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First reviews of Porsche Mission E Cross Turismo are in, and they are glowing
Porsche recently offered auto reviewers a chance to experience its latest all-electric vehicle, the Mission E Cross Turismo concept, firsthand. As could be seen in the initial reactions to the vehicle’s design and performance, Porsche’s off-road-capable, shooting brake-esque variant of the original Mission E sedan would likely be a strong contender in the electric car market.
The Mission E Cross Turismo concept, just like its Tesla Model S-rivaling sedan counterpart, features a highly aerodynamic design. Featuring generous vents on the side, a shape that optimizes airflow around the vehicle, and design elements such as Model S-esque pop-up door handles, the Mission E Cross Turismo was created with form and function in mind. Sitting on treaded General Grabber AT275/40R-20 tires, the Cross Turismo concept also adopts an aggressive stance.
Reviewers of the Mission E Cross Turismo gave the electric vehicle much praise, mainly due to its performance, which is unanimously dubbed as true to the car’s badge. Car and Driver, for one, lauded the Cross Turismo for its capability to sprint from 0-62 mph in 3.5 seconds, its electric motors that generate 600 hp, and its 90 kWh battery that gives a range of 310 miles. The Mission E Cross Turismo’s compatibility with the 350 kW IONITY network, which is capable of recharging 250 miles of range in just 15 minutes, was also mentioned as a strong point for the upcoming car.
The Porsche Mission E Cross Turismo concept. [Credit: Porsche]
The Mission E Cross Turismo is equipped with several fancy bells and whistles as well, including a drone that can take aerial videos of the electric car in action. Considering that the Mission E Cross Turismo is designed to be a vehicle that can perform equally well on and off-road, reviewers of the electric car lauded its adaptive air-spring suspension, which allows the car to raise or lower its ride height as necessary.
Inside the car itself, reviewers took particular notice to the vehicle’s rather sparse but classy interior, from its generous binnacle in front of the steering wheel to its touch panel on the passenger side. Though not as radically minimalistic as the Tesla Model 3, the Cross Turismo concept’s dashboard was found to be a departure from Porsche’s tendency to place a generous number of knobs and switches in its vehicles.
CNET Roadshow‘s Tim Stevens, one the reviewers who was given the opportunity to drive the Cross Turismo concept, ultimately stated that considering its design, features, and driving performance, the upcoming vehicle could very well make a significant impact in the electric car industry.
“The global electric car market is still quite young, and while companies like Tesla have done a great job building the stage, I can’t help but think that when the Mission E hits the market next year, it’s gonna steal the show.”
Ultimately, the Porsche Mission E Cross Turismo looks like a solid contender in the electric car market. When it starts production early next decade, vehicles such as the Tesla Model Y would likely find some competition from the electric off-roader. Porsche’s all-electric line stands to make an impact as early as next year, however, as the Mission E sedan is set to start production in 2019, followed by the Cross Turismo in 2020. Pricing for the Mission E sedan and the Cross Turismo have not been revealed by the German carmaker, though expectations are high that the latter’s cost would be in the same ballpark as the Panamera S E-Hybrid.
As Porche prepares to launch its first all-electric vehicle, the German legacy automaker is starting to increase its marketing efforts for the upcoming car. Just recently, a Mission E prototype was driven around the track by former Formula One driver Mark Webber, who noted that the sedan had similarities as the Porsche 919 Hybrid, a high-performance vehicle he drove for the company in competitions such as the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The Mission E sedan’s concept version, which debuted at the 2015 Frankfurt Motor Show, was also taken for a spin by Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine in a recent ad for the vehicle. In the United States, Porsche Cars North America has revealed that that it is building a network of 500 fast chargers to support the Mission E sedan’s rollout next year.
Watch Tim Stevens of CNET Roadshow take the Mission E for a test drive in the video below.
Tesla’s Head of AI, Ashok Elluswamy, says that something that was expected with version 14.3 of the company’s Full Self-Driving platform has already partially shipped with the current build of version 14.2.
Tesla and CEO Elon Musk have teased on several occasions that reasoning will be a big piece of future Full Self-Driving builds, helping bring forth the “sentient” narrative that the company has pushed for these more advanced FSD versions.
Back in October on the Q3 Earnings Call, Musk said:
“With reasoning, it’s literally going to think about which parking spot to pick. It’ll drop you off at the entrance of the store, then go find a parking spot. It’s going to spot empty spots much better than a human. It’s going to use reasoning to solve things.”
Musk said in the same month:
“By v14.3, your car will feel like it is sentient.”
Amazingly, Tesla Full Self-Driving v14.2.2.2, which is the most recent iteration released, is very close to this sentient feeling. However, there are more things that need to be improved, and logic appears to be in the future plans to help with decision-making in general, alongside other refinements and features.
On Thursday evening, Elluswamy revealed that some of the reasoning features have already been rolled out, confirming that it has been added to navigation route changes during construction, as well as with parking options.
