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Tesla rivals Rivian and Lucid receive harsh prediction from Elon Musk

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Elon Musk’s Tesla has survived through a tough, long, and treacherous road to profitability and electric vehicle dominance. Unfortunately for rivals Rivian and Lucid, Musk does not see the same bright light at the end of the tunnel, based on comments made on his social media platform X last night.

As both Rivian and Lucid reported earnings for Q4 2023 last night, Musk took to Twitter to discuss his impressions of both companies and how long they might last before things could come to a crashing halt.

In short, it does not look like an optimistic sentiment shared by Musk was in the plans. Both predictions seem to indicate eventual bankruptcy and potentially the end of operations, which would bring Tesla’s lead in the EV movement in the U.S. to a point of overwhelming dominance. Rivian and Lucid are two pure EV companies that continue to fight through tough economic times and challenging growth periods.

Rivian

Rivian and Tesla are somewhat complementary to one another, both contributing to the EV movement with a focus on expanding product lines, offering cheaper vehicles, and creating somewhat of a “brand,” specifically catering to those interested in supporting companies hellbent on bringing EVs to the forefront.

While the two have had a tumultuous past, including an employee poaching lawsuit, Tesla and Rivian are widely considered the two best EV companies in the United States, and there seems to be mutual respect there.

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Rivian sets 2024 goals, including a 57,000 production target

However, Rivian is still navigating through tough times, ramping production and trying to race to profitability as fast as possible.

During its earnings call last night, it did indicate that it is still losing money on every car it builds, which is not uncommon in early operations. Musk believes, based on data, that Rivian would have roughly six quarters left before bankruptcy would have to be considered:

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The problem with Rivian, according to Musk, is not their product.

“Their product design is not bad,” Musk said, “but the actual hard part of making a car company work is achieving volume production with positive cash flow.”

Lucid

Lucid and Tesla are a different story entirely.

Evident from comments made by Musk for several years about Lucid CEO/CTO Peter Rawlinson’s job title with the Model S program at Tesla, there is still hostility between the two.

Musk has said that Rawlinson left Tesla when things got truly difficult, and it seems he still holds a bit of a grudge because of it.

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Lucid posts Q4 2023 results, posts conservative FY 2024 target

Rawlinson’s Lucid is still alive mostly due to a strong investor in the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund, or PIF, which is the reason the company built a production facility in the country. It also is building cars for certain government organizations in Saudi Arabia.

Musk was sure to point out that Lucid’s survival is purely because of the PIF’s involvement:

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What if Rivian and Lucid actually do shut their doors?

While Tesla fans might see it as a way to dominate EV sales figures once again, and as a feather in their cap that the company they invested in survived, it would be bad to see both of these companies cease operations.

In reality, competition in the market is a positive. It pushes companies to innovate and creates product diversity, giving a wide variety of options for customers.

Additionally, the EV movement would take a huge blow if two major companies could not stay afloat. Rivian is the company with the better outlook because it is showing growth and progress in its EV efforts, but Lucid has heavy financial backers with essentially limitless money.

Joey has been a journalist covering electric mobility at TESLARATI since August 2019. In his spare time, Joey is playing golf, watching MMA, or cheering on any of his favorite sports teams, including the Baltimore Ravens and Orioles, Miami Heat, Washington Capitals, and Penn State Nittany Lions. You can get in touch with joey at joey@teslarati.com. He is also on X @KlenderJoey. If you're looking for great Tesla accessories, check out shop.teslarati.com

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Elon Musk

Elon Musk just roasted Sam Altman’s Tesla Roadster cancellation

“And you forgot to mention act 4, where this issue was fixed and you received a refund within 24 hours.

But that is in your nature.”

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Elon Musk has responded to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s decision to cancel his Tesla Roadster reservation, which he revealed on X on Thursday.

We reported on Altman’s decision, which he called “A tale in three acts,” showing his confirmation email from Tesla back in 2018, an email requesting his $50,000 deposit back after canceling his order, and a notification from Google that the email he sent was not delivered.

Musk did not take too kindly to the post from his tech rival, first referencing his position with OpenAI, and then confirming that Altman received his reservation deposit back within 24 hours:

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OpenAI was started by Musk, Altman, and others back in 2015, and was geared toward being a non-profit company that would develop safe artificial intelligence that would be accessible to people.

However, Musk and Altman did not agree on the future of the company. Musk left, and Altman turned OpenAI into a for-profit company. This led to a variety of lawsuits and some very public spats between the two. Musk has called out Altman for turning the company into a for-profit, which has been his main source of criticism for his former colleague.

