

Elon Musk
Elon Musk, President Trump share interesting dialogue regarding Tesla Gigafactory India
Tesla CEO Elon Musk and President Donald Trump shared an interesting dialogue regarding the automaker’s potential entry into the Indian market, which could require the construction of a new Gigafactory in the country.
For the past several years, Tesla and India have attempted to come to terms on an agreement that would see the EV maker bring its vehicles to the country permanently. There have been several sticking points in the negotiations, which have delayed Tesla’s plans.
Tesla has wanted to test demand by shipping vehicles from its Gigafactory Berlin plant in Germany to India.
This would not be an adequate way to assess whether India is an ideal market for Tesla because the country applies 100 percent import duties to imported vehicles, doubling the price of the car in question.
India has agreed to reduce or even eliminate the import duties for Tesla under one condition: it commits to building a factory in the country. This would essentially eliminate the need for the demand test, though.
This is where Tesla and India have been held up. However, recent discussions between Musk and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have resulted in Tesla initiating hiring efforts for Sales and Service advisors in India.
But things got interesting during an interview with President Trump and Musk yesterday, especially in regards to Tesla’s potential plans to build a Gigafactory in India.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk to meet with Indian PM once again – Here’s why
Musk and Trump both discussed the high import duties on imported vehicles in India, which Tesla will likely need to use a Gigafactory in the country to avoid.
President Trump seems more in tune with the idea of Tesla sending American vehicles to India and using a reciprocal tariff strategy to force the country to eliminate its duties.
The back-and-forth went like this:
Musk: The tariffs are like 100 percent import duty.
President Trump: The tariffs are so high —
Musk: Yeah.
President Trump: — they don’t want to — now, if he [Musk] built the factory in India, that’s okay, but that’s unfair to us. It’s very unfair. And I said, “you know what we do?” I told Prime Minister Modi yesterday — he was here. I said, “Here’s what you do. We’re going to do — be very fair with you.” They charge the highest tariffs in the world, just about.
Media: 36 percent?
President Trump: Oh, much, much higher.
Musk: It’s 100 percent on — auto imports are 100 percent.
President Trump: Yeah, that’s peanuts. So much higher. And — and others, too. I said, “Here’s what we’re going to do: reciprocal. Whatever you charge, I’m charging.”
The interesting bit about President Trump stating that Tesla building a factory in India is “unfair to us. It’s very unfair” seems to be a point of potential disagreement between the two.
It’s nothing that can’t be worked out, but it seems there could be a bargaining point between Musk, President Trump, and Modi.
Musk wants to get Tesla’s vehicles in India because it is such a large market and it could be a massive boost to the company’s annual delivery totals in the coming years. It has to be at the right price and at the right time.
Modi wants Tesla in India, too, but this will only happen if it can boost the economy. India has a very hellbent focus on domestic manufacturing through its “Make In India” campaign, which is why import duties are so high.
Trump wants Tesla to continue building vehicles in the U.S. to bolster his plans that would provide a resurgence to domestic manufacturing. He is fine with Tesla operating in India, but only if the U.S. sees a benefit, and not Tesla exclusively.
This will likely prolong what seemed to be an almost guaranteed deal between Tesla and India.
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Elon Musk
Tesla owners show off improvements with new Full Self-Driving v14 rollout
Some of the big things that Tesla faced head-on with the development and release of v14 were navigating in parking garages and handling parking after arriving at a destination.

Tesla owners with access to the company’s Full Self-Driving new version, v14, which rolled out on Tuesday morning, are showcasing some of the very impressive improvements that have arrived.
CEO Elon Musk called v14 “sentient” a few weeks ahead of its rollout, claiming the newest iteration of the company’s Full Self-Driving platform would be the most accurate to date.
Tesla FSD (Supervised) V14.1 with Robotaxi-style dropoffs is here
It was obvious this narrative had Tesla owners keeping their expectations high, as there were very evidently things that needed to be improved upon that were present in v13. I wrote about several improvements I was hoping to see, and based on the release notes for v14, Tesla did have these things in the works already.
Some of the big things that Tesla faced head-on with the development and release of v14 were navigating in parking garages and handling parking after arriving at a destination.
Tesla said it was working to increase the capabilities of Summon within parking garages, as many owners believe that is where it would be the most beneficial.
While that does not appear to be part of this initial v14 rollout, it does seem Tesla is focused on improving the suite’s ability to navigate through these garages, including stopping for a ticket to enter the facility, finding a spot, and parking in an appropriate space.
It was evident this was a huge improvement based on one example from an owner who received v14:
FSD v14 navigates parking garages really well. Here’s a full clip of it leaving a parking spot, going through the garage, waiting for me to put the ticket in, and exiting.
Almost feels like it can read the signs above to go find the exit, with a complex garage here.@Tesla_AI pic.twitter.com/fv9j6LNcp6
— Zack (@BLKMDL3) October 7, 2025
If you look closely, you will even see the car shift slightly to the right when it arrives at the ticketing station, making it easier for the driver to hand over their ticket and payment. It then moves back out to the right when leaving to return to the center of the lane. It’s very intuitive.
Additionally, it appears to be more accurate when parking, thanks to improvements that enable owners to select the type of parking upon arrival at a destination.
In the v14.1 release notes, Tesla said that it has added “Arrival Options for you to select where FSD should park: in a Parking Lot, on the Street, in a Driveway, in a Parking Garage, or at the Curbside.”
One owner chose to navigate home and chose a garage to park in. Full Self-Driving performed it without any issues:
Not only can FSD 14.1 pull into my gravel driveway (no version before has done this) it can pull into the garage. pic.twitter.com/pweI5JKWHD
— Dirty Tesla (@DirtyTesLa) October 7, 2025
These are just two evident improvements so far, and there are likely many more on the way. The changes and fixes will be tracked by anyone with access to FSD v14 in the coming weeks.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk teases previously unknown Tesla Optimus capability
Elon Musk revealed over the weekend that the humanoid robot should be able to utilize Tesla’s dataset for Full Self-Driving (FSD) to operate cars not manufactured by Tesla.

