Volkswagen’s Scout Motors brand brought the past to the future with its new Traveler SUV and Terra pickup truck.
Scout Motors paid homage to the past through the Traveler and Terra’s designs and names. The designs of the new Scout SUV and pickup truck mix familiar lines with the technology of the present.
“The Scout SUV and truck feature a bold, rugged design with iconic proportions. A hallmark of those proportions is a very short front overhang, long dash-to-axle, with the visual weight of the cabin shifted to the rear. The vehicles themselves define their rugged capability without add-on cladding or other adornments. The bumpers and rockers are separated from the body as protective elements, as well as showing off the body-on-frame platform,” described Scout.
Scout Traveler & Scout Terra’s Basic Details
The Scout Traveler SUV and Scout Terra pickup truck will be built on a proprietary body-on-frame platform. It has a solid rear axle designed for off-road performance. The platform is estimated to deliver more than 10,000 pounds of towing on the Terra truck and over 7,000 pounds on the Traveler SUV. Both Scout models will have about 2,000 pounds of payload.
Scout will offer two versions of the Traveler SUV and Terra truck: an all-electric model and a gasoline-fueled range-extended version. The pure electric Scout Traveler and Scout Terra are expected to have up to 350 miles of range. Meanwhile, the gasoline-fueled range-extended versions are estimated to offer up to 500 miles of range.
“Both energy systems will preserve the Scout Traveler and Scout Terra off-road characteristics as well as the packaging benefits of electric propulsion. Both Scout energy systems are designed to be flexibly integrated into the platform and into the production process, ensuring Scout Motors can respond to evolving market demand,” said Scout.
The Scout Traveler’s entry model with start at $50,000 with available incentives. The company estimates that retail prices for the Scout Traveler will start under $60,000. Meanwhile, the Terra pickup truck’s entry model will start at $51,000, and its retail prices are estimated to start under $60,000, too.
Scout Traveler & Scout Terra Production Details
Scout Motors aims to start production by 2027 on both models. It estimates that the Scout Traveler and Scout Terra will generate over 4,000 American jobs.
“Two years in the making, the day has finally come to share the next generation of Scout vehicles with the world,” said Scott Keogh, the President and CEO of Scout Motors.
“The original core idea — rugged, versatile vehicles capable of off-road adventure and family duty — is more relevant than ever. We couldn’t be prouder to revitalize this iconic American brand, create thousands of American jobs, and put American ingenuity back to work,” added Keogh.
The company plans to design and engineer the Scout Traveler SUV and Scout Terra pickup truck in Michigan. In late 2023, Scout invested $11 million in Detroit on a Research and Development center. It will likely finalize the Traveler SUV and Terra truck’s designs in Detroit.
The company plans to manufacture its new vehicles in South Carolina, where it established a $2 billion assembly plant. Scout’s manufacturing facility is in Blythewood, South Carolina, and spans 1,600 acres. The Blythewood plant is expected to produce over 200,000 vehicles per year.
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Tesla has expanded the footprint of a massive safety feature worldwide with a recent Software Update labeled as 2026.20.6. The expansion of the “Blind Spot Warning While Parked” feature represents the more widespread availability of the feature, which aims to prevent “dooring.”
Dooring is when a driver or passenger opens a car door into the path of an oncoming road user, usually a cyclist or motorcyclist. It is among the most common types of cycling accidents, the League of American Bicyclists says.
For this reason, Tesla created a feature that warns occupants not to open the door because an object is approaching. The feature will sound a chime, and it will also delay the opening of the door to prevent an incident.
The release notes state (via Not a Tesla App):
“If you attempt to open a door while an approaching object is detected in your blind spot (for example, a bicyclist approaching from behind) a chime sounds, and your door will not open upon initial button press. Wait a short time and press the button a second time to override the warning.”
Tesla initially rolled out this feature back in 2024 with the Model 3 “Highland.” However, it remained with the Model 3 exclusively for over a year; that was until Tesla added it to the Cybertruck this past Spring.
Now, it is making its way to the new Model Y, 2021 and newer Model S, and 2021 or newer Model X.
The prevention of dooring incidents could eliminate many injuries to cyclists, especially in an urban setting. Dooring accounts for 10-20 percent of bike-related crashes in major cities, and over 17,000 dooring-related incidents were treated in the U.S. over the course of a decade. These usually involve fractures, contusions, and head trauma.
Tesla confirmed this morning that it has sent the first production units, manufactured with no steering wheel or pedals, to on-road testing in Austin, sharing video of the first rides with no human controls.
