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Musk’s Boring machine makes an appearance at SpaceX
An employee at SpaceX snapped a photo at work yesterday and posted it on Instagram. The photo has since been removed, but not before it was captured by Business Insider. It shows three large round pieces about the size of a tunnel boring machine. One of those pieces has the words “The Boring Company” painted on it.
Elon Musk announced suddenly in February that traffic in Los Angeles was driving him nuts and that he was going to start boring tunnels underground as a way of relieving congestion. Shortly thereafter, the beginning of a tunnel from SpaceX appeared in the parking lot outside of Musk’s space company.
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- The Boring Company has not only broken ground on its second phase in Los Angeles, but also is close to completing the first elevator depicted in a concept video. The system could cut 45 minute drives into five minutes. Source: The Boring Company
Musk has let it be known that he can imagine tunnels 30 levels deep in some areas as a way of getting traffic moving again in the world’s most congested cities. The photo from SpaceX, demonstrates that the tunnel boring idea is being pursued even while Musk and Tesla are working overtime to keep production of the Model 3 on track.
Musk told Bloomberg back in February that he already has a boring machine. It’s a 2015 model nicknamed Nannie that is 400 feet long and weighs 1,200 tons. Musk says his people are going to take it apart, figure out how it works, and build a new machine that can dig up to 10 times faster. “To make it a little better should be easy,” he says. “To make it five times better is not crazy hard. To make it 10 times better is hard, but nobody will need to win a Nobel Prize. We don’t have to change the standard model of physics.”
The Trump administration is proposing a $1 trillion infrastructure program that would include new high speed rail corridors. At a town hall meeting in Washington, DC in early April, Musk told Trump economic adviser , “OK, I can solve the problem. I can tunnel the whole way.”
The Boring Company is Musk’s idea on how to solve urban congestion. Uber has a different idea — flying cars, an idea that Musk thinks is ridiculous. “Obviously, I like flying things,” he tells Bloomberg. “But it’s difficult to imagine the flying car becoming a scalable solution.” It’s all a matter of physics. To offset gravity, flying cars will need to generate a lot of downforce and that means noise and debris flying around. “If somebody doesn’t maintain their flying car, it could drop a hubcap and guillotine you,” he says. “Your anxiety level will not decrease as a result of things that weigh a lot buzzing around your head.”
The problem with urban transportation is that everyone wants to move around at the same time and other transportation systems are not scalable enough to handle the demand peaks. “We have skyscrapers with all these levels, and we have a flat, two-dimensional road system,” he says. “When everyone decides to go into these structures and then exits them at the same time, you’re going to get jammed.” Tunnels are a three dimensional solution that can solve the problem of transporting large numbers of people n real time.
They also could accommodate Musk’s other idea for fast, affordable transportation, the Hyperloop. Whether the government ever decides to make a major investment in infrastructure, Musk intends to keep moving forward with his plans to tunnel beneath America.
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Tesla gamifies Supercharging with new ‘Charging Passport’
It will also include things like badges for special charging spots, among other metrics that will show all of the different places people have traveled to plug in for range.
Tesla is gamifying its Supercharging experience by offering a new “Charging Passport,” hoping to add a new layer to the ownership experience.
While it is not part of the Holiday Update, it is rolling out around the same time and offers a handful of cool new features.
Tesla’s Charging Passport will be available within the smartphone app and will give a yearly summary of your charging experience, helping encapsulate your travel for that year.
It will also include things like badges for special charging spots, among other metrics that will show all of the different places people have traveled to plug in for range.
Tesla has just introduced “Charging Passport,” a new yearly summary of your charging.
• Charging badges: Iconic Charging badge (for visiting places like the Tesla Diner, Oasis Supercharger, etc), Explorer badge, green saver badge, etc.
• Total unique Superchargers visited
•… pic.twitter.com/c1DHTWXpj7— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) December 8, 2025
Tesla will include the following metrics within the new Charging Passport option within the Tesla app:
- Charging badges: Iconic charging badges for visiting places like the Tesla Diner, Oasis Supercharger, etc., Explorer Badge, and more
- Total Unique Superchargers Visited
- Total Charging Sessions
- Total Miles Added during Charging Sessions
- Top Charging Day
- Longest Trip
- Favorite Charging Locations
This will give people a unique way to see their travels throughout the year, and although it is not necessarily something that is needed or adds any genuine value, it is something that many owners will like to look back on. After all, things like Spotify Wrapped and Apple Music Replay have been a great way for people to see what music they listened to throughout the year.
This is essentially Tesla’s version of that.
