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DOJ drops SpaceX immigrant hiring case in Texas court filing

Credit: SpaceX/X

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The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is dropping its case against SpaceX. The case was filed during the Biden presidency over allegations that the private space company was refusing to hire certain immigrants.

The update: 

  • Last month, the Justice Department hinted that it could be backing away from its lawsuit against SpaceX, as noted in a Reuters report.
  • In a Thursday filing in Brownsville, Texas, the government lawyers asked a judge to end a procedural pause so they could file a notice of dismissal for the legal complaint.
  • The Justice Department stated that it would dismiss the lawsuit “with prejudice,” which means that the case could not be brought again.

The backstory: 

  • The case was filed by the Justice Department in August 2023, alleging that SpaceX refused to hire asylum seekers and refugees from 2018 to 2022.
  • The DOJ at the time cited job postings that limited hires to U.S. citizens and permanent residents. 
  • The department at the time argued that export control laws did not impose such restrictions, Reuters noted.

SpaceX’s defense: 

  • SpaceX argued that export laws set “strict limitations on who it can employ.” 
  • The company also stressed that it follows “strict policies and procedures to both ensure compliance with all export control laws and regulations and also prevent any unlawful discrimination.”
  • Elon Musk, for his part, also stated that SpaceX has government contracts that deal with national security. Thus, SpaceX is required by law to ensure that its employees are U.S. citizens.
  • SpaceX has not issued a comment about the DOJ’s decision to withdraw its case.

Don’t hesitate to contact us with news tips. Just send a message to simon@teslarati.com to give us a heads up.

Simon is an experienced automotive reporter with a passion for electric cars and clean energy. Fascinated by the world envisioned by Elon Musk, he hopes to make it to Mars (at least as a tourist) someday. For stories or tips--or even to just say a simple hello--send a message to his email, simon@teslarati.com or his handle on X, @ResidentSponge.

Elon Musk

Elon Musk hints at when Tesla can fix this FSD complaint with v14

Tesla has worked on resolving the issue and has worked on it with subsequent rollouts, but it has only improved slightly. The company has mentioned that it is working to fix it completely, but it seems the next big Software Update to actually resolve the issue altogether will likely be 14.2.

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla CEO Elon Musk hinted at when the company will resolve a major complaint with the Full Self-Driving suite. This particular issue has been persistent and a common complaint within the v14 suite.

Tesla has had its v14 FSD rollout deployed for over a month, and its earliest iterations featured a vast majority of improvements from the past versions. However, one common complaint has continued to be mentioned: stuttering and hesitancy.

Tesla Full Self-Driving’s biggest improvements from v13 to v14

Most commonly, FSD users have experienced this at intersections when the Tesla is at a complete stop. The vehicle will inch forward, contemplate proceeding, and then stutter pretty significantly before ultimately moving forward.

Tesla has worked on resolving the issue and has worked on it with subsequent rollouts, but it has only improved slightly. The company has mentioned that it is working to fix it completely, but it seems the next big Software Update to actually resolve the issue altogether will likely be 14.2.

Musk confirmed that on Wednesday:

When will v14.2 rollout? It’s likely a month or more away. Currently, Tesla is rolling out v14.1.7, which is the latest version and features some minor improvements to Hardware 4 vehicles.

These cars are currently on v14.1.4, but are not receiving v14.1.5 or v14.1.6, as both of those seemed to be internal releases to company employees.

The stuttering issue has been a main complaint of many FSD users, and it is something that is being addressed. Musk’s confirmation that the suite is likely to receive a fix for this issue with the next major FSD release is a sign of good things to come, but we’re hopeful it comes sooner rather than later.

Overall, v14 has been an excellent improvement from v13 with the addition of the additional Speed Profiles of Mad Max and Sloth, as well as new Arrival Options that give the driver an opportunity to let the car park in a suitable location upon arriving at the destination.

@teslarati 🚨🚨 Tesla Full Self-Driving and Yap is the best driving experience #tesla #fsd #yapping ♬ I Run – HAVEN.

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Elon Musk

Elon Musk’s Boring Co goes extra hard in Nashville with first rock-crushing TBM

The Boring Company’s machine for the project is now in final testing.