He added that “more and more reasoning will ship in Q1.”
🚨 Tesla’s Ashok Elluswamy reveals Nav decisions when encountering construction and parking options contain “some elements of reasoning”
More uses of reasoning will be shipped later this quarter, a big tidbit of info as we wait v14.3 https://t.co/jty8llgsKM
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) January 9, 2026
Interestingly, parking improvements were hinted at being added in the initial rollout of v14.2 several months ago. These had not rolled out to vehicles quite yet, as they were listed under the future improvements portion of the release notes, but it appears things have already started to make their way to cars in a limited fashion.
Tesla Full Self-Driving v14.2 – Full Review, the Good and the Bad
As reasoning is more involved in more of the Full Self-Driving suite, it is likely we will see cars make better decisions in terms of routing and navigation, which is a big complaint of many owners (including me).
Additionally, the operation as a whole should be smoother and more comfortable to owners, which is hard to believe considering how good it is already. Nevertheless, there are absolutely improvements that need to be made before Tesla can introduce completely unsupervised FSD.
Elon Musk
Tesla’s Elon Musk: 10 billion miles needed for safe Unsupervised FSD
As per the CEO, roughly 10 billion miles of training data are required due to reality’s “super long tail of complexity.”
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has provided an updated estimate for the training data needed to achieve truly safe unsupervised Full Self-Driving (FSD).
As per the CEO, roughly 10 billion miles of training data are required due to reality’s “super long tail of complexity.”
10 billion miles of training data
Musk comment came as a reply to Apple and Rivian alum Paul Beisel, who posted an analysis on X about the gap between tech demonstrations and real-world products. In his post, Beisel highlighted Tesla’s data-driven lead in autonomy, and he also argued that it would not be easy for rivals to become a legitimate competitor to FSD quickly.
“The notion that someone can ‘catch up’ to this problem primarily through simulation and limited on-road exposure strikes me as deeply naive. This is not a demo problem. It is a scale, data, and iteration problem— and Tesla is already far, far down that road while others are just getting started,” Beisel wrote.
Musk responded to Beisel’s post, stating that “Roughly 10 billion miles of training data is needed to achieve safe unsupervised self-driving. Reality has a super long tail of complexity.” This is quite interesting considering that in his Master Plan Part Deux, Elon Musk estimated that worldwide regulatory approval for autonomous driving would require around 6 billion miles.
FSD’s total training miles
As 2025 came to a close, Tesla community members observed that FSD was already nearing 7 billion miles driven, with over 2.5 billion miles being from inner city roads. The 7-billion-mile mark was passed just a few days later. This suggests that Tesla is likely the company today with the most training data for its autonomous driving program.
The difficulties of achieving autonomy were referenced by Elon Musk recently, when he commented on Nvidia’s Alpamayo program. As per Musk, “they will find that it’s easy to get to 99% and then super hard to solve the long tail of the distribution.” These sentiments were echoed by Tesla VP for AI software Ashok Elluswamy, who also noted on X that “the long tail is sooo long, that most people can’t grasp it.”
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Tesla earns top honors at MotorTrend’s SDV Innovator Awards
MotorTrend’s SDV Awards were presented during CES 2026 in Las Vegas.
Tesla emerged as one of the most recognized automakers at MotorTrend’s 2026 Software-Defined Vehicle (SDV) Innovator Awards.
As could be seen in a press release from the publication, two key Tesla employees were honored for their work on AI, autonomy, and vehicle software. MotorTrend’s SDV Awards were presented during CES 2026 in Las Vegas.
Tesla leaders and engineers recognized
The fourth annual SDV Innovator Awards celebrate pioneers and experts who are pushing the automotive industry deeper into software-driven development. Among the most notable honorees for this year was Ashok Elluswamy, Tesla’s Vice President of AI Software, who received a Pioneer Award for his role in advancing artificial intelligence and autonomy across the company’s vehicle lineup.
Tesla also secured recognition in the Expert category, with Lawson Fulton, a staff Autopilot machine learning engineer, honored for his contributions to Tesla’s driver-assistance and autonomous systems.
Tesla’s software-first strategy
While automakers like General Motors, Ford, and Rivian also received recognition, Tesla’s multiple awards stood out given the company’s outsized role in popularizing software-defined vehicles over the past decade. From frequent OTA updates to its data-driven approach to autonomy, Tesla has consistently treated vehicles as evolving software platforms rather than static products.
This has made Tesla’s vehicles very unique in their respective sectors, as they are arguably the only cars that objectively get better over time. This is especially true for vehicles that are loaded with the company’s Full Self-Driving system, which are getting progressively more intelligent and autonomous over time. The majority of Tesla’s updates to its vehicles are free as well, which is very much appreciated by customers worldwide.
Tesla AI Head says future FSD feature has already partially shipped
Tesla’s Elon Musk: 10 billion miles needed for safe Unsupervised FSD
