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Nikola admits former front man Milton misled investors with lies

Nikola showcases the Nikola Two. (Photo: Dacia Ferris/Teslarati)

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Nikola Motor held its Q4 2020 Earnings Report on Thursday, where it openly admitted that Founder and former CEO Trevor Milton lied on nine separate occasions. The company admitted this in a 10-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission or SEC.

In September 2020, Hindenburg Research released a report that labeled Nikola “an intricate fraud,” claiming that many of the company’s products or the claims of its CEO Trevor Milton were made without any evidence to support their legitimacy. Hindenburg claimed that Nikola’s level of deception from a company of its stature had never been seen before by the firm, making big waves in the electric and sustainable vehicle community.

Nikola followed up with a rebuttal that was only answered with more evidence of its illegitimacy in a follow up response from Hindenburg. Ultimately, the entire report led to the revision of a deal with GM and the sacking of Trevor Milton, the company’s front man.

Nikola then admitted during its Q4 2020 Earnings 10-K filing that several statements made by Milton were “inaccurate in whole or in part, when made.” The automaker listed nine separate occasions of when Milton openly misled investors, an action that ultimately led to the removal of his post and his relative silence in the community since.

Among the lies include a claim from 2016 when Milton said the Nikola One, a Semi truck, was a fully functioning vehicle, and a 2020 fabrication that stated five vehicles were rolling off production lines at a facility in Ulm, Germany. Seven other statements were identified by Nikola as fabrications in the filing.

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Nikola admitted just weeks after the initial report that it had lied about the capabilities of a Nikola One prototype that was shown to investors. Shortly thereafter, Milton was relieved from his duties as the company’s CEO.

As previously mentioned, the report had major consequences in a deal with GM, which Nikola was set to partner with for major EV projects. However, the news of the fraud had catalyzed GM’s concerns. These eventually led to the legacy automaker cutting the stakes of its deal with Nikola, which led to the electric automaker’s shares cutting 24%.

Nikola is attempting to put the Milton saga behind it and develop products under new CEO Mark Russell.

Joey has been a journalist covering electric mobility at TESLARATI since August 2019. In his spare time, Joey is playing golf, watching MMA, or cheering on any of his favorite sports teams, including the Baltimore Ravens and Orioles, Miami Heat, Washington Capitals, and Penn State Nittany Lions. You can get in touch with joey at joey@teslarati.com. He is also on X @KlenderJoey. If you're looking for great Tesla accessories, check out shop.teslarati.com

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Tesla FSD user in China shares insights after months of use: “Not a single safety intervention”

Tesla FSD users in China tend to push the system to its absolute limits.

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Credit: Tesla Asia/X

Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) system appears to be quietly winning over drivers in China. Although its rollout in February 2025 has not been followed by additional notable updates, recent accounts from local drivers suggest that Tesla’s approach to full self-driving may be outperforming its rivals on Chinese roads.

Tesla’s FSD exhibits smooth and cautious performance on real roads

As noted in a post shared by EV watcher @ray4tesla, a driver who has used Tesla’s FSD in China for two months described a well-calibrated, human-like driving experience. The driver also noted that Tesla’s FSD system is very cautious, perhaps even too careful at times.

“On narrow roads, it slows down appropriately; on major roads, it picks up speed. When there are a lot of pedestrians or electric scooters, it’s overly cautious — almost too polite,” the driver wrote. 

Even more interestingly, the driver emphasized that despite frequent usage, there has been zero safety interventions since FSD was enabled in the vehicle. “In the two months I’ve been using FSD, I haven’t had even a single safety intervention,” the driver wrote.

Huawei ADS test triggers multiple safety takeovers

The user compared FSD to Huawei’s ADS system, which they tested for about 90 minutes in an Aito M9 SUV. According to the driver, Huawei’s ADS struggled to deliver consistent performance. 

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“Then I tried the M9 (Huawei ADS) for an hour and a half. When it needed to speed up, it lagged; and on tight, narrow roads, it suddenly accelerated — honestly, it was pretty scary. The acceleration and braking felt jerky, and you could clearly tell it was being driven by a machine (robotic vibe),” the driver wrote.

The user reported four safety interventions with Huawei’s ADS system within just 30 minutes while driving on rough, construction-heavy roads. “In construction zones and on rough roads, there were four safety interventions in just 30 minutes. And if you know what a ‘safety intervention’ means — that’s essentially four near-collisions,” the driver added.

