While Lucid Motors has been busy showcasing the best of its technology in flagship halo cars like the $250,000 Lucid Air Sapphire, the company is also focused on its “hero” car of sorts, the Lucid Air Pure. The Air Pure would come into the market as the young automaker’s most affordable car.
What makes the Lucid Air Pure special is not its tech or performance. Compared to its siblings in the Air line, the Pure is the most conservative. It does, however, have something valuable that its siblings today do not have — a sub-$90,000 starting price.
Lucid senior vice president of design and brand Derek Jenkins recently spoke with Automotive News to talk about the Lucid Air Pure. According to Jenkins, the Air Pure actually gives pride to the company’s design and engineering teams. This is because it’s the most affordable Air, but it’s not a bare-bones car at all.
“All of the development of the high-end cars has trickled down to this car at a better entry-level price, but still with pretty remarkable specifications,” Jenkins said, noting that this is the reason why the Pure is considered as the “hero of the group.”
The Lucid Air Pure presents a notable challenge for the EV maker, especially since the company has so far only been producing high-end cars that are priced at a premium. The company started with the limited Lucid Air Dream Edition last year, which started at a whopping $170,500, and it followed this up with the Lucid Air Grand Touring, which has a starting price of $155,650.
The Lucid Air Pure, as it’s been teased by the automaker, is painted in a new color called Fathom Blue, a steely shade that provides the premium sedan with a fresh aesthetic. Jenkins admitted that some Lucid employees actually prefer the Air Pure’s metal roof to the previous variants’ glass roof, even if it reduces the perception of space in the cabin.
“The feedback has been pretty remarkable,” the Lucid executive said.
Inside the Lucid Air Pure, the vehicle is equipped with an interior fabric that’s made from recycled materials. Lucid also fitted the vehicle with a leather alternative material that can help the company save on production costs. That being said, the Air Pure is still a base model, and some of its specs do reflect that.
While the Air Pure has an impressive range of 410 miles per charge from its 92-kWh battery pack, it falls short of the 516 miles offered by its more expensive sibling, the Lucid Air Grand Touring. This might not be much of a deal breaker for some customers, however, as the Air Pure also ends up having greater rear seat legroom due to the absence of several battery modules.
The Lucid Air Pure’s launch edition will not necessarily carry a sub-$90,000 price tag, as it would be equipped with optional features such as all-wheel-drive, upgraded wheels, and a better sound system, which push the price of the Air Pure to about $100,550. The *actual* base version of the Air Pure, which will feature a single motor at the rear, would start at $89,050, and it is expected to go into production next year.
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Elon Musk
SpaceX pursues 5G-level connectivity with Starlink Mobile V2 expansion
SpaceX noted that the upcoming Starlink V2 satellites will deliver up to 100 times the data density of the current first-generation system.
SpaceX has previewed a major upgrade to Starlink Mobile, outlining next-generation satellites that aim to deliver significantly higher capacity and full 5G-level connectivity directly to mobile phones.
The update comes as Starlink rebrands its Direct-to-Cell service to Starlink Mobile, positioning the platform as a scalable satellite-to-mobile solution that’s integrated with global telecom partners.
SpaceX noted that the upcoming Starlink V2 satellites will deliver up to 100 times the data density of the current first-generation system. The company also noted that the new V2 satellites are designed to provide significantly higher throughput capability compared to its current iteration.
“The next generation of Starlink Mobile satellites – V2 – will deliver full cellular coverage to places never thought possible via the highest performing satellite-to-mobile network ever built.
“Driven by custom SpaceX-designed silicon and phased array antennas, the satellites will support thousands of spatial beams and higher bandwidth capability, enabling around 20x the throughput capability as compared to a first-generation satellite,” SpaceX wrote in its official Starlink Mobile page.
Thanks to the higher bandwidth of Starlink Mobile, users should be able to stream, browse the internet, use high-speed apps, and enjoy voice services comparable to terrestrial cellular networks.
In most environments, Starlink says the upgraded system will enable full 5G cellular connectivity with a user experience similar to existing ground-based networks.
The satellites function as “cell towers in space,” using advanced phased-array antennas and laser interlinks to integrate with terrestrial infrastructure in a roaming-like architecture.
