News
Mercedes EQG spotted completing winter testing
The upcoming Mercedes EQG, the electric variant of the historic G-Class SUV, has been spotted completing winter testing in Germany.
The Mercedes G Class SUV is one of the oldest model names in the automotive industry, and despite its long heritage, it has changed in design and purpose very little. It remains a boxy offroading SUV that offers the driver and passengers unparalleled comfort. As Mercedes electrifies its lineup, the electrified version of the vehicle, the EQG, has been seen testing ahead of a possible launch this year or next.
The Mercedes EQG was spotted in Germany by the car spotting Instagram, @race356:
View this post on Instagram
The two pictures show a surprisingly uncamouflaged electric G class, identified not only by its electric circuit-themed wrap, but by its lack of tailpipe and covered grill.
View this post on Instagram
The concept/prototype version of the Mercedes EQG was first revealed in 2021 when the chief designer, Emmerich Schiller, outlined some basic but intriguing technical specifications of the vehicle. Mr. Schiller stated that the vehicle would use a quad-motor all-wheel-drive system paired with a unique ladder frame, an integrated battery, and an intricate 2-speed “transfer case” (for lack of a better term). One central point was made clear by these upgrades; the electric G wagon would not lose its offroading capabilities as it changed its drivetrain.
Other specifications, including pricing, electric range, and more, have not yet been made public by Mercedes, but they may be predicted with reasonable estimates.
The upcoming electric Mercedes should obviously not be expected to come in at a budget-friendly starting price. The gas version of the Mercedes G Class starts at an eye-watering $139,900. Considering the price of other electric models has closely mimicked similar Mercedes gas offerings, it would be surprising to see the vehicle start for less than $140,000.
Considering the range of options and trims that Mercedes makes available, including AMG variants, a Mercedes EQG could be priced from the low $140,000 range to close to $200,000 for a top-trim AMG version.
In terms of performance specifications, it should be noted that Mercedes’ next-gen EV platform is just around the corner. Mercedes has promised better motor efficiency, higher battery density, and improved performance specifications with the new platform. Nonetheless, you can still get a good idea of the minimum specifications by using the specifications of the parts available today.
If Mercedes used parts from the EQS SUV, the EQG would be fitted with a 107.8kWh battery. This battery, which gives the EQS SUV a range of 305 miles, would likely be strained in the larger, more powerful, and far less aerodynamic EQG. Hence, even if the EQG saw a modest 20% drop in efficiency compared to the EQS SUV, it would only be capable of a range between 200 and 250 miles.
Regarding its output numbers, considering the vehicle uses four motors, the EQG could produce between 1000 and 1400 cumulative horsepower and between 1200 and 1600 pound-feet of torque if it used motors found within the EQS SUV.
Despite the German luxury brand’s numerous videos on the EQG concept, the company has not yet clarified when the vehicle will be launched. Yet with the company completing testing on what is no longer a first-gen prototype vehicle, many anticipate that the vehicle could be revealed in production form later this year or next.
Luckily, due to America’s never-ending demand for SUVs over the past few years, Mercedes is more incentivized than ever to release the vehicle as quickly as possible. Hopefully, this demand, compounded with the company’s drive towards electrification, will mean the historic G wagon becomes electric sooner rather than later.
What do you think of the article? Do you have any comments, questions, or concerns? Shoot me an email at william@teslarati.com. You can also reach me on Twitter @WilliamWritin. If you have news tips, email us at tips@teslarati.com!
Elon Musk
Tesla owners surpass 8 billion miles driven on FSD Supervised
Tesla shared the milestone as adoption of the system accelerates across several markets.
Tesla owners have now driven more than 8 billion miles using Full Self-Driving Supervised, as per a new update from the electric vehicle maker’s official X account.
Tesla shared the milestone as adoption of the system accelerates across several markets.
“Tesla owners have now driven >8 billion miles on FSD Supervised,” the company wrote in its post on X. Tesla also included a graphic showing FSD Supervised’s miles driven before a collision, which far exceeds that of the United States average.
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.
Tesla also recently updated the safety data for FSD Supervised on its website, covering North America across all road types over the latest 12-month period.
As per Tesla’s figures, vehicles operating with FSD Supervised engaged recorded one major collision every 5,300,676 miles. In comparison, Teslas driven manually with Active Safety systems recorded one major collision every 2,175,763 miles, while Teslas driven manually without Active Safety recorded one major collision every 855,132 miles. The U.S. average during the same period was one major collision every 660,164 miles.
