Connect with us

News

Elon Musk pledges to make things right after Tesla leaves small bakery with unpaid order

Ministério Das Comunicações, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Published

on

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has personally pledged to correct a mistake from the electric vehicle maker that left a small business in San Jose in a tricky situation. As per Musk in a post on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, people and businesses should be able to count on Tesla to always try its best. 

As per a Kron4 report, Voahangy Rasetarinera of The Giving Pies bakery in San Jose posted about her experience with the electric vehicle maker on social media. The Giving Pies has had large corporations as clients in the past, such as Apple and Google. Thus, when the business got an order for 2,000 pies from Tesla, Rasetarinera and her team got to work. 

As noted by Rasetarinera, Tesla later updated the order to 4,000 pies. The extra order required her and her staff to work on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Over this time, the bakery opted to deny other orders from different clients as they were busy fulfilling Tesla’s order. Rasetarinera noted that she followed up multiple times with Tesla for the order’s payment, but she was later informed by the company that the pies were no longer needed. 

“To fulfill the order, I had turned down other Black History Month catering inquiries, purchased supplies, and prepared for a demanding production schedule. I called Laura at 2 p.m. only to get her voicemail. A few minutes later, my hopes were shattered when I received a text from Laura, CASUALLY informing me that the plan had changed and Tesla would no longer require the order. This abrupt reversal left me reeling, realizing the extent of the impact on my small business,” Rasetarinera wrote in her social media post

Tesla is a newsworthy company, so it was no surprise that the failed order made the rounds in media reports. Fortunately for the business owner, this also meant that Tesla CEO Elon Musk saw the story on X. In a response on the social media platform, Musk noted that it was the first time that he had heard about the story. He also noted that he will make things good with the small business. 

“Just hearing about this. Will make things good with the bakery. People should always be able to count on Tesla trying its best,” Musk wrote. 

In a comment to Kron4, Rasetarinera noted that she did receive a message from Tesla after she posted her story on social media. She noted that she is willing to give the company an opportunity to make things right. “They said they wanted to make it right by me, and they offered for me to do two events on March 6th and 7th, but I’m still waiting for confirmation. If they want to make it right, I’m going to give them the opportunity to make it right,” she said. 

Advertisement
-
-

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

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.

Advertisement
Comments

News

Tesla Summer Update begins rolling out: a look at the new features

Published

on

Credit: Tesla

Tesla has started to deploy the 2026 Summer Update to owners across its fleet, and among the biggest changes are improvements to Navigation, a new startup animation for the Model 3 and Model Y, Caraoke scoring, and new capabilities for Grok.

As the update has started making its way to some cars, we can now see a few of the features operating in real-time. We will show you what some of the new features look like in this article, along with some additional details on what changed.

Not all of the new features in the 2026 Summer Update have quite made an appearance, but some of them have, so we’ll show those here:

New Animation Screen for 3/Y

Tesla is rolling out a new startup animation for Tesla Model 3 and Model Y owners. This is present in Launch Edition and Performance Model 3 and Model Y, but other trim levels do not have anything like this.

Owners can adjust the color associated with the startup animation to suit their preferences. It is a surprise that more automakers do not focus on this animation for their vehicles; it can be a great first impression piece and make the car immediately feel more luxurious.

Tesla has included this on more premium trims, but it is nice to see it on the Model 3 and Model Y.

Grok Improvements

Grok can now adjust more things in the car outside of the Navigation system. Now, drivers can adjust anything from climate to driving settings by simply speaking to the AI assistant in the car:

You don’t even have to push a button, either. Instead, you can just say “Hey, Grok,” if you have it enabled. That feature rolled out with the 2026 Spring Update just a few months back.

This is a great feature, especially pertinent for the Robotaxi platform, as there will be no buttons inside the Cybercab when it eventually starts giving rides to the public. It also broadens Grok’s capabilities, which were relatively limited in terms of vehicle setting adjustments beforehand.

Continue Reading

News

Tesla briefly offered this Robotaxi part for your personal car

Published

on

Credit: @tpgoebel | X

Tesla briefly offered one Robotaxi part in its Parts Catalog for your personal car, only to remove it just a short time after it was first noticed.

Tesla’s Robotaxi camera washer apparatus was briefly available for purchase on the company’s Online Parts Catalog. The camera washer was first noticed on Model Y Robotaxi vehicles about six months ago in Austin.

First noticed by Not a Tesla App, the Camera Washer entries appeared for the new “Juniper” Model Y under a category called “Halo,” which has also now disappeared. Interestingly, Halo probably is related to Tesla’s internal “Project Halo,” which was a project that aimed to retrofit customer-owned Model Ys into functional Robotaxis.

This hardware addition would likely be required for the vehicle to operate as a Robotaxi, as the Camera Washer seems to be a non-negotiable part of the vision-based system Tesla utilizes for self-driving efforts.

However, this part has since been removed and is no longer visible on the EPC.

Now the true question lingers: Why would Tesla add this Camera Washer to the Model Y parts catalog? Is it planning to make it available for owners to utilize on their own cars for personal use, or will it become a prerequisite for Robotaxi operation in customer-owned cars?

While discussing the upgrade options for Hardware 3 vehicles during the Q1 Earnings Call, Tesla CEO Elon Musk had said that the company could establish small, satellite shops that would upgrade cameras and self-driving computers. Perhaps this same strategy could be utilized for vehicles that want to be included in Robotaxi but do not have the correct hardware.

AI4 is currently represented as capable of unsupervised self-driving, and the same was said about HW3 at one point, only for Tesla to admit last quarter that it would, unfortunately, not be possible. Perhaps AI4 vehicles might need this camera washer as a prerequisite, just as HW3 cars will need that camera and computer upgrade.

This could be the first hint of that’s where we are headed.

Continue Reading

News

Tesla Robotaxi gets sweeping but polarizing change

Published

on

Credit: Tesla

Tesla has started rolling out a broader change to the ride experience for its Robotaxi fleet by silencing turn signals, but the change is certainly polarizing.

Tesla has generally made it clear that its purpose-built ride-hailing platform, Robotaxi, will cater to the rider in nearly every way possible. This includes having climate preferences, music, and other personal settings loaded up in the car as the rider enters.

But Tesla is taking it a step further by muting turn signal chimes altogether, a change that appears to be a way to make the ride more peaceful:

However, there are a handful of people who are not thrilled about this change. Turn signals are a conditioned part of the human mind for those who ride in a car regularly.

Taking a turn without one feels strange and odd, and not hearing it click while activated could set off some alarms for riders, who might use the noise as confirmation that other drivers know of their intention to turn.

Turn signal noises are still audible in customer cars, so if you use FSD in your personal vehicle, you will still hear the turn signal.

The move is certainly one that is unique, but not one that separates it from other ride-sharing services. In a normal car, the clicking sound confirms to the driver that the blinker is active. In a fully driverless Robotaxi, that feedback serves no purpose for passengers, other than peace of mind.

Continue Reading