News
SpaceX closes out 2021 with $1.85 billion in new funding
On the eve of the last day of 2021, SEC filings show that SpaceX has secured another $337 million, bringing the total funding the company has raised this year to approximately $1.85 billion.
While there’s evidence that SpaceX’s Falcon and Dragon launch business is easily profitable on its own, the company has been simultaneously developing a next-generation rocket (Starship) and an unprecedentedly ambitious internet satellite constellation (Starlink) for at least the last 5-6 years. Additionally, SpaceX developed Falcon booster reusability and Falcon Heavy entirely on its own at a total cost of at least $1-2 billion. In short, rocket development is incredibly expensive, and adding a far more ambitious rocket and an immense satellite constellation into the mix has created an insatiable demand for fresh capital.
Investors have been more than eager to satisfy that demand, practically chomping at the bit to buy SpaceX equity or debt over the last six years. Since 2015, SpaceX has raised an average of more than $1B per year for the last seven years.
That funding has accomplished a great deal. As of the end of 2021, SpaceX has built and launched 1869 operational Starlink satellites in 25 months, more than 1750 of which are still in orbit and working. SpaceX has also built hundreds of thousands of ‘user terminals’ – dishes and WiFi routers that currently connect more than 150,000 subscribers to the internet even while the service remains in beta.
Starship, while somewhat behind its CEO’s optimistic schedules, continues to march towards its first spaceflight and orbital-velocity launch attempt – possibly in the first half of 2022. With help from its Hawthorne, CA headquarters, SpaceX’s Starbase factory continues to churn out Starship, Super Heavy booster, and test tank prototypes and appears to be ramping back up after six or so months of relative quiet. Having produced approximately 150 Raptor 1 and Raptor 1.5 engines in the last two years, Hawthorne is now focused on ramping up production of Raptor 2 – an upgraded engine variant capable of producing up to 25% more thrust while, in theory, being far cheaper to produce.
In about 12 months, SpaceX has also built – from nothing – an orbital launch site on the verge of being ready to support the first test flights of the largest, heaviest, and most powerful rocket ever built. To accommodate the massive vehicle, SpaceX has also nearly completed the largest cryogenic tank farm ever built for a launch site and partially filled at least four or five of its seven cryogenic storage tanks. Alongside that tank farm, the company has more or less completed a skyscraper-sized launch tower and outfitted it with three giant, moving arms – two of which are designed to stack Starship on Super Heavy and, maybe one day, catch ships and boosters out of mid-air.
According to a company-wide email CEO Elon Musk recently wrote but subsequently downplayed on Twitter, SpaceX’s financial health could be heavily dependent on the successful start and expansion of Raptor 2 production to enable Starship to begin launching new and much-improved Starlink V2.0 satellites. Those satellites are several times larger than V1.0 or V1.5 spacecraft, apparently making it hard or impossible for Falcon 9 to cost-effectively launch them.
On top of building and activating new factories capable of producing millions of Starlink user terminals per year, completing the first phase of orbital Starship development, ramping up Raptor 2 production, starting to build a fleet of operational Starships and Super Heavy boosters, continuing Falcon 9 Starlink V1.5 launches, and simultaneously building or completing no less than three orbital Starship launch sites in Florida and Texas, SpaceX thus also apparently needs to complete Starlink V2.0 satellite development and effectively build one or several entirely new production lines to start producing the substantially different spacecraft.
A large portion of SpaceX’s 2021 funding – especially the ~$337M raised in the last two weeks – will likely help support a portion of all those development efforts next year.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk revealed today on the social media platform X that legacy automakers, such as Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis, do not want to license the company’s Full Self-Driving suite, at least not without a long list of their own terms.
“I’ve tried to warn them and even offered to license Tesla FSD, but they don’t want it! Crazy,” Musk said on X. “When legacy auto does occasionally reach out, they tepidly discuss implementing FSD for a tiny program in 5 years with unworkable requirements for Tesla, so pointless.”
I’ve tried to warn them and even offered to license Tesla FSD, but they don’t want it! Crazy …
When legacy auto does occasionally reach out, they tepidly discuss implementing FSD for a tiny program in 5 years with unworkable requirements for Tesla, so pointless. 🤷♂️
🦕 🦕
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 24, 2025
Musk made the remark in response to a note we wrote about earlier today from Melius Research, in which analyst Rob Wertheimer said, “Our point is not that Tesla is at risk, it’s that everybody else is,” in terms of autonomy and self-driving development.
Wertheimer believes there are hundreds of billions of dollars in value headed toward Tesla’s way because of its prowess with FSD.
A few years ago, Musk first remarked that Tesla was in early talks with one legacy automaker regarding licensing Full Self-Driving for its vehicles. Tesla never confirmed which company it was, but given Musk’s ongoing talks with Ford CEO Jim Farley at the time, it seemed the Detroit-based automaker was the likely suspect.