The lack of steering wheels and pedals in the Cybercab aligns with Tesla’s self-certification of Robotaxi as Level 4 SAE, a platform it plans to make widespread through internal vehicles and customer-owned cars that will operate and generate revenue for individuals.
The start of these engineering tests is a major signal for Tesla, which plans to bring driverless, wheel-less, and pedal-less Cybercabs to market in the coming months. With production already well underway at Gigafactory Texas, where the Cybercab is built, there is some inclination to believe the first public rides could happen sooner rather than later.
Engineering tests of the first production Cybercab have begun in Austin pic.twitter.com/fk3KQvcE8a
— Tesla (@Tesla) June 30, 2026
Tesla’s engineering tests will put the Cybercab in real-world scenarios, testing not only the hardware, but more importantly, the software that drives the car around Austin with nobody supervising it within the car.
This is perhaps the biggest part of the internal testing process, especially prior to allowing regular, everyday people to hail the Cybercab for an autonomous ride. These early rides serve as a true benchmark for Tesla: How many rides can it achieve safely? How many miles did it travel consecutively without needing an intervention? What scenarios challenge the Full Self-Driving suite the most?
The proper precautions have already been put into place as well, as Tesla released the First Responders Guide to Cybercab over the weekend, ensuring that emergency services have 24/7 access to Robotaxi Assistance, as well as other boundaries, such as Geofencing features that can be used to redirect autonomous vehicle traffic due to accidents, road closures, construction, or maintenance.
Cybercab seems genuinely close to being added to the Robotaxi fleet in Austin, but Tesla has prioritized safety throughout this entire process. Therefore, we think it could be months before it truly starts giving rides to the public. People have been frustrated with this, but Robotaxi in Austin has a tremendous safety record so far, so the slow rollout has kept people safe and accidents to a minimum.
The most important thing is that Tesla continues to show consistent progress in the Cybercab’s ramp-up toward fleet addition. A few weeks back, we saw the EPA reward the Cybercab a Certificate of Conformity, allowing it to enter the stream of commerce. Then, we saw Tesla add decals, signaling that it was likely about to start testing it publicly. That has now happened.
The next big move will be the announcement of the first rides, so this Summer should be filled with anticipation.
For years, there have been images and videos across social media platforms that have reminded me of when I was a 15-year-old kid teased by “Xbox 720” videos on YouTube. These videos are of the supposed “Tesla Phone” that Elon Musk was secretly developing in between leading Tesla with its electric cars and SpaceX with its reusable rockets.
Would you buy a Tesla phone ? pic.twitter.com/aaTwvvIJit
— Tesla Owners Silicon Valley (@teslaownersSV) October 6, 2023
Although Musk has put those rumors to bed several times, it was never completely out of the realm that he could get involved in cell phones in some capacity. Think outside the box and more macro-level, though. Instead of reinventing the computer, Musk reinvented connectivity by developing Starlink with SpaceX.
It could be something similar, TD Cowen analyst Gregory Williams said in a note last week, where he hinted SpaceX could be gathering some steam to acquire T-Mobile.
Williams said it would be the “clear choice” for SpaceX if it decided to go through with a network acquisition. He also suggested AT&T.
The move would be possible through selling more of its own stock, which would help SpaceX raise the money to purchase T-Mobile, which would cost roughly $300 billion. It could be one of the moves SpaceX makes post-IPO in terms of an acquisition: it already acquired Cursor AI for $60 billion.
Other analysts, like Dan Ives of Wedbush, believe SpaceX and Tesla will eventually merge into one anyway, and that conglomeration could come as soon as this year, some have said.
The implications of SpaceX purchasing T-Mobile are massive. A combined entity would create a truly ubiquitous network: T-Mobile’s terrestrial 5G towers and Starlink’s growing constellation of Direct-to-Cell satellites. This would essentially eliminate dead zones across the U.S. and potentially globally.
SpaceX would instantly become a full-scale facilities-based carrier with satellite differentiation; a huge advantage. This would pressure AT&T and Verizon heavily.
There are also concerns like a potential reduction in long-term competition, and of course, a deal of that size would face intense scrutiny from government agencies.
The strategic fit is compelling due to the existing Starlink–T-Mobile partnership and complementary technologies (space + terrestrial). It could create a dominant integrated communications player. However, the regulatory, financial, and execution hurdles are enormous — this remains highly speculative with no indication SpaceX is actively pursuing it right now.
Tesla expands massive safety feature worldwide in latest update
Tesla sends production Cybercab with no steering wheel, pedals to on-road testing
