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Rivian swappable components come to life in new renderings

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The new (and patient) Rivian community has taken a recently published company patent one step further from its concept drawings by creating beautifully colored “digital previews” to bring its described “swappable” modules to life. In five renderings, the team running RivianForums imagined a basic flatbed, two recreational caps/toppers, a side rail module (with and without dirtbikes), and a cargo box utility module.

The patent in question presented a customizable, modular concept for its cars: As imagined, cargo bed components can be swapped out per driver preference, and the cars automatically adjust to whatever is installed. Whether the driver needs a set up for delivery, recreation, etc., there’s a modular component specially designed to provide a solution.

It certainly seems that the Michigan-based company’s portrayal of its vehicles as part of an “electric adventure” lifestyle has been happily taken up by its fast-growing fan base; a narrative wherein nature beckons the thrill-seeking traveler to muddy the wheels of their battery-powered Rivian R1T truck or R1S SUV.

Last week, the company’s official Twitter account shared a personality-filled photo of an R1T sitting inside their Plymouth location with a caption stating it was β€œsmiling for the camera”. The subsequent responses to the image further demonstrated an audience excited for Rivian’s future.

A sign above the overhead door behind the happy R1T tweet-pic read, “Of all the paths you take in life, make sure a few are dirt”, which is of course very much in line with the feeling Rivian has been promoting. The EV startup recently posted a mood-inspiring series of cinematic videos chock-full of snow, mountain, and trail imagery. It seems that after nine years in stealth mode, this up-and-coming auto maker really wants everyone to keep the idea of an outdoors + EV lifestyle fresh in their minds with Rivian at the helm. They’ve even adopted the #electricadventure hashtag to go with it, and a quick search for the tag generates results full of impressive and exciting images of Rivian’s vehicle lineup that’s set to begin production next year.

The Rivian R1T and R1S have been designed with “megapack” batteries to provide up to 400 miles per charge, and their high-powered quad-motors have been touted to give a 0-60 mph acceleration time of 3 seconds. To support the flexible, adventurous lifestyle of its target market, Rivian has also been developing longer range power solutions for its vehicles, as seen by another recent patent application. For a starting price of $69,000 for the R1T pickup and $72,500 for the R1S SUV before incentives, Rivian’s customers will be treated to both innovative new electric vehicles and a company committed to supporting their travel-centered lifestyle.

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As with Tesla orders, a $1000 deposit via Rivian’s official website will secure a prospective buyer’s place in line for one of the company’s outdoor-focused vehicles. Also keeping in line with what customers have somewhat come to expect during the vehicle pre-order process, Rivian has also begun offering perks as a reward for buyers’ vote of confidence. An invite went out to their “preorder community” this week to attend a private vehicle viewing and celebration in a run-up to the company’s appearance at the 2019 New York International Auto Show. Cocktails, hors d’oeuvres, and a greeting by the company’s CEO and founder, RJ Scaringe, were promised to be part of the event.

Accidental computer geek, fascinated by most history and the multiplanetary future on its way. Quite keen on the democratization of space. | It's pronounced day-sha, but I answer to almost any variation thereof.

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Elon Musk

Tesla primes Cybercabs for 4K streaming and high bandwidth gaming with Starlink integration

Tesla is now shipping Cybercabs from Giga Texas with Starlink hardware built in as standard.

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tesla cybercab with no manual controls showing a movie with two employees inside

Tesla’s Cybercabs are now leaving Gigafactory Texas with Starlink hardware on the rear hatch in significant numbers, according to drone footage captured Tuesday by longtime Austin drone observer Joe Tegtmeyer. Production at the factory ramped back up after the Labor Day weekend, and his flyover of the outbound lot showed rows of gold Cybercabs alongside Model Y Long Wheelbase units, many carrying the satellite module for the first time as standard equipment rather than a one off retrofit.

Tesla first showed Starlink built into an actual Cybercab on August 10, when the Robotaxi account posted images of a single gold unit with the antenna integrated into the roofline above the taillights and called it the first Cybercab with Starlink integration. That followed a July reveal where Tesla and Starlink jointly posted a cutaway diagram of the antenna placement without a working vehicle to back it up. Ashok Elluswamy, Tesla’s VP of AI software, said at the time that the connection isn’t required for the car to drive itself. It exists mainly for navigation, customer service and keeping tabs on the fleet.

Musk has made a different case in public. During Tesla’s Q2 earnings call, he said the company can’t afford robotaxis stranded in what he called “Bermuda Triangles of lack of cellular connectivity,” and he separately claimed on X that Starlink will eventually reach every Tesla built, calling it the only way to deliver high bandwidth to billions of vehicles. He has also pitched the antenna as an entertainment upgrade, telling riders they would be able to stream 4K video or play games during a trip.