Tesla’s Elon Musk reiterates FSD licensing offer for other automakers
Ford has been perhaps the most aggressive legacy automaker in terms of its EV efforts, but it recently scaled back its electric offensive due to profitability issues and weak demand. It simply was not making enough vehicles, nor selling the volume needed to turn a profit.
Musk truly believes that many of the companies that turn their backs on FSD now will suffer in the future, especially considering the increased chance it could be a parallel to what has happened with EV efforts for many of these companies.
Unfortunately, they got started too late and are now playing catch-up with Tesla, XPeng, BYD, and the other dominating forces in EVs across the globe.
Tesla is backtracking on a strange adjustment it made to its in-car Navigation feature after numerous complaints from owners convinced the company to make a change.
Tesla’s in-car Navigation is catered to its vehicles, as it routes Supercharging stops and preps your vehicle for charging with preconditioning. It is also very intuitive, and features other things like weather radar and a detailed map outlining points of interest.
However, a recent change to the Navigation by Tesla did not go unnoticed, and owners were really upset about it.
For trips that required multiple Supercharger stops, Tesla decided to implement a naming change, which did not show the city or state of each charging stop. Instead, it just showed the business where the Supercharger was located, giving many owners an unwelcome surprise.
However, Tesla’s Director of Supercharging, Max de Zegher, admitted the update was a “big mistake on our end,” and made a change that rolled out within 24 hours:
The naming change should have happened at once, instead of in 2 sequential steps. That was a big miss on our end. We do listen to the community and we do course-correct fast. The accelerated fix rolled out last night. The Tesla App is updated and most in-car touchscreens should…
— Max (@MdeZegher) November 20, 2025
The lack of a name for the city where a Supercharging stop would be made caused some confusion for owners in the short term. Some drivers argued that it was more difficult to make stops at some familiar locations that were special to them. Others were not too keen on not knowing where they were going to be along their trip.
Tesla was quick to scramble to resolve this issue, and it did a great job of rolling it out in an expedited manner, as de Zegher said that most in-car touch screens would notice the fix within one day of the change being rolled out.
Additionally, there will be even more improvements in December, as Tesla plans to show the common name/amenity below the site name as well, which will give people a better idea of what to expect when they arrive at a Supercharger.
News
Dutch regulator RDW confirms Tesla FSD February 2026 target
The regulator emphasized that safety, not public pressure, will decide whether FSD receives authorization for use in Europe.
The Dutch vehicle authority RDW responded to Tesla’s recent updates about its efforts to bring Full Self-Driving (Supervised) in Europe, confirming that February 2026 remains the target month for Tesla to demonstrate regulatory compliance.
While acknowledging the tentative schedule with Tesla, the regulator emphasized that safety, not public pressure, will decide whether FSD receives authorization for use in Europe.
RDW confirms 2026 target, warns Feb 2026 timeline is not guaranteed
In its response, which was posted on its official website, the RDW clarified that it does not disclose details about ongoing manufacturer applications due to competitive sensitivity. However, the agency confirmed that both parties have agreed on a February 2026 window during which Tesla is expected to show that FSD (Supervised) can meet required safety and compliance standards. Whether Tesla can satisfy those conditions within the timeline “remains to be seen,” RDW added.
RDW also directly addressed Tesla’s social media request encouraging drivers to contact the regulator to express support. While thanking those who already reached out, RDW asked the public to stop contacting them, noting these messages burden customer-service resources and have no influence on the approval process.
“In the message on X, Tesla calls on Tesla drivers to thank the RDW and to express their enthusiasm about this planning to us by contacting us. We thank everyone who has already done so, and would like to ask everyone not to contact us about this. It takes up unnecessary time for our customer service. Moreover, this will have no influence on whether or not the planning is met,” the RDW wrote.
The RDW shares insights on EU approval requirements
The RDW further outlined how new technology enters the European market when no existing legislation directly covers it. Under EU Regulation 2018/858, a manufacturer may seek an exemption for unregulated features such as advanced driver assistance systems. The process requires a Member State, in this case the Netherlands, to submit a formal request to the European Commission on the manufacturer’s behalf.
Approval then moves to a committee vote. A majority in favor would grant EU-wide authorization, allowing the technology across all Member States. If the vote fails, the exemption is valid only within the Netherlands, and individual countries must decide whether to accept it independently.
Before any exemption request can be filed, Tesla must complete a comprehensive type-approval process with the RDW, including controlled on-road testing. Provided that FSD Supervised passes these regulatory evaluations, the exemption could be submitted for broader EU consideration.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk sends rivals dire warning about Full Self-Driving
Tesla backtracks on strange Nav feature after numerous complaints