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The Roadster has been hanging in the balance of Tesla’s manufacturing plans for seven years, but the company has made more indications that it will be unveiled later this year and will have some insane technologies.

Musk said on Friday in an episode of the Joe Rogan Experience Podcast that Tesla is “getting close to demonstrating the prototype.”

He said:

“Whether it’s good or bad, it will be unforgettable. My friend Peter Thiel once reflected that the future was supposed to have flying cars, but we don’t have flying cars. I think if Peter wants a flying car, he should be able to buy one…I think it has a shot at being the most memorable product unveil ever. [It will be unveiled] hopefully before the end of the year. You know, we need to make sure that it works. This is some crazy technology in this car. Let’s just put it this way: if you took all the James Bond cars and combined them, it’s crazier than that.”

Musk hinted that the vehicle could fly and would have “crazy technology” that would put James Bond’s vehicles to shame. It will be interesting to see what Tesla will unveil when the event happens and if it can come through on this mind-blowing teaser.

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SpaceX successfully launches 100th Starlink mission of 2025

With 100 Starlink missions completed for 2025, space enthusiasts have noted that SpaceX has successfully launched 2,554 Starlink satellites so far this year.

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(Credit: Starlink)

SpaceX achieved its 100th Starlink mission of the year on Friday, October 31, marking another milestone for 2025. 

A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 28 Starlink broadband satellites successfully lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 4:41 p.m. ET, carrying another 28 Starlink satellites to Low Earth Orbit (LEO).

Falcon 9 booster’s 29th flight

Roughly 8.5 minutes after liftoff, the Falcon 9’s first stage touched down on the drone ship Of Course I Still Love You in the Pacific Ocean. This marked the booster’s 29th flight, which is approaching SpaceX’s reuse record of 31 missions.

This latest mission adds to SpaceX’s impressive 138 Falcon 9 launches in 2025, 99 of which were dedicated to Starlink, according to Space.com. The company’s focus on reusing boosters has enabled this breakneck pace, with multiple launches each week supporting both Starlink’s expansion and external customers.

Starlink’s network continues massive global expansion

Starlink remains the largest active satellite constellation in history, with more than 10,000 satellites launched, nearly 8,800 of which are currently active. SpaceX recently achieved Starlink’s 10,000-satellite milestone. With 100 Starlink missions completed for 2025, space enthusiasts have noted that SpaceX has successfully launched 2,554 Starlink satellites so far this year.

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Starlink, which provides high-speed, low-latency internet connectivity even to the world’s most remote areas, has been proven to be life-changing technology for people across the globe. The service is currently operational in about 150 countries, and it currently has over 5 million subscribers worldwide. From this number, 2.7 million joined over the past year.

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Tesla shares updated timeframe for Cybertruck FSD V14 release

The Cybertruck was expected to receive FSD V14 before the end of the month, but Tesla was not able to meet the target.

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) V14 update for the Cybertruck could arrive this weekend, as per recent comments from Director of Autopilot Software and VP of AI Ashok Elluswamy. 

The Cybertruck was expected to receive FSD V14 before the end of the month, but Tesla was not able to meet the target.

Cybertruck FSD V14

Considering the extended wait for FSD V14, it was no surprise that several Cybertruck owners were asking for updates about the system’s rollout to the all-electric pickup truck on Friday. These included the official Cybertruck X account, which responded to Elluswamy’s end of month estimate with “I only see trick. Where is my treat.” 

This prompted a response from the AI executive, who replied with, “Sorry, pushing for early access Cyber release over the weekend.” This means that if all goes well, Cybertruck owners would be able to experience FSD V14 very soon. Some, however, are wondering if Tesla would go straight to V14.2 for the Cybertruck’s FSD V14 update, or if the vehicle will receive V14.1 first. 

Tesla pushes to unify FSD experience across its lineup

The upcoming Cybertruck rollout represents the next step in Tesla’s efforts to roll out FSD capabilities across all of its vehicles. FSD V14 is a notable step forward for the company’s AI-driven self driving system, with features like Mad Max mode getting positive reviews from longtime Full Self Driving testers.

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For the Cybertruck, the FSD V14 update would mark one of its first major over-the-air upgrades for the vehicle. Likely due to its size, the Cybertruck tends to receive FSD updates later than the S3XY lineup, which is quite surprising considering that the all-electric pickup truck is a premium-priced vehicle that is home to some of Tesla’s most advanced technologies.

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