The rollout has moved fast since. Robotaxi service opened to the public in Austin on September 3, and Cybercabs had already been spotted with Starlink hardware in Houston and near Miami International Airport in the weeks before Tuesday’s factory footage showed the module shipping at volume rather than on scattered test units. Whether the satellite link earns its keep is still an open question. Tesla’s unsupervised service currently runs in dense metro geofences in Texas and Florida, markets where cellular coverage is already strong, which is not where the rural dead zones Musk describes tend to show up.

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Tesla Cybertruck targets job site crews with new Tailgate Utility Track and Bed Gear Box accessory

Tesla launched a $350 tailgate track and a $985 lockable Bed Gear Box for Cybertruck.

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Tesla Cybertruck construction site

Tesla’s Cybertruck team added two more items to the Tesla Shop, targeting job site crews and owners who use the truck bed for actual work rather than just showing it off. The official Cybertruck X account posted the Tailgate Utility Track and the Bed Gear Box within minutes of each other, part of a five item batch that also included a reflective jacket, a spray paint hat and an updated reflective tee.

The Tailgate Utility Track runs $350 and turns the folded down tailgate into another mounting surface. It’s a single aluminum track with a T-slot for sliding accessories and two L-track attachment points, plus two load stops included in the box. The pitch is straightforward: strap down oversized cargo, like lumber or a cooler, that hangs off the back of the bed without it sliding out mid-drive. It bolts onto the existing tailgate and works on every Cybertruck trim.

The Bed Gear Box costs $985 and is a different kind of accessory. It’s a lockable aluminum storage box, 55.78 inches long, 19.8 inches wide and 7.79 inches tall, that mounts to the bed’s L-track rails and comes with two internal bins for smaller items. According to Tesla, at just over 57 pounds empty, it’s meant to stay in place rather than come in and out with each trip, giving owners a factory-fit alternative to loose totes for tools, recovery gear or emergency supplies. Tesla’s listing notes that Long Range and Dual Motor AWD Cybertrucks need the L-Tracks accessory installed separately before the Gear Box will mount, since L-tracks come standard only on certain configurations.

Tesla Cybertruck bed gear box accessory

Tesla Cybertruck bed gear box accessory

Both accessories lean on the idea Tesla has been building toward since Elon Musk first described the Cybertruck’s third-party attachment strategy at the 2023 shareholder meeting, when he said the truck would ship with mounting points so outside companies, and Tesla itself, could keep adding gear without redesigning the bed. That’s the same L-track backbone underneath the tailgate shield and jumpseats Tesla launched last year, and the off-road armor package that arrived through the same X account in 2025.

Owners looking to round out the rest of the L-track ecosystem, cargo dividers, MOLLE panels, bed racks and similar gear, can find a wider range of options through our Cybertruck accessories collection.

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Elon Musk says he knows how to save Earth for a billion years

Elon Musk says sentient AI satellites launched from the Moon could keep Earth livable forever.

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Elon Musk spent part of his weekend describing a plan to keep the planet livable for roughly a billion years, and it starts with satellites that can think for themselves.

In a post on X, Musk argued that swapping fossil fuels for solar and wind power will not be enough to protect humanity from what he called extremely severe extinction events, the kind that occur roughly every 100 million years. His fix is what he called sentient satellites, or solar-powered satellites, controlled by AI, that would sit in a fixed spot between Earth and the Sun after being launched off the Moon using a giant electromagnetic catapult instead of rockets.

The satellites’ onboard AI would make continuous, small adjustments rather than waiting on human instructions. The mass driver is Musk’s proposed way of getting the raw material there cheaply by using an electromagnetic launch track built on the Moon, where lower gravity and no atmosphere make it far easier to fling cargo into space than it is from Earth.

Musk shared a Grok generated estimate suggesting roughly 5 percent of Florida’s land, or about 1.68 million acres, could face regular flooding by 2070 under a high sea level rise scenario, and said humanity has about 50 years to act before coastal living looks very different than it does today.

This is not the first time Musk has floated the idea. He raised a similar concept in November, describing a solar powered AI satellite constellation that could make tiny adjustments to incoming sunlight to fine tune Earth’s temperature. Musk has also tied planetary risk to his broader vision at SpaceX, where his compensation package is explicitly linked to establishing a self-sustaining Mars colony, one he has described as an insurance policy against the kind of extinction event he referenced this weekend, and where he has said humans could set foot within five to seven years.

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