Elon Musk
OPINION: Tesla Vandalism lawsuit should be the first of many
The filing of a lawsuit by a Tesla owner who had his vehicle vandalized by a brainwashed member of what is being called the “Tesla Takeover” movement should be the first of many.
For the past few months, we have seen so many instances of intimidation by those who oppose Tesla, CEO Elon Musk, and President Donald Trump. These occurrences have been incredibly frequent and have varied in terms of their severity. It’s been as arbitrary as keying a car, and as violent as gunshots and Molotov cocktails being shot and thrown at showrooms.
The side of the perpetrators seems to be under the impression that President Trump and Musk are punishing those who have differing viewpoints as if their very livelihoods are under attack. The problem is, although government spending and some government programs are being modified or eliminated, there is no specific group being targeted, which is a big reason the use of the word “Nazi” has been baffling to me over the past few months.
That other side will have you believe there is a right-wing force that has taken over the government and aims to violate the rights of everyone who is unlike them. Ironically, it is precisely what the “protestors” are doing. Don’t agree with us? Okay. We’ll damage your vehicle.
Although the Trump administration and the FBI have set up specific measures to investigate instances of vandalism and hopefully eliminate it altogether, things have not truly calmed down. In fact, it seems it is getting worse.
However, a lawsuit filed by a victim of one of these senseless attacks has set a new precedent: damage my car, you will find yourself in a lawsuit:
🚨 The first-ever lawsuit against a man caught on video using Sentry Mode as he vandalized a Tesla has been filed.
An anonymous Tesla owner has sued Rafael Hernandez, who was arrested after Sentry Mode caught video of him keying a vehicle.
The Plaintiff is suing for infliction…
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) March 26, 2025
In actuality, this might be the best strategy for minimizing the instances of vandalism we have seen over the past several months. Nothing seems to be working, and the attackers, who appear to be of all shapes, sizes, and ages, only seem to be doing it more often, despite being caught on camera by Sentry Mode.
The suit that was filed against Rafael Hernandez, who keyed a Model X at DFW Airport, seeks $1m in damages. While it is unlikely he will be awarded that significant sum, what Hernandez ends up paying could be significantly more than just the amount of repairing the scratch.
This all funnels down to one specific point: Tesla drivers are simply that, people who drove to buy and drive a Tesla. Driving a car is not a political statement; it is, in many ways, simply a choice of convenience. People choose EVs for many reasons, with home charging, performance, and look being several of them.
Ask 100 Tesla owners why they bought the car, and I’m sure many would not say, “Because I love Elon Musk and agree with everything that comes out of his mouth.”
I am an Elon Musk fan, but I don’t agree with everything he has done or will do. I don’t agree with everything my parents, my friends, or my family do. I am not a loyalist to anyone except myself. This is where I find the vandalism to be so distasteful.
If Toyota’s CEO came out and said things that were controversial, for example, “We’re not transitioning to EVs because we don’t feel it’s the right time with demand,” something that was stated a few years ago as a part of their strategy, do you think Tesla owners were keying Toyotas? No.
Support brands that line up with your ideologies. Avoid ones that don’t. People of all ages do this peacefully. If you want to hurt a brand, don’t give them or their customers your money. Keying a Tesla might result in both with this initial lawsuit.
The point is, there is a right way and a wrong way to go about this. Vandalism is not the right way. Not only are you disrupting someone’s life who has nothing to do with Tesla, but now you’re putting yourself in the line of fire for a particularly substantial sum of money. Additionally, you’re not winning over any fans with this type of reaction. Nobody said “I now see their point since they keyed my car, I agree with them.”
I am hopeful that this lawsuit will encourage Tesla to go after the violent vandals who have attacked its stores. I am hopeful that this lawsuit will encourage Tesla owners to go after the violent vandals who have had their cars damaged by senseless people who have differing political views.
Perhaps this is the move that will start to bring down the frequency of these attacks.
Elon Musk
Tesla needs to come through on this one Robotaxi metric, analyst says
“We think the key focus from here will be how fast Tesla can scale driverless operations (including if Tesla’s approach to software/hardware allows it to scale significantly faster than competitors, as the company has argued), and on profitability.”
Tesla needs to come through on this one Robotaxi metric, Mark Delaney of Goldman Sachs says.
Tesla is in the process of rolling out its Robotaxi platform to areas outside of Austin and the California Bay Area. It has plans to launch in five additional cities, including Houston, Dallas, Miami, Las Vegas, and Phoenix.
However, the company’s expansion is not what the focus needs to be, according to Delaney. It’s the speed of deployment.
The analyst said:
“We think the key focus from here will be how fast Tesla can scale driverless operations (including if Tesla’s approach to software/hardware allows it to scale significantly faster than competitors, as the company has argued), and on profitability.”
Profitability will come as the Robotaxi fleet expands. Making that money will be dependent on when Tesla can initiate rides in more areas, giving more customers access to the program.
There are some additional things that the company needs to make happen ahead of the major Robotaxi expansion, one of those things is launching driverless rides in Austin, the first city in which it launched the program.
