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The Boring Company Las Olas Loop proposal moves forward after favorable votes from Fort Lauderdale

Credit: @ClarkCountyNV | Twitter

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On Wednesday, the Fort Lauderdale Commission voted 4-1 to proceed with The Boring Company’s Las Olas Loop proposal. The favorable vote allows The Boring Company (TBC) to start more detailed negotiations with Fort Lauderdale about the Las Olas Loop. 

The Commission had a few questions about TBC’s proposed project in Fort Lauderdale, which City Manager Chris Lagerbloom answered. Based on the Commission’s meeting records, The Boring Company can now start negotiations with the city regarding logistics, environmental impact, and regulatory requirements, to name a few. 

According to Lagerbloom, the recent vote states that Fort Lauderdale was still interested in pursuing The Boring Company’s proposal for a Las Olas Loop, and the tunneling company has met all procedural requirements. The city could discuss a potential interim agreement or comprehensive agreement with The Boring Company now that the resolution has passed. The city and TBC may also discuss regulatory requirements from the federal government, state, and county. 

“The next step is to accept the proposal, and to now negotiate an agreement which we can now move forward to talk about the terms, the conditions, financing, and the technological aspects moving forward as they continue to examine the underground infrastructure and how they’re best going to be able to proceed with the project,” Trantalis told Local 10.

Based on Lagerbloom’s answers, the Las Olas Loop proposal still needs to go through a lengthy process before reaching fruition. An interim agreement would indicate that the city was half committed to the project as it would probably include specifics on monetary funding. The city would show its full commitment to the Las Olas Loop project once it approved a comprehensive agreement with The Boring Company. 

From Lagerbloom’s perspective, the tunneling startup seems excited about Fort Lauderdale’s Las Olas Loop. 

“[The Boring Company has] been very open, very accessible, easy to get to. [The company] has indicated to me that of all the projects they’ve worked on, that they have the most interest in Fort Lauderdale [because they] still think it’s a very viable project. They’re excited about it as an organization, as a company. So they haven’t lost any interest that I’ve been able to detect at all,” Lagerbloom told the Commission.

In July, Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean J. Trantalis announced that the city formally accepted The Boring Company’s proposal for the Las Olas Loop. Initially, TBC talked to Fort Lauderdale officials about a small-scale project in New River. But the tunneling company pitched a bigger tunnel after continued conversations with city officials. 

“We see more and more cars on the road,” said Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis. “You have to find alternative methods of trying to deal with traffic. And I think this is an exciting opportunity for the city,” said the Mayor about the project.

The Teslarati team would appreciate hearing from you. If you have any tips, reach out to me at maria@teslarati.com or via Twitter @Writer_01001101

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Maria--aka "M"-- is an experienced writer and book editor. She's written about several topics including health, tech, and politics. As a book editor, she's worked with authors who write Sci-Fi, Romance, and Dark Fantasy. M loves hearing from TESLARATI readers. If you have any tips or article ideas, contact her at maria@teslarati.com or via X, @Writer_01001101.

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Tesla Cybercab uses a unique strategy for picking up the right rider

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Credit: ARTSIMAGE | X

Tesla Cybercab is using a unique strategy for picking up the correct rider, which is a crucial part of ride-hailing to ensure people end up in the right place and are charged the correct price.

Cybercab will utilize an RGB strip in its front light bar that will illuminate in a variety of different colors to mark itself.

This identifying mark will also appear in the Robotaxi app, giving riders in the same location a notable distinction in an effort to avoid any confusion regarding who should get in each vehicle.

Other ride-hailing services use similar strategies: Lyft and Uber rides are recognizable through driver identity, vehicle type and color, as well as license plate. Waymo will display the rider’s initials on top of the vehicle, letting them know that the specific vehicle for them has arrived.

Tesla’s strategy is unique and interesting, but there are some flaws. Cybercab’s main purpose is aimed toward being an autonomous ride for all, including those who have disabilities like being blind or even color blind.

Tesla will likely have something in the pipeline for those who cannot see colors or have limited vision. There will definitely be multiple ways to identify which vehicle is the one that “you” specifically ordered.

