News
Change.org Petition Promotes Nobel Prize for Elon Musk
Edward Tanas of Calgary, Canada has begun a Change.org campaign to nominate Elon Musk for a Nobel Prize in Economic Science. The petition has already been signed by 374 supporters.
Following the unveiling of the Tesla Model 3 on March 31, Edward Tanas of Calgary, Canada, began to petition the Swedish Nobel Prize Committee to award Elon Musk with a prize in Economic Science.
There is no question Elon is one of the most gifted and creative thinkers of our time. If you would like to support Tanas’ petition, you may do so at Change.org. Here is the text of the petition.
We, the signed, would like you, the Swedish Nobel Committee, to award Mr. Elon Musk, a Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences. Mr. Musk has spent most of his life helping not only to help the economics of transportation flourish with technological breakthroughs but has done so in a manner that addresses climate change.
His ventures into the production of electric cars. most recently the more affordable Tesla Model 3, which at the time of writing this petition has over 253,000 orders, has helped to reduce the impact on the environment by replacing internal combustion engine vehicles.
Biography
Elon Reeve Musk is an American entrepreneur, inventor and investor. He is best known for his role as CEO of electric car manufacturer Tesla Motors, and as co-founder of online money transfer system PayPal, and of commercial space program SpaceX.
Elon was born in South Africa, where he spent his childhood and adolescence. He was raised primarily by his father, who was an engineer. Elon became interested in computers at a young age and began programming in his teens. After high school, Elon emigrated to Canada, where he attended college, and later transferred to the University of Pennsylvania in the United States.
In 1995, Musk started a PhD in applied physics at Stanford University in California, but quickly dropped out to start his own company. He would go on to sell that company, called Zip2, to Compaq, for more than $300 million in 1999, of which he received $22 million. With that capital, Musk started X.com in 1999. It was an online banking site that later changed its name to PayPal. EBay purchased the company in 2002 for $1.5 billion in stock, of which $165 million went to Musk. That same year, he became an American citizen. (See also: Three Steps Elon Musk Took To Become Successful.)
Flush from the PayPal sale, Musk looked to the heavens, and began SpaceX, a private, for profit space program. After a few false starts, the company began developing its own rockets. The company launched a landmark commercial spacecraft in 2009 and again in 2012.
While planning his assault upon the heavens, Musk took an interest in more terrestrial matters, specifically the way people get across the surface of the earth. After a major investment in 2004, Musk joined the board of Tesla Motors as its chairman. Also contributing as a product architect, he played a role in the designs of the cars Tesla was building. Following the 2008 financial crisis, Musk assumed the mantle of Tesla Motors CEO, a position he still holds today. (For more, see: Is Elon Musk’s Hyperloop Economically Feasible?)
Beyond Tesla and SpaceX, Musk remains involved in a number of futuristic projects. He is connected with a high-speed transportation system called the Hyperloop. He has also been a proponent of a VTOL (vertical take-off and landing) supersonic jet aircraft.
We thank you for your patience in reading about his past accomplishments and various ventures which have benefited society and will continue to do so.
Photo credit: Change.org
Tesla has expanded the footprint of a massive safety feature worldwide with a recent Software Update labeled as 2026.20.6. The expansion of the “Blind Spot Warning While Parked” feature represents the more widespread availability of the feature, which aims to prevent “dooring.”
Dooring is when a driver or passenger opens a car door into the path of an oncoming road user, usually a cyclist or motorcyclist. It is among the most common types of cycling accidents, the League of American Bicyclists says.
For this reason, Tesla created a feature that warns occupants not to open the door because an object is approaching. The feature will sound a chime, and it will also delay the opening of the door to prevent an incident.
The release notes state (via Not a Tesla App):
“If you attempt to open a door while an approaching object is detected in your blind spot (for example, a bicyclist approaching from behind) a chime sounds, and your door will not open upon initial button press. Wait a short time and press the button a second time to override the warning.”
Tesla initially rolled out this feature back in 2024 with the Model 3 “Highland.” However, it remained with the Model 3 exclusively for over a year; that was until Tesla added it to the Cybertruck this past Spring.
Now, it is making its way to the new Model Y, 2021 and newer Model S, and 2021 or newer Model X.
The prevention of dooring incidents could eliminate many injuries to cyclists, especially in an urban setting. Dooring accounts for 10-20 percent of bike-related crashes in major cities, and over 17,000 dooring-related incidents were treated in the U.S. over the course of a decade. These usually involve fractures, contusions, and head trauma.
Tesla confirmed this morning that it has sent the first production units, manufactured with no steering wheel or pedals, to on-road testing in Austin, sharing video of the first rides with no human controls.