This week, Tesla started testing driverless Robotaxi rides in Austin, as two different Model Y units were spotted with no occupants, a huge step in the company’s plans for the ride-sharing platform.
Tesla Robotaxi goes driverless as Musk confirms Safety Monitor removal testing
CEO Elon Musk has been hoping to remove Safety Monitors from Robotaxis in Austin for several months, first mentioning the plan to have them out by the end of 2025 in September. He confirmed on Sunday that Tesla had officially removed vehicle occupants and started testing truly unsupervised rides.
Although Safety Monitors in Austin have been sitting in the passenger’s seat, they have still had the ability to override things in case of an emergency. After all, the ultimate goal was safety and avoiding any accidents or injuries.
Goldman Sachs reiterated its ‘Neutral’ rating and its $400 price target. Delaney said, “Tesla is making progress with its autonomous technology,” and recent developments make it evident that this is true.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk shaded Waymo in a post on X on Wednesday, stating the company “never really had a chance” and that it “will be obvious in hindsight.”
Tesla and Waymo are the two primary contributors to the self-driving efforts in the United States, with both operating driverless ride-hailing services in the country. Tesla does have a Safety Monitor present in its vehicles in Austin, Texas, and someone in the driver’s seat in its Bay Area operation.
Musk says the Austin operation will be completely void of any Safety Monitors by the end of the year.
🚨 Tesla vs. Waymo Geofence in Austin https://t.co/A6ffPtp5xv pic.twitter.com/mrnL0YNSn4
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) December 10, 2025
With the two companies being the main members of the driverless movement in the U.S., there is certainly a rivalry. The two have sparred back and forth with their geofences, or service areas, in both Austin and the Bay Area.
While that is a metric for comparison now, ultimately, it will not matter in the coming years, as the two companies will likely operate in a similar fashion.
Waymo has geared its business toward larger cities, and Tesla has said that its self-driving efforts will expand to every single one of its vehicles in any location globally. This is where the true difference between the two lies, along with the fact that Tesla uses its own vehicles, while Waymo has several models in its lineup from different manufacturers.
The two also have different ideas on how to solve self-driving, as Tesla uses a vision-only approach. Waymo relies on several things, including LiDAR, which Musk once called “a fool’s errand.”
This is where Tesla sets itself apart from the competition, and Musk highlighted the company’s position against Waymo.
Jeff Dean, the Chief Scientist for Google DeepMind, said on X:
“I don’t think Tesla has anywhere near the volume of rider-only autonomous miles that Waymo has (96M for Waymo, as of today). The safety data is quite compelling for Waymo, as well.”
Musk replied:
“Waymo never really had a chance against Tesla. This will be obvious in hindsight.”
Waymo never really had a chance against Tesla. This will be obvious in hindsight.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 10, 2025
Tesla stands to have a much larger fleet of vehicles in the coming years if it chooses to activate Robotaxi services with all passenger vehicles. A simple Over-the-Air update will activate this capability, while Waymo would likely be confined to the vehicles it commissions as Robotaxis.
Elon Musk
Tesla CEO Elon Musk confirms Robotaxi is set to go unsupervised
Musk has made the claim about removing Safety Monitors from Tesla Robotaxi vehicles in Austin three times this year, once in September, once in October, and once in November.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk confirmed on Tuesday at the xAI Hackathon that the company would be removing Safety Monitors from Robotaxis in Austin in just three weeks.
This would meet Musk’s timeline from earlier this year, as he has said on several occasions that Tesla Robotaxis would have no supervision in Austin by the end of 2025.
On Tuesday, Musk said:
“Unsupervised is pretty much solved at this point. So there will be Tesla Robotaxis operating in Austin with no one in them. Not even anyone in the passenger seat in about three weeks.”
Musk has made the claim about removing Safety Monitors from Tesla Robotaxi vehicles in Austin three times this year, once in September, once in October, and once in November.
In September, he said:
“Should be no safety driver by end of year.”
The safety driver is just there for the first few months to be extra safe.
Should be no safety driver by end of year.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 4, 2025
On the Q3 Earnings Call in October, he said:
“We are expecting ot have no safety drivers in at least large parts of Austin by the end of this year.”
Finally, in November, he reiterated the timeline in a public statement at the Shareholder Meeting:
“I expect Robotaxis to operate without safety drivers in large parts of Austin this year.”
Currently, Tesla uses Safety Monitors in Austin in the passenger’s seat on local roads. They will sit in the driver’s seat for highway routes. In the Bay Area ride-hailing operation, there is always a Safety Monitor in the driver’s seat.
Three weeks would deliver on the end-of-year promise, cutting it close, beating it by just two days. However, it would be a tremendous leap forward in the Robotaxi program, and would shut the mouths of many skeptics who state the current iteration is no different than having an Uber.
Tesla has also expanded its Robotaxi fleet this year, but the company has not given exact figures. Once it expands its fleet, even more progress will be made in Tesla’s self-driving efforts.
Tesla stock closes at all-time high on heels of Robotaxi progress
Tesla needs to come through on this one Robotaxi metric, analyst says