“Starlink Mobile works with existing LTE phones wherever you can see the sky. The satellites have an antenna that acts like a cellphone tower in space, the most advanced phased array antennas in the world that connect seamlessly over lasers to any point in the globe, allowing network integration similar to a standard roaming partner,” SpaceX wrote.
Starlink Mobile currently operates with approximately 650 satellites in low-Earth orbit and is active across more than 32 countries, representing over 1.7 billion people through partnerships with mobile network operators. Starlink Mobile’s current partnerships span North America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Oceania, allowing reciprocal access across participating nations.
News
Tesla FSD (Supervised) fleet passes 8.4 billion cumulative miles
The figure appears on Tesla’s official safety page, which tracks performance data for FSD (Supervised) and other safety technologies.
Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (Supervised) system has now surpassed 8.4 billion cumulative miles.
The figure appears on Tesla’s official safety page, which tracks performance data for FSD (Supervised) and other safety technologies.
Tesla has long emphasized that large-scale real-world data is central to improving its neural network-based approach to autonomy. Each mile driven with FSD (Supervised) engaged contributes additional edge cases and scenario training for the system.
The milestone also brings Tesla closer to a benchmark previously outlined by CEO Elon Musk. Musk has stated that roughly 10 billion miles of training data may be needed to achieve safe unsupervised self-driving at scale, citing the “long tail” of rare but complex driving situations that must be learned through experience.
The growth curve of FSD Supervised’s cumulative miles over the past five years has been notable.
As noted in data shared by Tesla watcher Sawyer Merritt, annual FSD (Supervised) miles have increased from roughly 6 million in 2021 to 80 million in 2022, 670 million in 2023, 2.25 billion in 2024, and 4.25 billion in 2025. In just the first 50 days of 2026, Tesla owners logged another 1 billion miles.
At the current pace, the fleet is trending towards hitting about 10 billion FSD Supervised miles this year. The increase has been driven by Tesla’s growing vehicle fleet, periodic free trials, and expanding Robotaxi operations, among others.
With the fleet now past 8.4 billion cumulative miles, Tesla’s supervised system is approaching that threshold, even as regulatory approval for fully unsupervised deployment remains subject to further validation and oversight.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk fires back after Wikipedia co-founder claims neutrality and dubs Grokipedia “ridiculous”
Musk’s response to Wales’ comments, which were posted on social media platform X, was short and direct: “Famous last words.”
Elon Musk fired back at Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales after the longtime online encyclopedia leader dismissed xAI’s new AI-powered alternative, Grokipedia, as a “ridiculous” idea that is bound to fail.
Musk’s response to Wales’ comments, which were posted on social media platform X, was short and direct: “Famous last words.”
Wales made the comments while answering questions about Wikipedia’s neutrality. According to Wales, Wikipedia prides itself on neutrality.
“One of our core values at Wikipedia is neutrality. A neutral point of view is non-negotiable. It’s in the community, unquestioned… The idea that we’ve become somehow ‘Wokepidea’ is just not true,” Wales said.
When asked about potential competition from Grokipedia, Wales downplayed the situation. “There is no competition. I don’t know if anyone uses Grokipedia. I think it is a ridiculous idea that will never work,” Wales wrote.
After Grokipedia went live, Larry Sanger, also a co-founder of Wikipedia, wrote on X that his initial impression of the AI-powered Wikipedia alternative was “very OK.”
“My initial impression, looking at my own article and poking around here and there, is that Grokipedia is very OK. The jury’s still out as to whether it’s actually better than Wikipedia. But at this point I would have to say ‘maybe!’” Sanger stated.
Musk responded to Sanger’s assessment by saying it was “accurate.” In a separate post, he added that even in its V0.1 form, Grokipedia was already better than Wikipedia.
During a past appearance on the Tucker Carlson Show, Sanger argued that Wikipedia has drifted from its original vision, citing concerns about how its “Reliable sources/Perennial sources” framework categorizes publications by perceived credibility. As per Sanger, Wikipedia’s “Reliable sources/Perennial sources” list leans heavily left, with conservative publications getting effectively blacklisted in favor of their more liberal counterparts.
As of writing, Grokipedia has reportedly surpassed 80% of English Wikipedia’s article count.
SpaceX pursues 5G-level connectivity with Starlink Mobile V2 expansion
Tesla FSD (Supervised) fleet passes 8.4 billion cumulative miles