Cybercab is set to start giving public rides next Thursday, September 3, in Austin, as it announced a dedicated event last week and invited many members of the Tesla community.

Tesla will launch Cybercab on September 3

Additionally, members of the public will be invited as well. Tesla has been offering employee rides in Cybercab for nearly two months.

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Tesla ends in-house wrap service that always seemed like a short-term program

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla has said goodbye to one customization option for its vehicles: the wrap service it launched several years ago.

After launching an in-house wrap service in August 2020 for the first time in China. In the U.S., it launched in October 2023. Tesla continued to expand the program and adjust it with better pricing and fewer options for the Cybertruck.

By December 2023, it was giving owners of the Model 3, Model Y, and the Cybertruck the opportunity to give their vehicle a fresh look with a vinyl wrap.

Tesla revamps in-house vinyl wrap service with better pricing

It was only available in five locations: Costa Mesa, Oceanside, Santa Clara, West Covina, all in California, and Seattle, Washington.

However, Tesla made some big adjustments to its shop, and the wrap service is officially gone:

Wraps are very popular across the Tesla lineup, especially since the company offers relatively few colors. Many choose to wrap their Teslas with interesting colors, patterns, or even finishes, turning their cars from glossy to satin or matte.

However, Tesla’s wrap service was so limited geographically that it never really had a chance to get off the ground or compete with local shops. Every area in the United States is now overflowing with detailing shops, mobile detailers, and other automotive specialists, many of whom perform wrap services.

Tesla’s service was confined to the Pacific time zone and only spanned across two states. It was never going to be something Tesla was a major competitor in, nor was it going to disrupt the wrapping industry. Now that the program has ended, it seems pretty ideal to believe it was always going to be a short-term thing.

Along with the wrap service, Tesla removed several other products, but nothing too crazy. The Model 3 Door Pocket and Cupholder Liners, the Model S 19″ Magnetite Wheel and Winter Tire Package, Model X/Y Ski/Snowboard Carrier for Hitch Rack, Tesla’s Electric Summer Party Tee, and the Electric Summer Tee were the other items the company totally eliminated from its online shop.

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Tesla Robotaxi fleet gets a brain upgrade ahead of Cybercab launch event

Tesla’s Robotaxi service now runs longer hours nationwide as its unsupervised fleet quietly grows larger.

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Tesla’s Robotaxi service just got easier to catch, with the company’s official Robotaxi account noting that rides are now available from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., seven days a week, across its operating footprint. The account also said its unsupervised fleet is “a lot bigger” than before, though without specifics. The bigger change is what Tesla says upgraded intelligence in vehicle distribution and routing is what’s actually cutting wait times, not a new Full Self-Driving version.

While Tesla did not name the team behind the upgrade, the language points to its AI and fleet software group rather than the driving stack itself. Vehicle distribution and routing in Robotaxi has functioned mostly as a dispatch problem with the software deciding which idle car goes to which rider, and how far it has to travel to get there. “Upgraded intelligence” suggests a smarter version of that dispatch logic, likely using demand forecasting to position idle cars near where riders are about to request them rather than reacting once a request comes in. Tesla’s AI division has built similar prediction systems for other parts of the business, including the neural networks that power FSD itself, so applying that same approach to fleet logistics would be a natural extension rather than a new discipline for the team.

Tesla is also about a week away from a separate robotaxi milestone. The company plans to launch Cybercab, its purpose built two seat robotaxi with no steering wheel or pedals, in Austin on September 3. Cybercab has been giving employees rides on public and private roads for weeks, and the September event is expected to fold those vehicles into the existing Robotaxi fleet within days of the launch.


Austin previously ran Robotaxi from 6 a.m. to 2 a.m. as of last September, a schedule set before the service expanded into Dallas, Houston, Miami, Tampa, Orlando and the Bay Area. Wednesday’s post did not specify whether that extended overnight window still applies in Austin specifically or whether 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. is now the standard across every market. Tesla’s post, visible on its official Robotaxi account, framed the change simply as fewer riders waiting around for a car.

Whether the wider hours hold once Cybercab enters the fleet next week is the next thing worth watching. Tesla has tended to expand Robotaxi in increments, first geofence, then hours, then fleet size, and each step so far has arrived without much advance notice.

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