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Polestar to debut its first electric SUV in October

Credit: Polestar

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Polestar will debut its first all-electric SUV, dubbed the Polestar 3, in October 2022, the Swedish automaker announced today.

Polestar has not yet brought an SUV to the EV sector, which is one of the most highly-competitive segments of the automotive industry. With vehicles like the Tesla Model Y, Volkswagen ID.4, and several other competitive electric options in the SUV segment, the Polestar 3 will be among the most high-tech cars on the market.

Credit: Polestar

“Polestar 3 is the SUV for the electric age. Our design identity evolves with this high-end large luxury EV, with a strong, individual brand character,” Thomas Ingenlath, Polestar’s CEO, said. “With this car, we bring the ‘sport’ back to the SUV, staying true to our performance roots.”

The Polestar 3 will offer autonomous highway piloting thanks to a best-in-class LiDAR sensor from Luminar and centralized NVIDIA computing power, the company said. It will also feature a WLTP-estimated range rating of 600 kilometers, or 372 miles, per charge. WLTP range ratings are usually generous, so it would be wise to wait until EPA range ratings are released to determine the vehicle’s real-world capabilities.

Polestar customers who are interested in ordering the Polestar 3 can place reservations for the vehicle as soon as it premieres in October. Production is expected to begin early next year, with the Polestar 3 being manufactured in both the United States and China.

“Polestar 3 is the SUV for the electric age. Our design identity evolves with this high-end large luxury EV, with a strong, individual brand character,” Ingenlath continued. “With this car, we bring the ‘sport’ back to the SUV, staying true to our performance roots. This is a major milestone for our company, one that boosts our growth trajectory and takes us into our next phase.”

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Polestar has plans to launch a new vehicle model every year for the next three years, with the Polestar 3 being the first installment in that plan. The automaker also plans to increase its market to at least 30 new regions by the end of next year. Expanding the available product market will support Polestar’s plans to grow production ten-fold by the end of 2025 to 290,000 units annually.

Check out Polestar’s preview of the Polestar 3 below!

I’d love to hear from you! If you have any comments, concerns, or questions, please email me at joey@teslarati.com. You can also reach me on Twitter @KlenderJoey, or if you have news tips, you can email us at tips@teslarati.com.

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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 Giga Berlin seems to be using FSD Unsupervised to move Model Y units

Tesla may be doing something quite special in the Giga Berlin-Brandenburg complex.

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Tesla FSD Unsupervised Giga Texas

Tesla may be doing something quite special in the Giga Berlin-Brandenburg complex. Based on observations from a recent drone flyover of the site, it appears that Tesla may also be using FSD Unsupervised to move freshly produced Model Y vehicles to the factory’s staging area.

New Drone Footage

Recent footage of the Giga Berlin complex from longtime Tesla watcher Tobias Lindh included several interesting updates around the Model Y factory. These include a new warehouse that is currently being built, as well as a tunnel is currently being constructed. More interestingly, the drone operator observed that some cars now seem to be moving to Giga Berlin’s distribution area without human drivers.

If the drone operator’s observations prove accurate, it would be quite an impressive accomplishment for Tesla. FSD Unsupervised, after all, has only been confirmed in vehicles that are produced at the Fremont Factory and Gigafactory Texas.

Potential Next Steps

If Giga Berlin is now using FSD Unsupervised to transport some Model Y units from the factory building to the site’s staging area, it might only be a matter of time before Tesla also implements a similar system for Gigafactory Shanghai. The Shanghai-based Tesla plant, after all, is the company’s largest factory by volume, and it also serves as a primary vehicle export hub. FSD Unsupervised could then pave the way for Giga Shanghai to operate in an even more optimal manner. 

FSD Unsupervised is the cornerstone of Tesla’s robotaxi business, which is expected to start rolling out in Austin, Texas, next month. Previous reports have suggested that Tesla is pushing hard in its preparations to roll out its robotaxi service this June. Tesla has reportedly even worked and trained with Austin’s first responders from the fire and police departments as part of its robotaxi service preparations.

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Check out a recent flyover of the Tesla Giga Berlin complex in the video below.

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Investor's Corner

Tesla welcomes Chipotle President Jack Hartung to its Board of Directors

Tesla announced the addition of its new director in a post on social media platform X.