With a handful of unique Superchargers already active, Tesla is also building some new ones, like a UFO-inspired location in New Mexico, near Roswell.
Tesla is building a new UFO-inspired Supercharger in the heart of Alien country
News
Tesla launches its coolest gift idea ever just a few weeks after it was announced
“Gift one month of Full Self-Driving (Supervised), which allows the vehicle to drive itself almost anywhere with minimal intervention.”
Tesla has launched its coolest gift idea ever, just a few weeks after it was announced.
Tesla is now giving owners the opportunity to gift Full Self-Driving for one month to friends or family through a new gifting program that was suggested to the company last month.
The program will enable people to send a fellow Tesla owner one month of the company’s semi-autonomous driving software, helping them to experience the Full Self-Driving suite and potentially help Tesla gain them as a subscriber of the program, or even an outright purchase.
Tesla is going to allow owners to purchase an FSD Subscription for another owner for different month options
You’ll be able to gift FSD to someone! https://t.co/V29dhf5URj
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) November 3, 2025
Tesla has officially launched the program on its Shop. Sending one month of Full Self-Driving costs $112:
“Gift one month of Full Self-Driving (Supervised), which allows the vehicle to drive itself almost anywhere with minimal intervention. All sales are final. Can only be purchased and redeemed in the U.S. This gift card is valued at $112.00 and is intended to cover the price of one month of FSD (Supervised), including up to 13% sales tax. It is not guaranteed to cover the full monthly price if pricing or tax rates change. This gift card can be stored in Tesla Wallet and redeemed toward FSD (Supervised) or any other Tesla product or service that accepts gift card payments.”
Tesla has done a great job of expanding Full Self-Driving access over the past few years, especially by offering things like the Subscription program, free trials through referrals, and now this gift card program.
Gifting Full Self-Driving is another iteration of Tesla’s “butts in seats” strategy, which is its belief that it can flip consumers to its vehicles and products by simply letting people experience them.
There is also a reason behind pushing Full Self-Driving so hard, and it has to do with CEO Elon Musk’s compensation package. One tranche requires Musk to achieve a certain number of active paid Full Self-Driving subscriptions.
More people who try the suite are likely to pay for it over the long term.
News
Tesla expands Robotaxi app access once again, this time on a global scale
Tesla said recently it plans to launch Robotaxi in Miami, Houston, Las Vegas, Phoenix, and Dallas.
Tesla has expanded Robotaxi app access once again, but this time, it’s on a much broader scale as the company is offering the opportunity for those outside of North America to download the app.
Tesla Robotaxi is the company’s early-stage ride-hailing platform that is active in Texas, California, and Arizona, with more expansion within the United States planned for the near future.
Tesla said recently it plans to launch Robotaxi in Miami, Houston, Las Vegas, Phoenix, and Dallas.
The platform has massive potential, and Tesla is leaning on it to be a major contributor to even more disruption in the passenger transportation industry. So far, it has driven over 550,000 miles in total, with the vast majority of this coming from the Bay Area and Austin.
First Look at Tesla’s Robotaxi App: features, design, and more
However, Tesla is focusing primarily on rapid expansion, but most of this is reliant on the company’s ability to gain regulatory permission to operate the platform in various regions. The expansion plans go well outside of the U.S., as the company expanded the ability to download the app to more regions this past weekend.
So far, these are the areas it is available to download in:
- Japan
- Thailand
- Hong Kong
- South Korea
- Australia
- Taiwan
- Macau
- New Zealand
- Mexico
- U.S.
- Canada
Right now, while Tesla is focusing primarily on expansion, it is also working on other goals that have to do with making it more widely available to customers who want to grab a ride from a driverless vehicle.
One of the biggest goals it has is to eliminate safety monitors from its vehicles, which it currently utilizes in Austin in the passenger’s seat and in the driver’s seat in the Bay Area.
A few weeks ago, Tesla started implementing a new in-cabin data-sharing system, which will help support teams assist riders without anyone in the front of the car.
Tesla takes a step towards removal of Robotaxi service’s safety drivers
As Robotaxi expands into more regions, Tesla stands to gain tremendously through the deployment of the Full Self-Driving suite for personal cars, as well as driverless Robotaxis for those who are just hailing rides.
Things have gone well for Tesla in the early stages of the Robotaxi program, but expansion will truly be the test of how things operate going forward. Navigating local traffic laws and gaining approval from a regulatory standpoint will be the biggest hurdle to jump.
Tesla gamifies Supercharging with new ‘Charging Passport’
Tesla launches its coolest gift idea ever just a few weeks after it was announced
