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Elon Musk re-clarifies story of Tesla’s early days and how it was founded

Credit: TED/YouTube

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During his appearance at TED 2022 earlier this month, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk remarked that his condition — which he has revealed to be Asperger’s — has made him obsessed with the truth. Musk noted that his obsession with truth is what made him study physics since the field essentially attempts to understand the truth of the universe. 

This obsession with truth is perhaps the reason why Musk has been very adamant about setting the record straight when it comes to the founding days of Tesla. It has long been stated that Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning were the founders of the company, with Elon Musk coming and JB Straubel coming in months later. This is something that Musk has been keen to correct as of late. 

During his TED 2022 appearance, Musk stated that his worst business decision was probably the fact that he didn’t just start Tesla with JB Straubel. Musk stated that he didn’t invest in a company. He, Straubel, and the other individuals listed as Tesla’s founders created a company. One that became the world’s most valuable automaker with a valuation of a trillion dollars.

Musk recently reiterated these points in a set of tweets following a post from Vaibhav Sisinty, the CEO and founder of GrowthSchool. Sisinty posted a “reminder” that Musk was not the founder of Tesla, and he simply acquired the company. It did not take long before the Tesla CEO decided to correct the narrative — and provide some new insights on Tesla’s early days in the process. 

“Not even close to that. It was a shell corp with no employees, no IP, no designs, no prototype, literally nothing but a (business) plan to commercialize AC Propulsion’s T-Zero car, which was introduced to me by JB Straubel, not Eberhard. Even (the) name ‘Tesla Motors’ was owned by others!” Musk wrote

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Musk stated that if one were to follow the logic adopted in the narrative that paints Eberhard and Tarpenning as the founders of Tesla, then he’d be the only “founder” of PayPal since he started the company that eventually became the online payments giant. Such an argument, Musk noted, does not hold water. 

“If filing a shell corp constitutes “founding a company,” then I’d be the only founder of PayPal, since I filed the original incorporation docs for X.com (later renamed PayPal), but that’s not what founding means. When Eberhard was fired unanimously by the board in July 2007 (for damn good reasons), no one left with him. That says it all,” Musk wrote

Musk added that ultimately, if Tesla’s supposed founder was really capable of creating a car company, he would have already done so after he was terminated. This was certainly the case with some individuals who were at one point linked to Tesla and its electric vehicle development. Lucid CEO Peter Rawlinson was involved in the development of the original Model S, and Fisker Inc. founder Henrik Fisker worked on the design of Tesla’s flagship sedan at one point. 

Considering that both Rawlinson and Fisker are still active in the electric vehicle sector today, perhaps Musk’s point about Tesla’s co-founders is a fairly valid sentiment. 

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

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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 Model 3 gets perfect 5-star Euro NCAP safety rating

Tesla prides itself on producing some of the safest vehicles on the road today.

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Credit: Tesla Singapore/X

Tesla prides itself on producing some of the safest vehicles on the road today. Based on recent findings from the Euro NCAP, the 2025 Model 3 sedan continues this tradition, with the vehicle earning a 5-star overall safety rating from the agency.

Standout Safety Features

As could be seen on the Euro NCAP’s official website, the 2025 Model 3 achieved an overall score of 90% for Adult Occupants, 93% for Child Occupants, 89% for Vulnerable Road Users, and 87% for Safety Assist. This rating, as per the Euro NCAP, applies to the Model 3 Rear Wheel Drive, Long Range Rear Wheel Drive, Long Range All Wheel Drive, and Performance All Wheel Drive.

The Euro NCAP highlighted a number of the Model 3’s safety features, such as its Active Hood, which automatically lifts during collisions to mitigate injury risks to vulnerable road users, and Automatic Emergency Braking System, which now detects motorcycles through an upgraded algorithm. The Euro NCAP also mentioned the Model 3’s feature that prevents initial door opening if someone is approaching the vehicle’s blind spot.

Standout Safety Features

In a post on its official Tesla Europe & Middle East account, Tesla noted that the company is also introducing new features that make the Model 3 even safer than it is today. These include functions like head-on collision avoidance and crossing traffic AEB, as well as Child Left Alone Detection, among other safety features.

“We also introduced new features to improve Safety Assist functionality even further – like head-on collision avoidance & crossing traffic AEB – to detect & respond to potential hazards faster, helping avoid accidents in the first place. 

