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Elon Musk praises Tesla Gigafactory Texas’ ‘great progress’

(Credit: Joe Tegtmeyer)

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Tesla CEO Elon Musk recently praised the Texas team working on the Austin Gigafactory in a recent tweet. Based on videos of Giga Texas’s progress, Tesla seems to be moving along with its construction right on schedule.

“Tesla Texas team is making great progress! Giga Texas factory will be an a$$kicker,” Musk replied to a tweet from the Austin Tesla Club, who shared a photo of the construction site. Each new Gigafactory has developed its own special defining trait, even the ones that are in the middle of construction–and Giga Texas is no different.

Giga Shanghai became known for its speed and the quality of its vehicles. Tesla’s factory in Berlin will have extremely advanced technology thanks to its next-gen paint shop, which Elon Musk seems very excited to see in action.

Giga Texas will probably be known for two notable traits. First, it will most likely have the most beautiful Gigafactory grounds. After announcing the location of Tesla’s next Gigafactory in the US, Musk shared that parts of the Giga Texas complex will be an “ecological paradise” of sorts that the public could visit.

Giga Texas’s second notable trait would be its production of the Cybertruck. If the vehicle proves successful, there is a good chance that Tesla’s other facilities may also manufacture the all-electric pickup, and there’s an equally good chance that the truck could be produced for a very long time. But the factory in Austin will always be Tesla’s first Cybertruck production line.

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Elon Musk shared that Tesla made some minor tweaks to the Cybertruck before production starts in Giga Texas. During the Q3 earnings call, Musk said that the Cybertruck’s production depends a lot on Giga Texas’ completion, making his recent praise even more noteworthy.

“Like [the Cybertruck is] going to be made in Austin. So it’s kind of dependent on completing that factory. And there are obviously new technologies with the high hardness kind of armored exoskeleton,” he said.

The Cybertruck’s design has received polarized reactions. The Tesla all-electric truck’s stainless steel exoskeleton allows the vehicle to have a unique take on the traditional pickup. Musk has noted in the past that the Cybertruck’s origami-like approach in making the exoskeleton may be one of the difficulties Tesla has to face during the EV pickup’s production.

“This is — it’s never been done before, so there’ll probably be some challenges along the way. And obviously, something that’s extremely high hardness and difficult to scratch or dent is also difficult to form. So there’s manufacturing challenges there. That’s why it’s so cleaner,” Musk said during the last earnings call.

Based on Elon Musk’s Cybertruck updates on Twitter, though, the Tesla team has been working continuously on the EV pickup truck’s design since its unveiling last November. Thanks to Tesla’s experience with the Model 3’s “production hell”, the company is well aware that the Cybertruck’s final design will likely determine how challenging its production ramp will be. The Tesla team’s constant work on refining the details of the Cybertruck’s design hints that the company is doing everything in its power to make sure the production of its first EV pickup goes by smoothly.

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Watch a recent flyover of the Tesla Gigafactory Texas site in the video below.

Maria--aka "M"-- is an experienced writer and book editor. She's written about several topics including health, tech, and politics. As a book editor, she's worked with authors who write Sci-Fi, Romance, and Dark Fantasy. M loves hearing from TESLARATI readers. If you have any tips or article ideas, contact her at maria@teslarati.com or via X, @Writer_01001101.

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Elon Musk says he’s open to powering Apple’s Siri with xAI’s Grok

Siri, one of the first intelligent AI assistants in the market, has become widely outdated and outperformed by rivals over the years.

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Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Elon Musk says he’s willing to help Apple overhaul Siri by integrating xAI’s Grok 4.1, igniting widespread excitement and speculations about a potential collaboration between the two tech giants. 

Siri, one of the first intelligent AI assistants in the market, has become widely outdated and outperformed by rivals over the years.

Musk open to an Apple collaboration

Musk’s willingness to team up with Apple surfaced after an X user suggested replacing Siri with Grok 4.1 to modernize the AI assistant. The original post criticized Siri’s limitations and urged Apple to adopt a more advanced AI system. “It’s time for Apple to team up with xAI and actually fix Siri. Replace that outdated, painfully dumb assistant with Grok 4.1. Siri deserves to be Superintelligent,” the X user wrote.

Musk quoted the post, responding with, “I’m down.” Musk’s comment quickly attracted a lot of attention among X’s users, many of whom noted that a Grok update to Siri would be appreciated because Apple’s AI assistant has legitimately become terrible in recent years. Others also noted that Grok, together with Apple’s potential integration of Starlink connectivity, would make iPhones even more compelling. 

