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The Boring Co.’s information session will be livestreamed, says Elon Musk

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In a series of tweets on Wednesday, Elon Musk confirmed that The Boring Company’s upcoming information session in Los Angeles, CA on Thursday would be livestreamed online. The update came as Musk was providing details about SpaceX’s planned Earth-to-Earth transport system, which would be using Boring Co. tunnels and Hyperloop technology when transporting people from city centers to spaceports at sea.

Following his update on SpaceX’s Earth-to-Earth BFR transportation, Musk issued an open invitation to the Boring Company’s upcoming information session on Thursday, which is set to be held at the Leo Baeck Temple in 1300 N Sepulveda Blvd., Los Angeles, CA at 7:00 p.m. PST. Musk noted that The Boring Company would be presenting and taking questions about its tunneling plans for Los Angeles.

Musk’s update on the Boring Co.’s information session prompted hundreds of responses from his followers on Twitter, several of whom inquired if the town hall meeting will be livestreamed online. Responding to one of his Twitter followers, Musk confirmed with a simple “Yes.”

The Boring Company’s upcoming information session in LA could comes at an opportune time. Just recently, the tunneling startup and its recently-granted exemption from environmental review met strong opposition from two neighborhood groups in the LA area. The two groups — the Brentwood Residents Coalition and the Sunset Coalition — recently filed a lawsuit alleging that the local government violated state law when it exempted the Boring Company’s 2.7-mile proof-of-concept tunnel under Sepulveda Boulevard from review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).

In a recent Instagram post, Musk revealed that a Boring Company tunnel is nearly complete, and once final regulatory approvals are completed, the tunneling startup would begin offering free rides to the public. Musk also reiterated The Boring Co.’s commitment to pedestrians, stating that when the tunnels are fully operational, the system “will always give priority to pods for pedestrians and cyclists” at a cost less than the price of a bus ticket.

Last December, The Boring Company filed for a tax exclusion to the California Alternative Energy and Advanced Transportation Financing Authority. The documents revealed that the Boring Company would be using a special type of concrete for its tunnels. The documents also outlined the startup’s plans of building a batch plant and carousel system to manufacture and transport concrete rings, which will be used to line the company’s projects.

The Boring Company is only a year old, but it is already taking definitive strides in the transportation industry. The tunneling startup, for one, has already outlasted two of its rival bidders in the proposed, high-profile downtown Chicago-O’Hare transport system. The Boring Company also finished a funding round recently, with an SEC filing revealing that the tunneling startup has raised $113 million in equity.

Watch the livestream of the Boring Company’s information session below.

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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.

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Tesla admits to slow Model Y Robotaxi integration, but for a good reason

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla welcomed JPMorgan analysts to one of its factories earlier this month, with the Wall Street firm highlighting its findings in a new note to investors. One of the more pertinent pieces of information is that Tesla admitted to slowly integrating Model Y vehicles into its Robotaxi fleet, but it has a good reason.

JPMorgan analysts recently toured Tesla’s Fremont Factory and met with the company’s investor relations team, emerging with a clearer picture of the automaker’s Robotaxi strategy. According to the bank’s note, Tesla is intentionally limiting the addition of Model Y vehicles to its existing Robotaxi fleet.

The firm’s analysts said:

“Tesla indicated it is intentionally holding back on adding Model Y units to the robotaxi fleet, expressing confidence in its ability to scale Cybercab in the near-term. On FSD V15, Tesla views this release as a step-change in performance, comparable to the leap from V13 to V14. The V15 upgrade encompasses seven core technologies, with ~40% of those currently being tested in the robotaxi fleet, where initial feedback has been encouraging.”

Far from signaling delays or doubts about autonomy, the move reflects strong management confidence in the near-term scalability of the purpose-built Cybercab.

Tesla has operated its Robotaxi service primarily with modified Model Ys since launching in Austin and expanding to other markets. Yet the company is now deliberately holding back further Model Y conversions. The rationale is straightforward: leadership believes the Cybercab, a two-seat, steering-wheel- and pedal-free vehicle optimized for high utilization, can ramp production and deployment more efficiently in the coming months.

This dedicated form factor promises better unit economics for the majority of rides, which typically involve one or two passengers, while freeing consumer Model Y inventory for retail sales.

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Supporting this pivot is Full Self-Driving (FSD) software version 15, which Tesla describes as a genuine step-change in performance, comparable to the leap from V13 to V14. The update incorporates seven core technologies; roughly 40 percent are already undergoing real-world testing in the current Robotaxi fleet, with early feedback described as encouraging.

Tesla is carefully managing software development to minimize regressions in core driving functions as new capabilities are added. Management positions V15 as the primary gateway to scaling unsupervised FSD. Importantly, the existing AI and Hardware 4 stack is already capable of running V15 and supporting unsupervised operation.

Cybercab itself is only the first vehicle on the platform. Tesla reiterated that additional form factors will follow, pointing to concepts such as the earlier “Robovan” demonstration as examples of how the architecture can evolve.

Tesla’s mysterious Robovan makes a sneak peek with Optimus in Terafab video

Parallel progress continues on the Optimus humanoid robot, which remains on track for start of production in the coming months, with commercial sales possible as early as the second half of 2027. Generation 3 details will be revealed closer to production to preserve competitive advantages, while Generation 4 scope will draw on real-world Gen 3 experience.