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“Lastly, we released Child Left Alone Detection – if an unattended child is detected, the vehicle will turn on HVAC & alert caregivers via phone app & the vehicle itself (flashing lights/audible alert). Because we’re using novel in-cabin radar sensing, your Tesla is able to distinguish between adult vs child – reduced annoyance to adults, yet critical safety feature for kids,” Tesla wrote in its post on X.

Below is the Euro NCAP’s safety report on the 2025 Tesla Model 3 sedan.

Euroncap 2025 Tesla Model 3 Datasheet by Simon Alvarez on Scribd

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USDOT Secretary visits Tesla Giga Texas, hints at national autonomous vehicle standards

The Transportation Secretary also toured the factory’s production lines and spoke with CEO Elon Musk.

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Credit: Elon Musk/X

United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) Secretary Sean Duffy recently visited Tesla’s Gigafactory Texas complex, where he toured the factory’s production lines and spoke with CEO Elon Musk. In a video posted following his Giga Texas visit, Duffy noted that he believes there should be a national standard for autonomous vehicles in the United States.

Duffy’s Giga Texas Visit

As could be seen in videos of his Giga Texas visit, the Transportation Secretary seemed to appreciate the work Tesla has been doing to put the United States in the forefront of innovation. “Tesla is one of the many companies helping our country reach new heights. USDOT will be right there all the way to make sure Americans stay safe,” Duffy wrote in a post on X. 

He also praised Tesla for its autonomous vehicle program, highlighting that “We need American companies to keep innovating so we can outcompete the rest of the world.”

National Standard

While speaking with Tesla CEO Elon Musk, the Transportation Secretary stated that other autonomous ride-hailing companies have been lobbying for a national standard for self-driving cars. Musk shared the sentiment, stating that “It’d be wonderful for the United States to have a national set of rules for autonomous driving as opposed to 50 independent sets of rules on a state-by-state rules basis.”

Duffy agreed with the CEO’s point, stating that, “You can’t have 50 different rules for 50 different states. You need one standard.” He also noted that the Transportation Department has asked autonomous vehicle companies to submit data. By doing so, the USDOT could develop a standard for the entire United States, allowing self-driving cars to operate in a manner that is natural and safe.

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Tesla posts Optimus’ most impressive video demonstration yet

The humanoid robot was able to complete all the tasks through a single neural network.

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Credit: Tesla Optimus/X

When Elon Musk spoke with CNBC’s David Faber in an interview at Giga Texas, he reiterated the idea that Optimus will be one of Tesla’s biggest products. Seemingly to highlight the CEO’s point, the official Tesla Optimus account on social media platform X shared what could very well be the most impressive demonstration of the humanoid robot’s capabilities to date.

Optimus’ Newest Demonstration

In its recent video demonstration, the Tesla Optimus team featured the humanoid robot performing a variety of tasks. These include household chores such as throwing the trash, using a broom and a vacuum cleaner, tearing a paper towel, stirring a pot of food, opening a cabinet, and closing a curtain, among others. The video also featured Optimus picking up a Model X fore link and placing it on a dolly.

What was most notable in the Tesla Optimus team’s demonstration was the fact that the humanoid robot was able to complete all the tasks through a single neural network. The robot’s actions were also learned directly from Optimus being fed data from first-person videos of humans performing similar tasks. This system should pave the way for Optimus to learn and refine new skills quickly and reliably.

Tesla VP for Optimus Shares Insight

In a follow-up post on X, Tesla Vice President of Optimus (Tesla Bot) Milan Kovac stated that one of the team’s goals is to have Optimus learn straight from internet videos of humans performing tasks, including footage captured in third person or by random cameras.

“We recently had a significant breakthrough along that journey, and can now transfer a big chunk of the learning directly from human videos to the bots (1st person views for now). This allows us to bootstrap new tasks much faster compared to teleoperated bot data alone (heavier operationally).

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“Many new skills are emerging through this process, are called for via natural language (voice/text), and are run by a single neural network on the bot (multi-tasking). Next: expand to 3rd person video transfer (aka random internet), and push reliability via self-play (RL) in the real-, and/or synthetic- (sim / world models) world,” Kovac wrote in his post on X.

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