News
The Boring Company starts building Elon Musk’s ‘Monty Python’-style watchtower
Last month, Elon Musk announced that The Boring Company is building a watchtower in Los Angeles, and that the tunneling startup would need someone who can “yell insults at people in a French accent” to work on the site. As strange and unusual as the job listing was, a position for “Watchtower Guard” did appear on the Boring Company’s official website.
The watchtower that the knight would be placed at is expected to be built with Boring Bricks, which are durable, low-cost blocks made from tunneling rock and dirt from TBC’s digging operations. As Elon Musk and The Boring Company shared images and clips of the guards’ hiring process, the tunneling startup appears to have started the construction of its watchtower as well. Recent photos taken by Teslarati photographer Pauline Acalin reveal that as of Tuesday, the framework of a tall structure near the Boring Company’s tunnels is already in the process of being built.
- The Boring Company’s watchtower starts taking shape. [Credit: Pauline Acalin/Teslarati]
- The Boring Company’s watchtower starts taking shape. [Credit: Pauline Acalin/Teslarati]
- The Boring Company’s watchtower starts taking shape. [Credit: Pauline Acalin/Teslarati]
The Boring Company’s watchtower starts taking shape. [Credit: Pauline Acalin/Teslarati]
Musk’s recent tweets and the Boring Company’s job opening are yet another display of the SpaceX and Tesla CEO’s love for pop culture. The watchtower guard job listing, after all, is a direct reference to the knight played by actor John Cleese in 1975’s Monty Python and the Holy Grail, a classic film widely regarded as one of the funniest movies ever made. In one of the film’s most memorable scenes, a sharp-tongued French guard taunted King Arthur by hurling multiple insults from the top of a castle wall.
If the metal framework for the structure is any indication, it appears that The Boring Company’s watchtower would be quite tall. This could be seen in photos showing the watchtower easily matching the height of a nearby multi-story building. The construction of the tower seems to be in its initial stages, though, as the Boring Bricks are yet to be overlaid on the structure.
- The Boring Company’s watchtower starts taking shape. [Credit: Pauline Acalin/Teslarati]
- The Boring Company’s watchtower starts taking shape. [Credit: Pauline Acalin/Teslarati]
- The Boring Company’s watchtower starts taking shape. [Credit: Pauline Acalin/Teslarati]
The Boring Company’s watchtower starts taking shape. [Credit: Pauline Acalin/Teslarati]
Elon Musk’s companies always carry a little bit of fun and playfulness. Tesla’s electric cars, for one, are loaded with features such as fun Easter Eggs and references to pop culture, as shown in Autopilot’s “Mad Max” setting and a volume bar that maxes out at 11 — a direct reference to This is Spinal Tap. The same is true for SpaceX, with the red Tesla Roadster that was sent to space on the Falcon Heavy’s maiden voyage being loaded to the brim with sci-fi references. With these in mind, The Boring Company’s nods to Monty Python and the Holy Grail in the form of an insult-hurling French-accented watchtower guard could be described as classic Elon Musk.
Considering the watchtower’s state as of Tuesday though, there seems to be a pretty slim chance that the structure would be completed by December 10, the date set by The Boring Company for the public opening of the recently-finished Hawthorne test tunnel. In a Twitter announcement, Musk stated that the test tunnel will have an opening event on the night of December 10, and by December 11, free rides through the tunnel system would be offered to the public.
The Boring Company’s activities in Hawthorne have been ramping recently. Apart from the test tunnel that would soon be opened to the public, work is also being done in the company’s Prairie Ave. site, which hosts TBC’s prototype garage-elevator concept. In a nearby location, images taken by Teslarati photographers suggest that a tunnel boring machine gantry is under construction as well.
Watch the iconic Monty Python watchtower guard scene in the video below.
Elon Musk
Brazil Supreme Court orders Elon Musk and X investigation closed
The decision was issued by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes following a recommendation from Brazil’s Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet.
Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court has ordered the closure of an investigation involving Elon Musk and social media platform X. The inquiry had been pending for about two years and examined whether the platform was used to coordinate attacks against members of the judiciary.
The decision was issued by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes following a recommendation from Brazil’s Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet.
According to a report from Agencia Brasil, the investigation conducted by the Federal Police did not find evidence that X deliberately attempted to attack the judiciary or circumvent court orders.
Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet concluded that the irregularities identified during the probe did not indicate fraudulent intent.
Justice Moraes accepted the prosecutor’s recommendation and ruled that the investigation should be closed. Under the ruling, the case will remain closed unless new evidence emerges.
The inquiry stemmed from concerns that content on X may have enabled online attacks against Supreme Court justices or violated rulings requiring the suspension of certain accounts under investigation.
Justice Moraes had previously taken several enforcement actions related to the platform during the broader dispute involving social media regulation in Brazil.
These included ordering a nationwide block of the platform, freezing Starlink accounts, and imposing fines on X totaling about $5.2 million. Authorities also froze financial assets linked to X and SpaceX through Starlink to collect unpaid penalties and seized roughly $3.3 million from the companies’ accounts.
Moraes also imposed daily fines of up to R$5 million, about $920,000, for alleged evasion of the X ban and established penalties of R$50,000 per day for VPN users who attempted to bypass the restriction.
Brazil remains an important market for X, with roughly 17 million users, making it one of the platform’s larger user bases globally.
The country is also a major market for Starlink, SpaceX’s satellite internet service, which has surpassed one million subscribers in Brazil.
Elon Musk
FCC chair criticizes Amazon over opposition to SpaceX satellite plan
Carr made the remarks in a post on social media platform X.
U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr criticized Amazon after the company opposed SpaceX’s proposal to launch a large satellite constellation that could function as an orbital data center network.
Carr made the remarks in a post on social media platform X.
Amazon recently urged the FCC to reject SpaceX’s application to deploy a constellation of up to 1 million low Earth orbit satellites that could serve as artificial intelligence data centers in space.
The company described the proposal as a “lofty ambition rather than a real plan,” arguing that SpaceX had not provided sufficient details about how the system would operate.
Carr responded by pointing to Amazon’s own satellite deployment progress.
“Amazon should focus on the fact that it will fall roughly 1,000 satellites short of meeting its upcoming deployment milestone, rather than spending their time and resources filing petitions against companies that are putting thousands of satellites in orbit,” Carr wrote on X.
Amazon has declined to comment on the statement.
Amazon has been working to deploy its Project Kuiper satellite network, which is intended to compete with SpaceX’s Starlink service. The company has invested more than $10 billion in the program and has launched more than 200 satellites since April of last year.
Amazon has also asked the FCC for a 24-month extension, until July 2028, to meet a requirement to deploy roughly 1,600 satellites by July 2026, as noted in a CNBC report.
SpaceX’s Starlink network currently has nearly 10,000 satellites in orbit and serves roughly 10 million customers. The FCC has also authorized SpaceX to deploy 7,500 additional satellites as the company continues expanding its global satellite internet network.
Energy
Tesla Energy gains UK license to sell electricity to homes and businesses
The license was granted to Tesla Energy Ventures Ltd. by UK energy regulator Ofgem after a seven-month review process.
Tesla Energy has received a license to supply electricity in the United Kingdom, opening the door for the company to serve homes and businesses in the country.
The license was granted to Tesla Energy Ventures Ltd. by UK energy regulator Ofgem after a seven-month review process.
According to Ofgem, the license took effect at 6 p.m. local time on Wednesday and applies to Great Britain.
The approval allows Tesla’s energy business to sell electricity directly to customers in the region, as noted in a Bloomberg News report.
Tesla has already expanded similar services in the United States. In Texas, the company offers electricity plans that allow Tesla owners to charge their vehicles at a lower cost while also feeding excess electricity back into the grid.
Tesla already has a sizable presence in the UK market. According to price comparison website U-switch, there are more than 250,000 Tesla electric vehicles in the country and thousands of Tesla home energy storage systems.
Ofgem also noted that Tesla Motors Ltd., a separate entity incorporated in England and Wales, received an electricity generation license in June 2020.
The new UK license arrives as Tesla continues expanding its global energy business.
Last year, Tesla Energy retained the top position in the global battery energy storage system (BESS) integrator market for the second consecutive year. According to Wood Mackenzie’s latest rankings, Tesla held about 15% of global market share in 2024.
The company also maintained a dominant position in North America, where it captured roughly 39% market share in the region.
At the same time, competition in the energy storage sector is increasing. Chinese companies such as Sungrow have been expanding their presence globally, particularly in Europe.




