robotaxi.
There are two ways Tesla fans can get to Austin to take part in the first public rides of the Cybercab: by riding on the Robotaxi platform by August 23, or by mailing a very specific entry to their Headquarters at Gigafactory Texas.
Tesla announced the latter portion of the sweepstakes last night:
🚨 Want to win a trip to Austin to ride in one of the first Cybercab rides ever?
Here’s how:
Tesla has opened up a new sweepstakes to ride in a Cybercab upon its public launch. Here’s the details.
There are two methods of entry into the sweepstakes, and they are as follows:… pic.twitter.com/iJRd4evuWo
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) August 19, 2026
Tesla will give one entry into the sweepstakes if you mail a 3″ by 5″ piece of paper with your full name, mailing address, telephone number, email address, and date of birth to their address:
Tesla, Robotaxi Sweeps Event
1 Tesla Road,
Austin, TX 78725
There is a limit of one entry per stamped envelope. You can send as many as you’d like, but they must be in separate envelopes.
The company’s unique strategy to give people the opportunity to ride in a Cybercab before pretty much anyone else outside of the company is a hilarious but spot-on representation of how Tesla operates. In classic fashion, they had the perfect response to the event:
— Tesla (@Tesla) August 19, 2026
Cybercab will launch later this month, it appears, especially as it plans to announce the winners of the sweepstakes on August 25. The car has already been operating internally, as employees have been able to utilize the Cybercab for rides in some capacity, something it announced earlier this month.
Tesla weirdly confirms Cybercab employee rides, a huge milestone
Moving forward, the big goal is to get Cybercab out on the roads and integrated into the public Robotaxi fleet, one that will pick up real-world ride-hailers and give them a ride from Point A to Point B.
No matter which way you cut it, it appears Tesla is close to putting a vehicle with no steering wheel and no pedals on the road to help people travel autonomously.
You can ride along with us in our first Cybercab ride from the We, Robot event in October 2024. The video is embedded below:
🎥: Our FULL first ride in the @Tesla Cybercab pic.twitter.com/6gR7OgKRCz
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) October 11, 2024
Tesla has revealed plans through permit submissions for a massive Robotaxi charging hub in Austin, Texas.
Tesla plans to build the Supercharger hub in multiple phases, with the second phase potentially introducing wireless induction charging, something the company has been developing for the Robotaxi fleet.
Initially, 48 Tesla Robotaxi-geared Superchargers will be built on a lot just across from the St. Elmo, Texas, Service Center. There are about 80 additional spots that will not be impacted by phase 1 of the construction process.
Filings show that the second phase of the project will turn those 80 additional spots into wireless charging for Robotaxi, but it might be an error. The Key Notes state that item 3 is listed as “V4 Charging Cabinet to Support 80 Wireless Chargers in Phase 2. However, the drawings point to V3 Cabinets that are already tied to Superchargers:
There are roughly 128 total spots in the lot, but it is unclear if they will all be used for charging based on what appears to be some sort of typo in the blueprint.
A new Robotaxi fleet charging hub is coming soon to Austin, Texas!!
Permits have been filed for the installation of 48 (V3) stalls in a vehicle storage lot across the road from Tesla’s St Elmo service center. pic.twitter.com/xwRgSWDqht
— MarcoRP (@MarcoRPi1) August 18, 2026
This is among the first Robotaxi charging hubs Tesla has started to develop, as it currently has four others planned throughout various areas: one in Phoenix, one in San Antonio, another in Irving, which will serve the Dallas-Fort Worth area, and another in Las Vegas.
These projects are necessary as Tesla expands its Robotaxi program. Now that preparations have started for the public launch of Cybercab, Robotaxi will likely be expanding aggressively, especially over the next two to three years.
Last night, The Information reported that Tesla was planning to launch Cybercab as soon as the end of August. Hours later, Tesla then announced it was launching a competition for fans to potentially ride in Cybercab during its first public rides.
Tesla’s plan to expand its charging infrastructure in the regions where Robotaxi will initially operate is great preparation for the expanding service. There is still a lot to do, including launching the Cybercab on time.
Tesla got its largest order for the all-electric Class 8 Semi yet, a 500-unit order from Einride AB, a Swedish trucking company.
Einride made the announcement this morning following its second-quarter earnings call. The company said it plans to use 500 Tesla Semi units on its fleet intelligence platform, called Saga AI. The deployments will serve large companies like Amazon and will extend Einride’s electric freight network across logistics routes in California, New Jersey, Texas, Illinois, and Georgia.
🚨 Tesla has received a MASSIVE order from Swedish freight company Einride AB, which placed an order for 500 Tesla Semi trucks
Tesla’s biggest order for the Semi yet! pic.twitter.com/PrtLp5yzvh
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) August 18, 2026
The deployment is being carried out in several phases over the next two years as Tesla ramps production of the Semi at its dedicated production facility in Sparks, Nevada. Einride will receive its first Semi units in September.
Saga AI
Saga AI is Einride’s dedicated fleet intelligence platform. It enables scaled adoption of electric trucks for freight use and allows shippers to integrate electric capacity without the operational burden or capital risks of managing a fleet. This helps integrate cost-efficient logistics and makes budgeting and forecasting much more accurate.
Tesla Semi’s Adoption
The Tesla Semi is now gathering large-scale clients past those who have helped the company operate a Pilot Program to gain initial information and feedback from real-world drivers.
Perhaps the biggest and most notable is that of Frito-Lay and PepsiCo., who have worked with Tesla for the past several years to dial in the finer details of the truck, including its efficiency and operation-related components.
Tesla Semi gets strange-but-understandable comparison from Jay Leno
There has been tremendous progress in that time, and it even catalyzed Tesla to make some design changes, which were unveiled earlier this year.
But Einride CEO Roozbeh Charli says his company’s partnership with Tesla will continue to push those things forward:
“This deployment is yet another proof point that we can execute at the scale our customers demand. Working closely with Tesla to bring next-generation Semis into active operations quickly and at scale is a testament to the strength of that partnership, and how quickly this technology is maturing from promise to daily operations.”
Additionally, Dan Priestley, the Director of the Semi Program at Tesla, said the partnership is ideal due to Einride’s focus on sustainable transport:
“Einride is at the forefront of sustainable freight, and we are thrilled to deepen our relationship with them through this order of 500 Semis. EV heavy trucks provide lower costs per mile from fuel savings, reduced maintenance, and better uptime over diesel trucks. These savings increase further through operational efficiency when deploying EV trucks at scale, and we are excited that Einride recognizes this and look forward to supporting their deployments.”
Tesla is opening Cybercab rides to a select few
Tesla reveals plans for Robotaxi charging hub in Austin