While anecdotal, the account from the Tesla owner is quite significant since FSD users in China tend to push the system to its absolute limits. Since its rollout earlier this year, Tesla drivers in China have been recorded testing FSD on unpaved mountain roads, extremely narrow streets, busy cities, and wooded paths that barely have any road at all, among others.

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Tesla begins expanding Robotaxi access: here’s how you can ride

You can ride in a Tesla Robotaxi by heading to its website and filling out the interest form. The company is hand-picking some of those who have done this to gain access to the fleet.

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Credit: @HanChulYong/X

Tesla has begun expanding Robotaxi access beyond the initial small group it offered rides to in late June, as it launched the driverless platform in Austin, Texas.

The small group of people enjoying the Robotaxi ride-hailing service is now growing, as several Austin-area residents are receiving invitations to test out the platform for themselves.

The first rides took place on June 22, and despite a very small number of very manageable and expected hiccups, Tesla Robotaxi was widely successful with its launch.

Tesla Robotaxi riders tout ‘smooth’ experience in first reviews of driverless service launch

However, Tesla is expanding the availability of the ride-hailing service to those living in Austin and its surrounding areas, hoping to gather more data and provide access to those who will utilize it on a daily basis.

Many of the people Tesla initially invited, including us, are not local to the Austin area.

There are a handful of people who are, but Tesla was evidently looking for more stable data collection, as many of those early invitees headed back to where they live.

The first handful of invitations in the second round of the Robotaxi platform’s Early Access Program are heading out to Austin locals:

Tesla likely saw an influx of data during the first week, as many traveled far and wide to say they were among the first to test the Robotaxi platform.

Now that the first week and a half of testing is over, Tesla is expanding invites to others. Many of those who have been chosen to gain access to the Robotaxi app and the ride-hailing service state that they simply filled out the interest form on the Robotaxi page of Tesla’s website.

That’s the easiest way you will also gain access, so be sure to fill out that form if you have any interest in riding in Robotaxi.

Tesla will continue to utilize data accumulated from these rides to enable more progress, and eventually, it will lead to even more people being able to hail rides from the driverless platform.

With more success, Tesla will start to phase out some of the Safety Monitors and Supervisors it is using to ensure things run smoothly. CEO Elon Musk said Tesla could start increasing the number of Robotaxis to monitors within the next couple of months.

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Tesla analyst issues stern warning to investors: forget Trump-Musk feud

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Credit: Tesla

A Tesla analyst today said that investors should not lose sight of what is truly important in the grand scheme of being a shareholder, and that any near-term drama between CEO Elon Musk and U.S. President Donald Trump should not outshine the progress made by the company.

Gene Munster of Deepwater Management said that Tesla’s progress in autonomy is a much larger influence and a significantly bigger part of the company’s story than any disagreement between political policies.

Munster appeared on CNBC‘s “Closing Bell” yesterday to reiterate this point:

“One thing that is critical for Tesla investors to remember is that what’s going on with the business, with autonomy, the progress that they’re making, albeit early, is much bigger than any feud that is going to happen week-to-week between the President and Elon. So, I understand the reaction, but ultimately, I think that cooler heads will prevail. If they don’t, autonomy is still coming, one way or the other.”

This is a point that other analysts like Dan Ives of Wedbush and Cathie Wood of ARK Invest also made yesterday.

On two occasions over the past month, Musk and President Trump have gotten involved in a very public disagreement over the “Big Beautiful Bill,” which officially passed through the Senate yesterday and is making its way to the House of Representatives.

Tesla analysts believe Musk and Trump feud will pass

Musk is upset with the spending in the bill, while President Trump continues to reiterate that the Tesla CEO is only frustrated with the removal of an “EV mandate,” which does not exist federally, nor is it something Musk has expressed any frustration with.

In fact, Musk has pushed back against keeping federal subsidies for EVs, as long as gas and oil subsidies are also removed.

Nevertheless, Ives and Wood both said yesterday that they believe the political hardship between Musk and President Trump will pass because both realize the world is a better place with them on the same team.

Munster’s perspective is that, even though Musk’s feud with President Trump could apply near-term pressure to the stock, the company’s progress in autonomy is an indication that, in the long term, Tesla is set up to succeed.

Tesla launched its Robotaxi platform in Austin on June 22 and is expanding access to more members of the public. Austin residents are now reporting that they have been invited to join the program.

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