The lack of steering wheels and pedals in the Cybercab aligns with Tesla’s self-certification of Robotaxi as Level 4 SAE, a platform it plans to make widespread through internal vehicles and customer-owned cars that will operate and generate revenue for individuals.
The start of these engineering tests is a major signal for Tesla, which plans to bring driverless, wheel-less, and pedal-less Cybercabs to market in the coming months. With production already well underway at Gigafactory Texas, where the Cybercab is built, there is some inclination to believe the first public rides could happen sooner rather than later.
Engineering tests of the first production Cybercab have begun in Austin pic.twitter.com/fk3KQvcE8a
— Tesla (@Tesla) June 30, 2026
Tesla’s engineering tests will put the Cybercab in real-world scenarios, testing not only the hardware, but more importantly, the software that drives the car around Austin with nobody supervising it within the car.
This is perhaps the biggest part of the internal testing process, especially prior to allowing regular, everyday people to hail the Cybercab for an autonomous ride. These early rides serve as a true benchmark for Tesla: How many rides can it achieve safely? How many miles did it travel consecutively without needing an intervention? What scenarios challenge the Full Self-Driving suite the most?
The proper precautions have already been put into place as well, as Tesla released the First Responders Guide to Cybercab over the weekend, ensuring that emergency services have 24/7 access to Robotaxi Assistance, as well as other boundaries, such as Geofencing features that can be used to redirect autonomous vehicle traffic due to accidents, road closures, construction, or maintenance.
Cybercab seems genuinely close to being added to the Robotaxi fleet in Austin, but Tesla has prioritized safety throughout this entire process. Therefore, we think it could be months before it truly starts giving rides to the public. People have been frustrated with this, but Robotaxi in Austin has a tremendous safety record so far, so the slow rollout has kept people safe and accidents to a minimum.
The most important thing is that Tesla continues to show consistent progress in the Cybercab’s ramp-up toward fleet addition. A few weeks back, we saw the EPA reward the Cybercab a Certificate of Conformity, allowing it to enter the stream of commerce. Then, we saw Tesla add decals, signaling that it was likely about to start testing it publicly. That has now happened.
The next big move will be the announcement of the first rides, so this Summer should be filled with anticipation.
For years, there have been images and videos across social media platforms that have reminded me of when I was a 15-year-old kid teased by “Xbox 720” videos on YouTube. These videos are of the supposed “Tesla Phone” that Elon Musk was secretly developing in between leading Tesla with its electric cars and SpaceX with its reusable rockets.
Would you buy a Tesla phone ? pic.twitter.com/aaTwvvIJit
— Tesla Owners Silicon Valley (@teslaownersSV) October 6, 2023
Although Musk has put those rumors to bed several times, it was never completely out of the realm that he could get involved in cell phones in some capacity. Think outside the box and more macro-level, though. Instead of reinventing the computer, Musk reinvented connectivity by developing Starlink with SpaceX.
It could be something similar, TD Cowen analyst Gregory Williams said in a note last week, where he hinted SpaceX could be gathering some steam to acquire T-Mobile.
Williams said it would be the “clear choice” for SpaceX if it decided to go through with a network acquisition. He also suggested AT&T.
The move would be possible through selling more of its own stock, which would help SpaceX raise the money to purchase T-Mobile, which would cost roughly $300 billion. It could be one of the moves SpaceX makes post-IPO in terms of an acquisition: it already acquired Cursor AI for $60 billion.
Other analysts, like Dan Ives of Wedbush, believe SpaceX and Tesla will eventually merge into one anyway, and that conglomeration could come as soon as this year, some have said.
The implications of SpaceX purchasing T-Mobile are massive. A combined entity would create a truly ubiquitous network: T-Mobile’s terrestrial 5G towers and Starlink’s growing constellation of Direct-to-Cell satellites. This would essentially eliminate dead zones across the U.S. and potentially globally.
SpaceX would instantly become a full-scale facilities-based carrier with satellite differentiation; a huge advantage. This would pressure AT&T and Verizon heavily.
There are also concerns like a potential reduction in long-term competition, and of course, a deal of that size would face intense scrutiny from government agencies.
The strategic fit is compelling due to the existing Starlink–T-Mobile partnership and complementary technologies (space + terrestrial). It could create a dominant integrated communications player. However, the regulatory, financial, and execution hurdles are enormous — this remains highly speculative with no indication SpaceX is actively pursuing it right now.
Tesla expands massive safety feature worldwide in latest update
Tesla sends production Cybercab with no steering wheel, pedals to on-road testing
