Lifestyle
What an Electric NASCAR series can learn from Formula E/Rally Cross
NASCAR might be exploring an electric series, and they can learn much from Formula E and electric Rally Cross.
After news broke earlier this year that NASCAR may be pursuing an electric version of their series as soon as next year, I was incredibly interested and received a flood of emails from both eager viewers and quick critics alike. But one message was clear from everyone; NASCAR might only have one shot at this, so they better do it right.
Looking at two very predominant electric racing series, Formula E and Rally Cross, there are a lot of lessons that can be learned, especially as both series came from pre-existing racing systems with gas cars, much like NASCAR today. And in short, five key takeaways could easily apply to NASCAR’s first attempt at electrification.
Shorter Races –
Formula E might be onto something with its racing structure, all racing is complete in a single day, and the actual race event only takes 45min. In a world of ever shorter attention spans, this differentiation has allowed the European racing series to establish a significantly younger audience, something that NASCAR desperately needs.
This style of racing also means that the racecars can run the batteries at 100% the whole time, drivers don’t have to lift off, nor do teams have to organize “car switches”; Formula E has had to learn this lesson the hard way, NASCAR would be wise to learn as well.
Make the Cars as Fast as Possible –
When people talk about Formula E, the sad reality is that many look at the cars as cleaner, greener, slower, and less exciting F1 cars. And sadly, to a degree, these people are correct. While Formula E has learned a lot from its debut, this is still a lesson, or perhaps a challenge, that they have not been able to overcome.
So what does this mean for NASCAR? This means that NASCAR has a unique opportunity to make their vehicles even faster with electric drivetrains and even to be faster than some of their arch-rivals. Imagine an ad where the new electric NASCAR is lined up with a current, hybrid drivetrain Formula 1 car. How successful would that ad be if the stock car was faster? Throw in a couple of screaming_eagle.mp3’s and a guitar solo or two, and you’ve got the return of NASCAR to greatness.
Give Manufacturers Some Freedom –
As someone who has worked in Formula E, I can tell you precisely what many manufacturers are looking for and why some have even chosen to leave FE; not enough design freedom. Manufacturers, now more than ever, want to test charging, battery chemistry, tire compounds, motor architectures, battery management systems, and everything in between. And sadly, they can’t get that amount of freedom at Formula E or Rally Cross. NASCAR could be the first!
The premise of modern Nascar is the uniformity of the cars, but even if the teams were allowed to mess with just one of the components I listed above, they would be tripping over themselves to join the sport.
Use New Technology to Show the Race –
Rally Cross has done a fantastic job putting their races on TV. The (relative) quiet nature of the electric drivetrains means they can place music throughout the broadcast. Furthermore, they make every race look like a Ken Block gymkhana video from five years ago! Drones get within inches of the cars as they rocket around corners; there are more jumps and drifting areas on the courses than ever before. All this adds to a more exciting race to watch in person and on a screen.
NASCAR has already mastered the art of driver cams for years now, but adding music and drones could make the experience even better. Allow the viewers to feel like the race is a movie, and help them feel the speed and violence of the racing happening around them!
Lean into Driver Character –
This may be due to NASCAR’s American nature, or perhaps my own, but the passion-filled drivers and their numerous quirks give NASCAR a unique appeal. Don’t just watch racecars go around a circuit, watch a battle between the punky newcomer who swears a lot and the old timer who just needs one good final race and who smokes in his car (both during and after the race). While Formula E has attempted to create this aspect, going as far as allowing drivers to get voted on for performance boosts (DON’T do that, NASCAR), their polished European drivers don’t offer the same excitement as Roy “Buckshot” Jones or Dick Trickle.
More, More Exciting Racing –
Along the same line as shorter races, you also need more good racing in that condensed driving time. I’ve watched my fair share of Formula 1, and I love the excitement of seeing a driver go from last to first (Sergio Perez) or even the reverse (also, Sergio Perez). Rally Cross and Formula E have ensured that there is ALWAYS excitement to watch. Overtakes are constantly happening, and this is not an accident. Both electric series have rules that temporarily force drivers off the racing line (Formula E’s Attack Mode is the best example). At the same time, the cars have been shrunk to allow more space on the track, once again encouraging overtakes.