During the measured period, Tesla reported 830 total major collisions with FSD (Supervised) engaged, compared to 16,131 collisions for Teslas driven manually with Active Safety and 250 collisions for Teslas driven manually without Active Safety. Total miles logged exceeded 4.39 billion miles for FSD (Supervised) during the same timeframe.
Elon Musk
The Boring Company’s Music City Loop gains unanimous approval
After eight months of negotiations, MNAA board members voted unanimously on Feb. 18 to move forward with the project.
The Metro Nashville Airport Authority (MNAA) has approved a 40-year agreement with Elon Musk’s The Boring Company to build the Music City Loop, a tunnel system linking Nashville International Airport to downtown.
After eight months of negotiations, MNAA board members voted unanimously on Feb. 18 to move forward with the project. Under the terms, The Boring Company will pay the airport authority an annual $300,000 licensing fee for the use of roughly 933,000 square feet of airport property, with a 3% annual increase.
Over 40 years, that totals to approximately $34 million, with two optional five-year extensions that could extend the term to 50 years, as per a report from The Tennesean.
The Boring Company celebrated the Music City Loop’s approval in a post on its official X account. “The Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority has unanimously (7-0) approved a Music City Loop connection/station. Thanks so much to @Fly_Nashville for the great partnership,” the tunneling startup wrote in its post.
Once operational, the Music City Loop is expected to generate a $5 fee per airport pickup and drop-off, similar to rideshare charges. Airport officials estimate more than $300 million in operational revenue over the agreement’s duration, though this projection is deemed conservative.
“This is a significant benefit to the airport authority because we’re receiving a new way for our passengers to arrive downtown at zero capital investment from us. We don’t have to fund the operations and maintenance of that. TBC, The Boring Co., will do that for us,” MNAA President and CEO Doug Kreulen said.
The project has drawn both backing and criticism. Business leaders cited economic benefits and improved mobility between downtown and the airport. “Hospitality isn’t just an amenity. It’s an economic engine,” Strategic Hospitality’s Max Goldberg said.
Opponents, including state lawmakers, raised questions about environmental impacts, worker safety, and long-term risks. Sen. Heidi Campbell said, “Safety depends on rules applied evenly without exception… You’re not just evaluating a tunnel. You’re evaluating a risk, structural risk, legal risk, reputational risk and financial risk.”
Elon Musk
Tesla announces crazy new Full Self-Driving milestone
The number of miles traveled has contextual significance for two reasons: one being the milestone itself, and another being Tesla’s continuing progress toward 10 billion miles of training data to achieve what CEO Elon Musk says will be the threshold needed to achieve unsupervised self-driving.
Tesla has announced a crazy new Full Self-Driving milestone, as it has officially confirmed drivers have surpassed over 8 billion miles traveled using the Full Self-Driving (Supervised) suite for semi-autonomous travel.
The FSD (Supervised) suite is one of the most robust on the market, and is among the safest from a data perspective available to the public.
On Wednesday, Tesla confirmed in a post on X that it has officially surpassed the 8 billion-mile mark, just a few months after reaching 7 billion cumulative miles, which was announced on December 27, 2025.
Tesla owners have now driven >8 billion miles on FSD Supervisedhttps://t.co/0d66ihRQTa pic.twitter.com/TXz9DqOQ8q
— Tesla (@Tesla) February 18, 2026
The number of miles traveled has contextual significance for two reasons: one being the milestone itself, and another being Tesla’s continuing progress toward 10 billion miles of training data to achieve what CEO Elon Musk says will be the threshold needed to achieve unsupervised self-driving.
The milestone itself is significant, especially considering Tesla has continued to gain valuable data from every mile traveled. However, the pace at which it is gathering these miles is getting faster.
Secondly, in January, Musk said the company would need “roughly 10 billion miles of training data” to achieve safe and unsupervised self-driving. “Reality has a super long tail of complexity,” Musk said.
Training data primarily means the fleet’s accumulated real-world miles that Tesla uses to train and improve its end-to-end AI models. This data captures the “long tail” — extremely rare, complex, or unpredictable situations that simulations alone cannot fully replicate at scale.
This is not the same as the total miles driven on Full Self-Driving, which is the 8 billion miles milestone that is being celebrated here.
The FSD-supervised miles contribute heavily to the training data, but the 10 billion figure is an estimate of the cumulative real-world exposure needed overall to push the system to human-level reliability.
Tesla owners surpass 8 billion miles driven on FSD Supervised
The Boring Company’s Music City Loop gains unanimous approval
