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Elon Musk’s jet tracker gains FAA approval to continue tracking flights

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Elon Musk’s flight-tracking rival Jack Sweeney won a small victory today after receiving approval from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to continue tracking the billionaire’s flights.

Sweeney announced that his permission from the FAA, which was submitted via a Freedom of Information Act request, was approved via Twitter. “My FAA FOIA request went thru, Now I have all the registration and airworthiness documents for all the SpaceX jets,” Sweeney Tweeted to his ballooning follower count. In the last 30 days, Sweeney has gained 38,764 new followers on Twitter. He currently has roughly 42,200. That is an increase of over 61,000 percent.

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As Musk inspires people everywhere, he unleashes the next generation of thinkers, and one of them, Jack Sweeney to be exact, could not be more excited to make himself official through requesting approval from the FAA. Until the government entity’s approval, Sweeney had been engaging in public discourse on Twitter and educating the masses on the rights to information, including tracking that of a billionaire’s travels by private jet.

Initially, Musk offered the aspiring 19-year-old a sum of $5,000 to remove the now-infamous @ElonJet Twitter account. The unbudging teenager raised the stakes by ten times the amount despite pleas from the Tesla leader via Twitter.

Elon Musk says tracking his travel plans has become ‘a security issue’

Exchanges through Twitter document the ongoing drama that public figures must face in negotiating for their own privacy with cash. Along with the $50,000 demand to close out the flight-tracking Twitter page, the teen proposed a potential internship opportunity with Tesla or SpaceX or a new Model 3 as a consolation. However, Musk has yet to respond to Sweeney’s conditions. “He didn’t have to block me,” said Sweeney to New York Post. “I can get why he’s mad.”

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Sweeney had not singled out only Musk’s travel plans like a starstruck kid. Accounts following the flights of Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, and Mark Cuban are also in service to Twitter audiences. In light of new abilities from regulators, the innovative programmer, who goes to the University of Central Florida, is expanding his own business. “Lately, I have been adding people that have requested,” he said in an interview with The Guardian.

Contact us with tips at tips@teslarati.com, or Tweet us @Teslarati.

Unabashedly curious automotive enthusiast with experience in the industry of things that go fast.

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Tesla Powerwall distribution expands in Australia

Inventory is expected to arrive in late February and official sales are expected to start mid-March 2026.

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Credit: Tesla

Supply Partners Group has secured a distribution agreement for the Tesla Powerwall in Australia, with inventory expected to arrive in late February and official sales beginning in mid-March 2026.

Under the new agreement, Supply Partners will distribute Tesla Powerwall units and related accessories across its national footprint, as noted in an ecogeneration report. The company said the addition strengthens its position as a distributor focused on premium, established brands.

“We are proud to officially welcome Tesla Powerwall into the Supply Partners portfolio,” Lliam Ricketts, Co-Founder and Director of Innovation at Supply Partners Group, stated.

“Tesla sets a high bar, and we’ve worked hard to earn the opportunity to represent a brand that customers actively ask for. This partnership reflects the strength of our logistics, technical services and customer experience, and it’s a win for installers who want premium options they can trust.”

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Supply Partners noted that initial Tesla Powerwall stock will be warehoused locally before full commercial rollout in March. The distributor stated that the timing aligns with renewed growth momentum for the Powerwall, supported by competitive installer pricing, consumer rebates, and continued product and software updates.

“Powerwall is already a category-defining product, and what’s ahead makes it even more compelling,” Ricketts stated. “As pricing sharpens and capability expands, we see a clear runway for installers to confidently spec Powerwall for premium residential installs, backed by Supply Partners’ national distribution footprint and service model.”

Supply Partners noted that a joint go-to-market launch is planned, including Tesla-led training for its sales and technical teams to support installers during the home battery system’s domestic rollout.

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Tesla Giga Berlin growth could stall if not “free from external influences”: Elon Musk

The comments were delivered in a pre-recorded video discussion.

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Credit: Andre Thierig/X

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has reportedly warned that future expansion of Gigafactory Berlin could be jeopardized if the site does not remain “free from external influences.”

Musk’s comments were delivered in a pre-recorded video discussion with employees and came at a sensitive moment for the facility, where union representation has been a recurring issue.

According to reports from Handelsblatt and Der Spiegel, citing participants at the event, Musk suggested that if Giga Berlin is no longer “free from external influences,” further expansion would become unlikely. He did not, however, hint that the plant would shut down.

While Musk did not name IG Metall directly, his remarks were widely interpreted as referencing the union, which is currently the largest faction on the works council but does not hold a majority, as noted in an electrive report. 

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The video conversation was conducted between Musk in Austin and Grünheide plant manager André Thierig, then played back to the workforce in Germany. Works council elections are scheduled for early March, heightening the tension between management and organized labor.

The CEO has previously voiced concerns that stronger union influence could limit Tesla’s operational flexibility and long-term strategy in Germany.

Despite the warning on expansion, Musk praised the Giga Berlin site during the same address, describing it as one of the most advanced factories worldwide and highlighting its cleanliness and team culture.

The discussion also reportedly touched on battery cell production. According to attendees cited in German media, Musk indicated that Tesla has begun ramping cell production at the site. That would mark a notable shift from earlier expectations that large-scale cell manufacturing in Brandenburg would not begin until 2027.

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Tesla Full Self-Driving’s newest behavior is the perfect answer to aggressive cars

According to a recent video, it now appears the suite will automatically pull over if there is a tailgater on your bumper, the most ideal solution for when a driver is riding your bumper.

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla Full Self-Driving appears to have a new behavior that is the perfect answer to aggressive drivers.

According to a recent video, it now appears the suite will automatically pull over if there is a tailgater on your bumper, the most ideal solution for when a driver is riding your bumper.

With FSD’s constantly-changing Speed Profiles, it seems as if this solution could help eliminate the need to tinker with driving modes from the person in the driver’s seat. This tends to be one of my biggest complaints from FSD at times.

A video posted on X shows a Tesla on Full Self-Driving pulling over to the shoulder on windy, wet roads after another car seemed to be following it quite aggressively. The car looks to have automatically sensed that the vehicle behind it was in a bit of a hurry, so FSD determined that pulling over and letting it by was the best idea:

We can see from the clip that there was no human intervention to pull over to the side, as the driver’s hands are stationary and never interfere with the turn signal stalk.

This can be used to override some of the decisions FSD makes, and is a great way to get things back on track if the semi-autonomous functionality tries to do something that is either unneeded or not included in the routing on the in-car Nav.

FSD tends to move over for faster traffic on the interstate when there are multiple lanes. On two-lane highways, it will pass slower cars using the left lane. When faster traffic is behind a Tesla on FSD, the vehicle will move back over to the right lane, the correct behavior in a scenario like this.

Perhaps one of my biggest complaints at times with Full Self-Driving, especially from version to version, is how much tinkering Tesla does with Speed Profiles. One minute, they’re suitable for driving on local roads, the next, they’re either too fast or too slow.

When they are too slow, most of us just shift up into a faster setting, but at times, even that’s not enough, see below:

There are times when it feels like it would be suitable for the car to just pull over and let the vehicle that is traveling behind pass. This, at least up until this point, it appears, was something that required human intervention.

Now, it looks like Tesla is trying to get FSD to a point where it just knows that it should probably get out of the way.

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