If NASCAR can encourage more action per minute, drivers and viewers alike will have much more to pay attention to.
Needless to say, I’m excited about electric NASCAR, and I hope it becomes a reality. At the same time, a dedicated focus on improving the racing and viewing experience could yield outstanding results for the heritage racing series and could ultimately resuscitate NASCAR as a top-tier racing series once more.
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
Elon Musk’s Boring Company lands a new Middle East deal, and Nashville is about to get faster
The Boring Company signs Abu Dhabi tunnel agreement while adding more Prufrock machines in Nashville.
The Boring Company has signed an agreement with Abu Dhabi to study underground transport and utility tunnels across the emirate, adding a second UAE city to its pipeline as it prepares to also scale up tunneling back home in Nashville.
The deal was signed Thursday at the Liveability and Investment Exhibition (LIVEX 2026) by Boring Company President Steve Davis and Maysarah Mahmoud Salim Eid, director general of the Abu Dhabi Projects and Infrastructure Centre (ADPIC), according to the Abu Dhabi Media Office. Mohamed Ali Al Shorafa, chairman of the emirate’s Department of Municipalities and Transport, attended the signing.
Under the agreement, the two sides will assess feasibility, delivery and operating models for tunnels that could carry passengers or utilities. They will also look at Abu Dhabi’s potential as a regional hub for tunneling work. The current phase is exploratory, and no construction commitment or project budget has been announced.
“Abu Dhabi provides an ideal environment to explore the next generation of underground infrastructure solutions, supported by its ambitious growth vision and strong commitment to advanced technologies,”
Davis said. He added that the company wants to assess how tunnels can “expand urban capacity more efficiently, and enable better use of available space.”
The timing lines up with the money, considering last month, The Boring Company closed a $3 billion Series D led by the UAE and affiliated investors, valuing the company at $23 billion, as Teslarati reported. That round came with a commitment to build more than 150 kilometers of tunnel across the UAE, separate from the Dubai Loop pilot already under contract with Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority. That pilot covers 6.4 kilometers and four stations linking DIFC and Dubai Mall at a cost of about $154 million.
Back home, The Boring Company projects in Nashville are also scaling up, with the company telling local NewsChannel 5 that a third Prufrock machine could start digging the Music City Loop in late October. A fourth is also targeted before the end of the year. Two machines are already mining Nashville limestone at the same time, and work is underway on a new launch site for the third.
The company said it has made more than 300 design and performance upgrades to its original Nashville machine. It is also working with property owners on more than 40 planned stations, with approvals in place for a future Nashville International Airport connection, a downtown station near the Music City Center, and stops at residential towers and the JW Marriott.
Construction on the Music City Loop began the same evening Tennessee and federal regulators approved the project’s lease in February, and the company targeted its first operational segment for late 2026. Back in Las Vegas, The Boring Company has said it plans to double its Vegas Loop station count by year’s end.
Lifestyle
Tesla FSD changed its mind mid-intersection, and it may have saved a life
Tesla shares dashcam footage of FSD Supervised stopping mid intersection to avoid a T-bone crash.
Tesla is putting another Full Self-Driving save in front of its 24.8 million followers on X.
On Tuesday morning, Tesla’s main account shared a dashcam clip with the caption “FSD Supervised preventing T-bone crash.” The footage came from an owner posting as TheNewGrid, who described what happened at a stop sign: “I looked at the car coming to the stop sign figured they would stop, my car went, then came to a stop mid intersection as they flew by. Had I been manually driving this would have resulted in a crash.”
The sequence is the notable part. FSD had already started crossing when the other driver ran the stop sign. Instead of pressing on, the car braked hard in the middle of the intersection and let the crossing vehicle pass in front of it. By the owner’s own account, they had made the same assumption the software initially made, that the other car would stop, and would not have corrected in time.
FSD Supervised preventing T-bone crash
— Tesla (@Tesla) October 6, 2026
The clip is the latest in a run of safety posts Tesla has amplified over the past several days. On Saturday, the company shared a video from Selling Sunset star Jason Oppenheim, who sold his Bentley for a Model Y and said he was buying Teslas with FSD for 10 of his employees. Ashok Elluswamy, who leads Tesla AI, followed up by writing that Tesla self-driving “reacts to other people cutting into your path with super-human response times.” On Monday, a Cybertruck owner posted footage of FSD moving across three lanes from a red light to clear a path for an ambulance approaching from behind.