JPMorgan left the meeting with a deeper appreciation for Tesla’s manufacturing automation and maintained its $475 price target. The decision to slow Model Y Robotaxi integration is therefore not a setback but a calculated prioritization of a more efficient, purpose-built solution that management believes is ready to scale.

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Elon Musk gives a timeline for SpaceX’s first Starship catch attempt

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SpaceX Starship V3 from Starbase, Texas on April 14, 2026

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk announced today that the company will likely attempt to catch the Starship upper stage with its launch tower arms “in a few months.”

In a post on X, Musk wrote, “Looks like we will probably catch the ship with the tower in a few months. If there had been a tower out to sea where we practiced landing the ship, it would have been caught.” He added that the first reflight of a Starship vehicle is expected by the end of 2026 or early 2027, describing it as “a fork in the road of history for consciousness reaching the stars.”

Musk’s prediction comes amid ongoing progress toward full reusability of the Starship system, a two-stage rocket designed for rapid turnaround and dramatically lower launch costs. Catching the upper stage, known simply as “ship,” with the Mechazilla tower’s mechanical arms would mark a major milestone. It would allow both stages to return directly to the launch site for quick refurbishment and reuse, eliminating the need for ocean recovery.

Musk has previously signaled plans for a ship catch. In July, shortly after SpaceX’s wildly successful Starship 13 mission, he stated that the company would attempt to catch the ship with the tower on the next flight unless problems emerged in the mission data review. Earlier comments also outline conditions such as successful soft ocean landings before attempting a land recovery to minimize risk.

SpaceX has solved Starship’s biggest challenge, Elon Musk says

The latest update from Musk adjusts this timeline to a few months, reflecting the iterative nature of the test campaign.

SpaceX has already demonstrated the tower catch technique successfully with the Super Heavy booster on a couple of occasions. The first successful booster catch occurred during Flight 5 in October 2024, when the massive first stage returned to the Starbase pad in Texas and was plucked from the air by the tower arms.

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Additional catches followed on later flights, including Flight 7, proving the concept for the booster and building confidence in the system as a whole.

Achieving a similar catch for the upper stage would represent a significant step forward. The ship returns from much higher speeds and greater heat loads after orbital or near-orbital flight. Success would advance SpaceX’s goal of full and rapid reusability, potentially reducing the cost of access to orbit by a factor of 100 or more and supporting ambitions for frequent satellite deployments, lunar missions, and eventual Mars flights.

Musk has long emphasized that true reusability, refueling rather than discarding hardware, is essential for making humanity a multi-planetary species.

As SpaceX continues refining Starship through successive test flights, the coming months will test whether the ambitious catch timeline can be met. The combination of prior booster successes and improving ship landing precision suggests the company is steadily closing in on this historic capability.

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SpaceX achieves incredible milestone with Starlink program

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Credit: SpaceX

SpaceX has achieved an incredible milestone by launching its 11,000th Starlink satellite into orbit.

This accomplishment occurred during the Starlink Group 17-50 mission, which lifted off on August 19 at 04:01 UTC from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

A Falcon 9 rocket carried 24 Starlink V2 Mini satellites on this flight, successfully deploying them into low Earth orbit approximately one hour after liftoff. The first stage booster, identified as B1097 on its twelfth flight, landed successfully on the droneship Of Course I Still Love You in the Pacific Ocean.

According to tracking data compiled around that date, this deployment brought the total number of Starlink satellites in orbit to just over 11,000.

The Starlink program began with test satellites known as Tintin A and B, launched on February 22, 2018. The first operational batch of 60 Starlink satellites followed on May 24, 2019, when a Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral. Those initial satellites marked the start of a rapid expansion that has continued for more than seven years.

SpaceX has conducted hundreds of dedicated Starlink missions since then, routinely launching batches of 20 to 30 satellites at a time using reusable Falcon 9 rockets. By mid-2026, the company had already surpassed 12,000 total satellites launched across all versions, with continuous replacements for units that deorbit as designed to manage space debris.

Looking ahead, SpaceX continues to expand the Starlink constellation to enhance global broadband coverage, capacity, and speed. The network already serves millions of users across more than 160 countries and supports applications ranging from residential internet to maritime, aviation, and emergency services.

Future plans center on next-generation hardware, including larger V3 satellites capable of delivering substantially higher throughput, which require the increased payload capacity of the Starship vehicle currently under development and testing.

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In July, SpaceX submitted an application to the Federal Communications Commission seeking authority for a Gen3 constellation of up to 100,000 satellites. These spacecraft would operate in very low Earth orbit shells at altitudes near 325 kilometers and 475 kilometers. The filing requests use of existing Ku, Ka, V, and E band spectrum along with new greenfield W and D band frequencies between 92 and 275 GHz.

SpaceX states that the expanded system aims to deliver multi-gigabit symmetrical broadband to consumers, enterprises, governments, and billions of AI-powered devices worldwide while handling a majority of global internet traffic. Approval and subsequent deployment would depend on regulatory review and the operational readiness of Starship for high-volume launches.

This ambitious scale reflects SpaceX’s ongoing commitment to providing ubiquitous high-speed connectivity from space.

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