News
Mysterious electric vehicle startup, Rivian Automotive closes deal on massive manufacturing facility in Illinois
Michigan-based electric vehicle startup, Rivian Automotive, just closed its purchase of the Mitsubishi Motors North America facility in Normal, Illinois. Records show that the factory was first purchased by liquidation firm, Maynards Industries, in June of 2016 for $2.5M, not including machinery, before Rivian’s recent acquisition for an undisclosed amount. The electric car upstart plans to invest $40.5 million into the factory over the next five years and begin vehicle production in 2019.
Rivian Automotive first began discussions with the town and factory owner in mid-September, before announcing on December 9 that they had entered into an agreement to purchase the facility. The Town of Normal gave the company an incentive package, including a five-year tax abatement and a $1 million grant contingent upon the hiring of approximately 1,000 workers and a $175 million investment into the site through 2024.
(Photo: Rivian)
“We had all but given up hope on a buyer for the Mitsubishi Plant,” Mark Peterson, Town of Normal City Manager, said in a report to the Mayor and the Town Council. Based on records received from the Town of Normal, it is evident that city officials spent countless hours working on the deal.
“As a community, we are thrilled that Rivian has chosen us. It is incredibly rare that a major manufacturing facility in Midwest shutters and then finds new life,” said Town of Normal Mayor Chris Koos in a comment to Teslarati.
The company was founded in 2009 as Mainstream Motors in Florida and later changed its name to Avera Automotive, before becoming Rivian Automotive in 2011. They relocated their operations to Detroit Michigan in Fall 2015 after receiving financial backing from an undisclosed investor. Until today, Rivian Automotive has been operating in stealth mode. The company has launched a newly refreshed website announcing their presence within the electric car space.
The Mitsubishi Factory that Rivian Automotive purchased (Photo: Rivian)
Rivian’s new website claims, “Rivian is developing a flexible electric platform that will underpin our launch portfolio. Our vehicles are being optimized around the electric architecture to deliver outstanding performance, efficiency, packaging, durability and safety.”
Mitsubishi Motors built the facility in 1988 in a joint partnership with Chrysler Corporation and then became the sole operator of the plant in 1991. The 2.4 million square-foot plant is capable of producing over 240,000 vehicles per year and sits on over 500 acres of land. In 2012, Mitsubishi invest over $100 million into the plant to produce the new Mitsubishi Outlander Sport. Due to disappointing sales, Mitsubishi announced the closure in August 2015 and ceased operations in May 2016.
Mitsubishi Motors Factory in August 2015 (Photo: Christian Prenzler)
The chances of success are slim in the automotive sector, but Rivian’s acquisition of the plant gives them a competitive advantage over others. While would-be competitor Faraday Future struggles to finance construction on their North Las Vegas factory, Rivian already has a manufacturing facility that requires relatively little capital to bring back to a production-ready state.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TloizFWADNw
Rivian Automotive was unable to be reached for comment.
The Bloomington-Normal Economic Development Council did not return our request for comment.
Elon Musk
Starlink passes 9 million active customers just weeks after hitting 8 million
The milestone highlights the accelerating growth of Starlink, which has now been adding over 20,000 new users per day.
SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet service has continued its rapid global expansion, surpassing 9 million active customers just weeks after crossing the 8 million mark.
The milestone highlights the accelerating growth of Starlink, which has now been adding over 20,000 new users per day.
9 million customers
In a post on X, SpaceX stated that Starlink now serves over 9 million active users across 155 countries, territories, and markets. The company reached 8 million customers in early November, meaning it added roughly 1 million subscribers in under seven weeks, or about 21,275 new users on average per day.
“Starlink is connecting more than 9M active customers with high-speed internet across 155 countries, territories, and many other markets,” Starlink wrote in a post on its official X account. SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell also celebrated the milestone on X. “A huge thank you to all of our customers and congrats to the Starlink team for such an incredible product,” she wrote.
That growth rate reflects both rising demand for broadband in underserved regions and Starlink’s expanding satellite constellation, which now includes more than 9,000 low-Earth-orbit satellites designed to deliver high-speed, low-latency internet worldwide.
Starlink’s momentum
Starlink’s momentum has been building up. SpaceX reported 4.6 million Starlink customers in December 2024, followed by 7 million by August 2025, and 8 million customers in November. Independent data also suggests Starlink usage is rising sharply, with Cloudflare reporting that global web traffic from Starlink users more than doubled in 2025, as noted in an Insider report.