This recent clip also lands a few weeks after Tesla began shipping Automatic Collision Evasion with FSD v14.3.9, a feature that can activate FSD on the driver’s behalf when a frontal collision is imminent or the driver appears distracted. Elluswamy said in September that “even earlier prediction of hazards, even faster reaction time and overall significantly better safety and collision avoidance” are coming with v15, the release Tesla has tied to round the clock Robotaxi operation.
The safety messaging matters beyond social media. Tesla has said FSD Supervised was 4.1 times less likely to crash than manual driving across 100 million kilometers on European roads, and it has been putting those figures in front of regulators. Eight EU countries have now approved FSD Supervised, with Croatia the most recent, but the EU’s bloc-wide vote originally set for October 6 has been pushed to December at the earliest.
FSD Supervised is still a Level 2 system, and the driver remains responsible at all times. Even heavy users find reasons to step in. Teslarati’s Joey Klender, who uses FSD for about 76 percent of his driving, laid out five recurring issues on Tuesday that still prompt him to intervene. Clips like this one show the other column of that ledger: moments where the software caught a mistake a human was about to make.
Lifestyle
Tesla wins over Netflix’s Selling Sunset star, who’s now ditching his Bentley
Selling Sunset’s Jason Oppenheim swapped his Bentley for a Tesla and promised ten for employees.
Jason Oppenheim, the luxury real estate broker best known as the star of Netflix’s Selling Sunset, has parked his Bentley for good and moved into a Tesla Model Y, and he says Full Self-Driving (Supervised) is the reason.
Oppenheim, who founded The Oppenheim Group, the Los Angeles brokerage at the center of the show, posted a video to X on Saturday evening that he called “the most important video I’ve ever posted.” In it, he rides from Newport Beach to his firm’s Los Angeles office, a trip he put at roughly an hour and 15 minutes, while FSD handles the drive and parks the car without him touching the wheel or the accelerator. He said he handed the Bentley to his father because he no longer has any use for it.
Tesla shared the clip from its main account on X about two hours later, pulling out the quote that has since spread well beyond the Tesla community:
“[FSD Supervised] is life-changing. I was on the phone with my brother last night, and I made him buy one. He literally bought one while we were talking. I’m buying 10 of my employees a Tesla with FSD. It’s 8x safer than the average driver. There’s nothing more important than the safety of you and your loved ones.”
Oppenheim was candid about why the safety pitch landed with him. He admitted in the video that he is a distracted driver who answers emails and texts behind the wheel, and framed the employee purchases as a way to keep his team off their phones while driving. Elon Musk posted “Tesla FSD feels like magic” less than half an hour after the video went live.
The endorsement lands at a convenient moment for Tesla. The company delivered 486,532 vehicles in Q3, beating Wall Street’s estimates and marking its best quarter ever without the $7,500 federal EV tax credit.
A public service announcement. https://t.co/NYa1IpKwBX
— Jason Oppenheim (@OppenheimJason) October 4, 2026
Tesla FSD has been subscription only in the U.S. since February at $99 per month, and Tesla said in its Q2 update that active subscriptions hit 1.48 million, up 56 percent year over year, with more than 55 percent of new North American deliveries leaving with FSD attached. That attach rate is the figure Ron Baron cited last month when he told CNBC “the time to buy the stock is now.” At current pricing, Oppenheim’s 10 employee cars alone would add $990 a month, or about $11,880 a year, in FSD revenue.
Tesla AI head Ashok Elluswamy said in July that FSD had logged more than 12 billion miles while going roughly twice as far between collisions as manual driving. FSD also remains a supervised system, so Oppenheim and his employees are still required to watch the road, even as Tesla rolls out v14.3.10 with Automatic Collision Evasion, which can steer or brake on its own to avoid a frontal crash.
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Elon Musk’s Boring Company lands a new Middle East deal, and Nashville is about to get faster
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