Elon’s brother Kimbal Musk was recently featured in an interview on YouTube, during which the restaurateur and Tesla and SpaceX board member said he prefers the Model S to his other Teslas.
In a brief interview on In-Depth with Graham Bensinger last week, Kimbal showed off Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) beta to Bensinger, predicting that steering wheels could go away fairly soon, and saying he likes his Model S the best out of the entire lineup. Kimbal also owns a Model X, a Model Y, and a Model 3, and he says that his Cybertruck in Austin is waiting to be picked up, though he prefers the Model S because of his 6-foot-5-stature and its inclusion of the FSD beta.
He also says that when the Model S came out, it was the best car to hit the market for 100 years since the Model T Ford, saying that it’s still the best car on the road 12 years later. In another brief interview with Bensinger, Kimbal talks about the difficulty in bringing the Model S and Model 3 to production, detailing how near the company came to bankruptcy during that time.
Kimbal goes on to talk about the Model S yoke, saying that the idea is that, eventually, the yoke will be able to fold right into the car’s dashboard once autonomy becomes the norm.
When Bensinger asks Kimbal what his “best guess on how far away full autonomy is,” he responds by saying it’s already “pretty full,” going on to activate the FSD beta by navigating to one of his nearby restaurants, The Kitchen. The host follows up, asking how long it will take for the steering wheel to disappear, to which Kimbal says it could happen in just five years.
“I would say maybe five years,” Kimbal responds. “Definitely in this decade. I think that we might come out with the robotaxi before that, and that would have no steering wheel.”
Kimbal also notes that regulators still require a steering wheel, so that will be a hurdle that will need to be overcome before cars without them can become a reality.
You can watch the full interview with Kimbal below, spanning just over three and a half minutes. You can also see him talk to Bensinger about Tesla’s near misses with bankruptcy here.
To be sure, Musk has been ambitious about targets for the FSD beta and other Tesla products, so it’s tough to say with any certainty if Kimbal’s predictions for cars not including steering wheels is even close. His claims about the Model S, however, may not be as far off, coming just as a Model S Plaid was seen being used for benchmark testing at the Ferrari factory in Maranello.
It also comes as Tesla is very gradually rolling out its FSD beta version 12, which is expected to help unlock the next phase of autonomous driving due to its use of end-to-end neural network control trained by millions of video clips from real-time driving behavior.
Tesla’s Elon Musk confirms Cybertruck is “lowest priority” for FSD
What are your thoughts? Let me know at zach@teslarati.com, find me on X at @zacharyvisconti, or send your tips to us at tips@teslarati.com.
News
Tesla begins Robotaxi certification push in Arizona: report
Tesla seems serious about expanding its Robotaxi service to several states in the coming months.
Tesla has initiated discussions with Arizona transportation regulators to certify its driverless Robotaxi service in the state, as per a recent report from Bloomberg News. The move follows Tesla’s launch of its Robotaxi pilot program in Austin, Texas, as well as CEO Elon Musk’s recent comments about the service’s expansion in the Bay Area.
The Arizona Department of Transportation confirmed to Bloomberg that Tesla has reached out to begin the certification process for autonomous ride-sharing operations in the state. While details remain limited, the outreach suggests that Tesla is serious about expanding its driverless Robotaxi service to several territories in the coming months.
The Arizona development comes as Tesla prepares to expand its service area in Austin this weekend, as per CEO Elon Musk in a post on X. Musk also stated that Tesla is targeting the San Francisco Bay Area as its next major market, with a potential launch “in a month or two,” pending regulatory approvals.
Tesla first launched its autonomous ride-hailing program on June 22 in Austin with a small fleet of Model Y vehicles, accompanied by a Tesla employee in the passenger seat to monitor safety. While still classified as a test, Musk has said the program will expand to about 1,000 vehicles in the coming months. Tesla will later upgrade its Robotaxi fleet with the Cyercab, a two-seater that is designed without a steering wheel.