Starlink’s momentum is increasingly tied to SpaceX’s broader financial outlook. Elon Musk has said the satellite network is “by far” the company’s largest revenue driver, and reports suggest SpaceX may be positioning itself for an initial public offering as soon as next year, with valuations estimated as high as $1.5 trillion. Musk has also suggested in the past that Starlink could have its own IPO in the future.
News
NVIDIA Director of Robotics: Tesla FSD v14 is the first AI to pass the “Physical Turing Test”
After testing FSD v14, Fan stated that his experience with FSD felt magical at first, but it soon started to feel like a routine.
NVIDIA Director of Robotics Jim Fan has praised Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (Supervised) v14 as the first AI to pass what he described as a “Physical Turing Test.”
After testing FSD v14, Fan stated that his experience with FSD felt magical at first, but it soon started to feel like a routine. And just like smartphones today, removing it now would “actively hurt.”
Jim Fan’s hands-on FSD v14 impressions
Fan, a leading researcher in embodied AI who is currently solving Physical AI at NVIDIA and spearheading the company’s Project GR00T initiative, noted that he actually was late to the Tesla game. He was, however, one of the first to try out FSD v14.
“I was very late to own a Tesla but among the earliest to try out FSD v14. It’s perhaps the first time I experience an AI that passes the Physical Turing Test: after a long day at work, you press a button, lay back, and couldn’t tell if a neural net or a human drove you home,” Fan wrote in a post on X.
Fan added: “Despite knowing exactly how robot learning works, I still find it magical watching the steering wheel turn by itself. First it feels surreal, next it becomes routine. Then, like the smartphone, taking it away actively hurts. This is how humanity gets rewired and glued to god-like technologies.”
The Physical Turing Test
The original Turing Test was conceived by Alan Turing in 1950, and it was aimed at determining if a machine could exhibit behavior that is equivalent to or indistinguishable from a human. By focusing on text-based conversations, the original Turing Test set a high bar for natural language processing and machine learning.
This test has been passed by today’s large language models. However, the capability to converse in a humanlike manner is a completely different challenge from performing real-world problem-solving or physical interactions. Thus, Fan introduced the Physical Turing Test, which challenges AI systems to demonstrate intelligence through physical actions.
Based on Fan’s comments, Tesla has demonstrated these intelligent physical actions with FSD v14. Elon Musk agreed with the NVIDIA executive, stating in a post on X that with FSD v14, “you can sense the sentience maturing.” Musk also praised Tesla AI, calling it the best “real-world AI” today.
News
Tesla AI team burns the Christmas midnight oil by releasing FSD v14.2.2.1
The update was released just a day after FSD v14.2.2 started rolling out to customers.
Tesla is burning the midnight oil this Christmas, with the Tesla AI team quietly rolling out Full Self-Driving (Supervised) v14.2.2.1 just a day after FSD v14.2.2 started rolling out to customers.
Tesla owner shares insights on FSD v14.2.2.1
Longtime Tesla owner and FSD tester @BLKMDL3 shared some insights following several drives with FSD v14.2.2.1 in rainy Los Angeles conditions with standing water and faded lane lines. He reported zero steering hesitation or stutter, confident lane changes, and maneuvers executed with precision that evoked the performance of Tesla’s driverless Robotaxis in Austin.
Parking performance impressed, with most spots nailed perfectly, including tight, sharp turns, in single attempts without shaky steering. One minor offset happened only due to another vehicle that was parked over the line, which FSD accommodated by a few extra inches. In rain that typically erases road markings, FSD visualized lanes and turn lines better than humans, positioning itself flawlessly when entering new streets as well.
“Took it up a dark, wet, and twisty canyon road up and down the hill tonight and it went very well as to be expected. Stayed centered in the lane, kept speed well and gives a confidence inspiring steering feel where it handles these curvy roads better than the majority of human drivers,” the Tesla owner wrote in a post on X.
Tesla’s FSD v14.2.2 update
Just a day before FSD v14.2.2.1’s release, Tesla rolled out FSD v14.2.2, which was focused on smoother real-world performance, better obstacle awareness, and precise end-of-trip routing. According to the update’s release notes, FSD v14.2.2 upgrades the vision encoder neural network with higher resolution features, enhancing detection of emergency vehicles, road obstacles, and human gestures.
New Arrival Options also allowed users to select preferred drop-off styles, such as Parking Lot, Street, Driveway, Parking Garage, or Curbside, with the navigation pin automatically adjusting to the ideal spot. Other refinements include pulling over for emergency vehicles, real-time vision-based detours for blocked roads, improved gate and debris handling, and Speed Profiles for customized driving styles.
Starlink passes 9 million active customers just weeks after hitting 8 million
NVIDIA Director of Robotics: Tesla FSD v14 is the first AI to pass the “Physical Turing Test”