Elon Musk revealed a new capability that Tesla Optimus should have, and it is one that will surely surprise many people, as it falls outside the CEO’s scope of his several companies.
Tesla Optimus is likely going to be the biggest product the company ever develops, and Musk has even predicted that it could make up about 80 percent of the company’s value in the coming years.
Teasing the potential to eliminate any trivial and monotonous tasks from human life, Optimus surely has its appeal.
However, Musk revealed over the weekend that the humanoid robot should be able to utilize Tesla’s dataset for Full Self-Driving (FSD) to operate cars not manufactured by Tesla:
Probably
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 5, 2025
FSD would essentially translate from operation in Tesla vehicles from a driverless perspective to Optimus, allowing FSD to basically be present in any vehicle ever made. Optimus could be similar to a personal chauffeur, as well as an assistant.
Optimus has significant hype behind it, as Tesla has been meticulously refining its capabilities. Along with Musk’s and other executives’ comments about its potential, it’s clear that there is genuine excitement internally.
This past weekend, the company continued to stoke hype behind Optimus by showing a new video of the humanoid robot learning Kung Fu and training with a teacher:
🚨 Some have wondered if this is ‘staged’ or if Optimus is teleoperated here
Elon Musk said this is completely AI https://t.co/N69uDD6OVM
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) October 4, 2025
Tesla plans to launch its Gen 3 version of Optimus in the coming months, and although we saw a new-look robot just last month, thanks to a video from Salesforce CEO and Musk’s friend Marc Benioff, we have been told that this was not a look at the company’s new iteration.
Instead, Gen 3’s true design remains a mystery for the general public, but with the improvements between the first two iterations already displayed, we are sure the newest version will be something special.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk’s xAI becomes Memphis’ 2nd largest taxpayer in just one year: report
Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence startup, xAI, is reshaping Memphis’s economic landscape.

Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence startup, xAI, is reshaping Memphis’s economic landscape. In just twelve months, the company has become the city and county’s second largest taxpayer.
The update was related in a report from The Wall Street Journal.
Memphis’ second-largest taxpayer
xAI is currently transforming a defunct Mississippi power plant into a crucial hub for AI, supplying electricity to its Colossus supercomputer cluster and its successor, Colossus 2. Together, the Colossi supercomputers will host more than half a million Nvidia chips that would be used for the development and improvement of Grok, xAI’s large language model.
The buildout has injected billions into the region, making xAI one of Memphis’s most significant private investors and a symbol of the city’s high-tech aspirations. Bill Dunavant III, a Memphis businessman who sits on the board of directors of the city’s chamber of commerce, highlighted xAI’s contribution to the city’s economy in a comment to the WSJ.
“In one year, xAI has become the second largest taxpayer in the city and county after FedEx,” he said. A spokesman for the Greater Memphis Chamber of Commerce has also stated that xAI has demonstrated “substantial economic commitment to our region, without any tax incentives.”
Not without controversy
Despite the economic boost, xAI’s footprint has drawn scrutiny. The company’s natural-gas-powered turbines are expected to consume a substantial amount of water and electricity. Critics have also expressed worries about pollution and increased utility costs, though others see Musk’s wastewater recycling plans and cleanup initiatives as meaningful offsets.
As per the WSJ, xAI’s positioning in the market may be quite different than what Musk is typically used to, considering that the CEO tends to become a first mover in key industries, such as the EV segment with Tesla and private spaceflight with SpaceX. With xAI, however, he is catching up to competitors, the most notable of which is a company he co-founded, OpenAI, and its ubiquitous large language model, ChatGPT.
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