Sightings of Cybercab castings around the Giga Texas complex suggests that Tesla may be ramping the initial trial production of the self-driving two-seater. Tesla, for its part, has noted in the past that volume production of the Cybercab is expected to start sometime next year.
In California, Tesla has already applied for a transportation charter-party carrier permit from the state’s Public Utilities Commission. The company is reportedly taking a phased approach to operating in California, with the Robotaxi service starting with pre-arranged rides for employees in vehicles with safety drivers.
News
Tesla sets November 6 date for 2025 Annual Shareholder Meeting
The automaker announced the date on Thursday in a Form 8-K.
Tesla has scheduled its 2025 annual shareholder meeting for November 6, addressing investor concerns that the company was nearing a legal deadline to hold the event.
The automaker announced the date on Thursday in a Form 8-K submitted to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The company also listed a new proposal submission deadline of July 31 for items to be included in the proxy statement.
Tesla’s announcement followed calls from a group of 27 shareholders, including the leaders of large public pension funds, which urged Tesla’s board to formally set the meeting date, as noted in a report from The Wall Street Journal.
The group noted that under Texas law, where Tesla is now incorporated, companies must hold annual meetings within 13 months of the last one if requested by shareholders. Tesla’s previous annual shareholder meeting was held on June 13, 2024, which placed the July 13 deadline in focus.
Tesla originally stated in its 2024 annual report that it would file its proxy statement by the end of April. However, an amended filing on April 30 indicated that the Board of Directors had not yet finalized a meeting date, at least at the time.
The April filing also confirmed that Tesla’s board had formed a special committee to evaluate certain matters related to CEO Elon Musk’s compensation plan. Musk’s CEO performance award remains at the center of a lengthy legal dispute in Delaware, Tesla’s former state of incorporation.
Due to the aftermath of Musk’s legal dispute about his compensation plan in Delaware, he has not been paid for his work at Tesla for several years. Musk, for his part, has noted that he is more concerned about his voting stake in Tesla than his actual salary.
At last year’s annual meeting, TSLA shareholders voted to reapprove Elon Musk’s compensation plan and ratified Tesla’s decision to relocate its legal domicile from Delaware to Texas.
Elon Musk
Grok coming to Tesla vehicles next week “at the latest:” Elon Musk
Grok’s rollout to Tesla vehicles is expected to begin next week at the latest.
Elon Musk announced on Thursday that Grok, the large language model developed by his startup xAI, will soon be available in Tesla vehicles. Grok’s rollout to Tesla vehicles is expected to begin next week at the latest, further deepening the ties between the two Elon Musk-led companies.
Tesla–xAI synergy
Musk confirmed the news on X shortly after livestreaming the release of Grok 4, xAI’s latest large language model. “Grok is coming to Tesla vehicles very soon. Next week at the latest,” Musk wrote in a post on social media platform X.
During the livestream, Musk and several members of the xAI team highlighted several upgrades to Grok 4’s voice capabilities and performance metrics, positioning the LLM as competitive with top-tier models from OpenAI and Google.
The in-vehicle integration of Grok marks a new chapter in Tesla’s AI development. While Tesla has long relied on in-house systems for autonomous driving and energy optimization, Grok’s integration would introduce conversational AI directly into its vehicles’ user experience. This integration could potentially improve customer interaction inside Tesla vehicles.
xAI and Tesla’s collaborative footprint
Grok’s upcoming rollout to Tesla vehicles adds to a growing business relationship between Tesla and xAI. Earlier this year, Tesla disclosed that it generated $198.3 million in revenue from commercial, consulting, and support agreements with xAI, as noted in a report from Bloomberg News. A large portion of that amount, however, came from the sale of Megapack energy storage systems to the artificial intelligence startup.
In July 2023, Musk polled X users about whether Tesla should invest $5 billion in xAI. While no formal investment has been made so far, 68% of poll participants voted yes, and Musk has since stated that the idea would be discussed with Tesla’s board.
Tesla begins Robotaxi certification push in Arizona: report
Tesla sets November 6 date for 2025 Annual Shareholder Meeting
Grok coming to Tesla vehicles next week “at the latest:” Elon Musk
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