Grok promises major Siri upgrades

The enthusiasm stems largely from Grok 4.1’s technical strengths, which include stronger reasoning and improved creative output. xAI also designed the model to reduce hallucinations, as noted in a Reality Tea report. Supporters believe these improvements could address Apple’s reported challenges developing its own advanced AI systems, giving Siri the upgrade many users have waited years for.

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Reactions ranged from humorous to hopeful, with some users joking that Siri would finally “wake up with a personality” if paired with Grok. Siri, after all, was a trailblazer in voice assistants, but it is currently dominated by rivals in terms of features and capabilities. Grok could change that, provided that Apple is willing to collaborate with Elon Musk’s xAI.

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Tesla’s top-rated Supercharger Network becomes Stellantis’ new key EV asset

The rollout begins in North America early next year before expanding to Japan and South Korea in 2027.

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Credit: Tesla

Stellantis will adopt Tesla’s North American Charging System (NACS) across select battery-electric vehicles starting in 2026, giving customers access to more than 28,000 Tesla Superchargers across five countries. 

The rollout begins in North America early next year before expanding to Japan and South Korea in 2027, significantly boosting public fast-charging access for Jeep, Dodge, and other Stellantis brands. The move marks one of Stellantis’ largest infrastructure expansions to date.

Stellantis unlocks NACS access

Beginning in early 2026, Stellantis BEVs, including models like the Jeep Wagoneer S and Dodge Charger Daytona, will gain access to Tesla’s Supercharger network across North America. The integration will extend to Japan and South Korea in 2027, with the 2026 Jeep Recon and additional next-generation BEVs joining the list as compatibility expands. Stellantis stated that details on adapters and network onboarding for current models will be released closer to launch, as noted in a press release.

The company emphasizes that adopting NACS aligns with a broader strategy to give customers greater freedom of choice when charging, especially as infrastructure availability becomes a deciding factor for EV buyers. With access to thousands of high-speed stations, Stellantis aims to reduce range anxiety and improve long-distance travel convenience across its global portfolio.

Tesla Supercharger network proves its value

Stellantis’ move also comes as Tesla’s Supercharger system continues to earn top rankings for reliability and user experience. In the 2025 Zapmap survey, drawn from nearly 4,000 BEV drivers across the UK, Tesla Superchargers were named the Best Large EV Charging Network for the second year in a row. The study measured reliability, ease of use, and payment experience across the country’s public charging landscape.

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Tesla’s UK network now includes 1,115 open Supercharger devices at 97 public locations, representing roughly 54% of its total footprint and marking a 40% increase in public availability since late 2024. Zapmap highlighted the Supercharger network’s consistently lower pricing compared to other rapid and ultra-rapid providers, alongside its strong uptime and streamlined user experience. These performance metrics further reinforce the value of Stellantis’ decision to integrate NACS across major markets.

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Tesla FSD and Robotaxis are making people aware how bad human drivers are

These observations really show that Tesla’s focus on autonomy would result in safer roads for everyone.

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla FSD and the Robotaxi network are becoming so good in their self-driving performance, they are starting to highlight just how bad humans really are at driving. 

This could be seen in several observations from the electric vehicle community.

Robotaxis are better than Uber, actually

Tesla’s Robotaxi service is only available in Austin and the Bay Area for now, but those who have used the service have generally been appreciative of its capabilities and performance. Some Robotaxi customers have observed that the service is simply so much more affordable than Uber, and its driving is actually really good.

One veteran Tesla owner, @BLKMDL3, recently noted that the Robotaxi service has become better than Uber simply because FSD now drives better than some human drivers.  Apart from the fact that Robotaxis allow riders to easily sync their phones to the rear display, the vehicles generally provide a significantly more comfortable ride than their manually-driven counterparts from Uber.

FSD is changing the narrative, one ride at a time

It appears that FSD V14 really is something special. The update has received wide acclaim from users since it was released, and the positive reactions are still coming. This was highlighted in a recent post from Tesla owner Travis Nicolette, who shared a recent experience with FSD. As per the Tesla owner, he was quite surprised as his car was able to accomplish a U-turn in a way that exceeded human drivers.

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Yet another example of FSD’s smooth and safe driving was showcased in a recent video, which showed a safety monitor of a Bay Area Robotaxi falling asleep in the driver’s seat. In any other car, a driver falling asleep at the wheel could easily result in a grave accident, but thanks to FSD, both the safety monitor and the passengers remained safe.

These observations, if any, really show that Tesla’s focus on autonomy would result in safer roads for everyone. As per the IIHS, there were 40,901 deaths from motor vehicle crashes in the United States in 2023. The NHTSA also estimated that in 2017, 91,000 police-reported crashes involved drowsy drivers. These crashes led to an estimated 50,000 people injured and 800 deaths. FSD could lower all these tragic statistics by a notable margin.

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