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Credit: @ArthurFromX/X

Tesla has welcomed Chipotle president Jack Hartung to its Board of Directors. Hartung will officially start his tenure at the electric vehicle maker on June 1, 2025.

Tesla announced the addition of its new director in a post on social media platform X.

Jack Hartung’s Role

With Hartung’s addition, the Tesla Board will now have nine members. It’s been a while since the company added a new director. Prior to Hartung, the last addition to the Tesla Board was Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia back in 2022. As noted in a Reuters report, Hartung will serve on the Tesla Board’s audit committee. He will also retire from his position as president and chief strategy officer at Chipotle, and transition into a senior advisor’s role at the restaurant chain, next month.

Hartung has had a long career in the Mexican grill, joining Chipotle in 2002. He held several positions in the company, most recently serving as Chipotle’s President and Chief Strategy Officer. Tesla highlighted Hartung’s accomplishments in a post on its official account on X.

“Over the past 20+ years under Jack’s financial leadership, Chipotle has seen significant growth with over 3,700 restaurants today across the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates. Jack was named ‘CFO of the Year’ by Orange County Business Journal and Best CFO in the restaurant category by Institutional Investor,” Tesla wrote in its post on X.

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Tesla Board and Musk

Tesla is a controversial company with a controversial CEO, so it is no surprise that the Board of Directors tend to get flak as well. Two weeks ago, for example, Tesla Board Chair Robyn Denholm slammed The Wall Street Journal for publishing an article alleging that company directors had considered a search for a potential successor to Elon Musk. Denholm herself has also been criticized for offloading her TSLA shares.

More recently, news emerged suggesting that the Tesla Board of Directors had formed a special committee aimed at exploring a new pay package for CEO Elon Musk. The committee is reportedly comprised of Tesla board Chair Robyn Denholm and independent director Kathleen Wilson-Thompson, and they would be exploring alternative compensation methods for Musk’s contributions to the company.

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Tesla posts FSD demonstrations in Australia and France

Tesla is expected to roll out a robotaxi service that uses FSD Unsupervised in Austin, Texas sometime next month.

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Credit: Tesla Europe & Middle East/X

Tesla definitely seems determined to prove that its Full Self-Driving (FSD) system is capable of operating safely anywhere. This was highlighted by the company in a couple of videos posted on social media platform X, which showed the self-driving system in action in Australia and France.

Tesla is expected to roll out a robotaxi service that uses FSD Unsupervised in Austin, Texas sometime next month.

New FSD Unsupervised Demonstrations

To start off Tesla’s recent demonstrations, the Tesla AI Team posted a video of FSD Supervised being tested in Melbourne, Australia. The video was nearly two minutes long, and it featured FSD navigating the city’s busy inner streets. FSD handled the drive without any issues, even performing Australia’s infamous hook turn at one time. The demonstration was received warmly by the EV community, especially since FSD accomplished all this while operating an RHD vehicle. 

Another FSD demonstration, this time posted by the official Tesla Europe & Middle East X account, featured the Supervised self-driving system navigating France’s complicated Arc de Triomphe. The area is challenging, considering that it’s one of the largest roundabouts in the country. FSD Supervised, however, expertly handled the roundabout, pausing for cars as needed and maintaining a safe distance from other vehicles.

Tesla did place a disclaimer on its recent test videos, stating that “FSD (Supervised) engineering test drive in a prototype vehicle driven by a safety driver. For demonstration purposes only. FSD (Supervised) is a hands-on feature that requires driver control of the vehicle and attention on the road at all times. Future activation and use subject to development and regulatory approval.”

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FSD Unsupervised

Tesla is not yet rolling out FSD Unsupervised to consumer vehicles. The company, however, has been using the system to transport cars from the Fremont Factory and Giga Texas’ production lines to their respective staging areas. In Giga Texas, freshly produced Model Y units drive completely driverless for 1.4 miles before reaching its staging lot. The Cybertrucks, on the other hand, navigate a Boring Company tunnel on their way to their staging area.

Tesla is planning on releasing a dedicated robotaxi service using Model Y vehicles equipped with FSD Unsupervised in Austin, Texas this June. Previous reports also suggest that Tesla is hard at work preparing for the rollout of its robotaxi service, with the company reportedly testing 300 vehicles around Austin over the past months. Tesla has reportedly also conducted safety tests and training sessions with Austin’s first responders from the fire department and police as part of its robotaxi service preparations.

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