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Credit: The Boring Company/X

The Boring Company is gearing up to tackle one of its toughest projects yet, a new tunnel system beneath Nashville’s notoriously tough limestone terrain. Unlike the soft-soil conditions of Las Vegas and Austin, the Music City Loop will require a “hard-rock” boring machine capable of drilling through dense, erosion-resistant bedrock. 

The Boring Company’s machine for the project is now in final testing.

A boring hard-rock tunneling machine

The Boring Company revealed on X that its new hard-rock TBM can generate up to 4 million pounds of grip force and 1.5 million pounds of maximum thrust load. It also features a 15-filter dust removal system designed to keep operations clean and efficient during excavation even in places where hard rock is present.

Previous Boring Co. projects, including its Loop tunnels in Las Vegas, Austin, and Bastrop, were dug primarily through soft soils. Nashville’s geology, however, poses a different challenge. Boring Company CEO and President Steve Davis mentioned this challenge during the project’s announcement in late July.

“It’s a tough place to tunnel, Nashville. If we were optimizing for the easiest places to tunnel, it would not be here. You have extremely hard rock, like way harder than it should be. It’s an engineering problem that’s fairly easy and straightforward to solve,” Davis said.

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Nashville’s limestone terrain

Experts have stated that the city’s subsurface conditions make it one of the more complex tunneling environments in the U.S. The Outer Nashville Basin is composed of cherty Mississippian-age limestone, a strong yet soluble rock that can dissolve over time, creating underground voids and caves, as noted in a report from The Tennessean.

Jakob Walter, the founder and principal engineer of Haushepherd, shared his thoughts on these challenges. “Limestone is generally a stable sedimentary bedrock material with strength parameters that are favorable for tunneling. Limestone is however fairly soluble when compared to other rack materials, and can dissolve over long periods of time when exposed to water. 

“Unexpected encounters with these features while tunneling can result in significant construction delays and potential instability of the excavation. In urban locations, structures at the ground surface should also be constantly monitored with robotic total stations or similar surveying equipment to identify any early signs of movement or distress,” he said.

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Elon Musk shares ridiculous fact about Optimus’ hand demos

It appears that Optimus’ V3 iteration is still very much under wraps.

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Elon Musk recently revealed something quite shocking about the Optimus demonstration hand that was showcased at the 2025 Annual Shareholder Meeting. As per the CEO, the complex robotic hand that impressed the event’s attendees was not a component of Optimus V3 at all. 

Needless to say, it appears that Optimus’ V3 iteration is still very much under wraps. 

Optimus’s hand

Even in Tesla’s We, Robot event last year, the company showcased a robotic hand that seemed capable of performing complex tasks. A similar hand was showcased at the recent investor event. It was then no surprise that some attendees and EV community members assumed that the robotic component, which was very dexterous, was a preview of Optimus V3’s hand. 

As per Elon Musk in a recent post on X, however, this was not the case. While the robotic hand that Tesla showcased at the 2025 Annual Shareholder Meeting was already very impressive, it was still a V2 component. In response to a quote post from his mom Maye Musk, who noted that “Elon told me a few times that the hand is the most difficult part of the robot,” Elon Musk clarified that the impressive component was still from Optimus V2.

“This is just the V2 Optimus hand. The V3 hand is another level beyond this. Exquisite engineering,” Musk wrote in his post on X.

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Not like Tesla

Tesla is designing Optimus to be a potential replacement for humans in some of the world’s most delicate tasks, such as surgery. It is then extremely important for Optimus’ hand to be very dexterous and refined in its movements. This is something that even companies that are also producing humanoid robots have yet to accomplish fully. Musk highlighted this during the Annual Shareholder Meeting, when he discussed how Tesla is really the only company that can scale humanoid robots properly.

“You will see certainly many companies showing demonstration robots. There’s really three things that are super difficult about robots. One is the engineering of the forearm and hand because the human hand is an incredible thing, actually. It’s super dexterous. 

“So, engineering the hand really well, the real-world AI, and then volume manufacturing. Those are generally the things that are missing. One or more of those things are missing from other companies. So Tesla is the only one that has all three of those,” Musk said.

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