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SpaceX & Boring Co. engineers are flying to Thailand to assess options for rescue efforts
In a recent update on Twitter, Elon Musk stated that engineers from SpaceX and The Boring Company would be flying to Thailand tomorrow to assess how to best help the Thai government in its rescue efforts for the stranded soccer players in the Tham Luang Nang Non cave complex.
Musk’s recent statements come as a response to updates posted by James Yenbamroong, an entrepreneur and founder of mu Space Corp, who stated that SpaceX engineers had already reached out in an attempt to connect with the Thai government. Government officials are currently looking into three plans to rescue the 12 stranded children and their coach. Among these involve teaching the young soccer players to dive, draining the caves of water to make extraction easier, and drilling a hole from the surface to provide a way out.
SpaceX & Boring Co engineers headed to Thailand tomorrow to see if we can be helpful to govt. There are probably many complexities that are hard to appreciate without being there in person.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 6, 2018
Yesterday, Musk offered to dropship Tesla Powerpacks and water pumps on the site of the rescue efforts to help in draining the caves. Musk also offered technology from The Boring Company as a means to help with the Thai government’s third rescue option. Among the most challenging portions of the cave, however, is a 70cm cross-section located about 3.1 miles away from the stranded soccer team, which gives trouble to the water pumps. The Thai government also expressed some reservations about the idea of digging a hole to reach the children and their coach, considering that the air pocket where the group is currently located is half a mile underground.
In a series of tweets today, Musk threw some ideas that could work to help in draining the caves and retrieving the children. According to Musk, it might be worth looking into the idea of inserting a 1-meter diameter nylon tube through the cave network that could be inflated with air “like a bouncy castle.” This would create an air tunnel underwater against the cave roof and auto-conform to odd shapes in the network including the tricky 70cm cross-section. Velcro slits at the ends of the tubes, as well as a continuous air feed, would allow the tube to remain inflated. According to Musk, this particular solution would require little power since that the work done is low.Â
A map of the cave system where the members of the Thai Wild Boar soccer team are located. [Credit: James Yenbamroong/Twitter]
The Wild Boar Soccer Team entered the Tham Luang Nang Non cave complex last June 23. Due to the monsoon rains, however, the team, comprised of children aged 11-15, as well as their 25-year-old coach, were forced to take shelter in an air pocket 2.5 miles away from the entrance to the caves. The team was located by two British divers last Monday, and since then, the children have been supplied with much-needed food and other survival supplies. Thai Navy SEAL divers, including a doctor and a nurse, also stayed with the soccer team on Tuesday.
The ongoing rescue efforts have taken a toll on the rescuers themselves. As noted by The Guardian, Saman Kunan, a former Navy Seal diver who opted to assist in the rescue, recently died while volunteering in the caves. Kunan was found unconscious in the caves after he transported tanks from the caves’ third chamber. First aid was attempted by his colleagues on site, but efforts to revive him were ultimately unsuccessful.
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Tesla is no stranger to humanitarian efforts. The company has responded to Puerto Rico’s call for help in reviving its battered power system after Hurricane Maria. Tesla was also pivotal in providing power for the first time to a town in the Philippines that has never experienced a constant power supply in its history.
Tesla has launched a new Vehicle-to-Load (V2L) Outlet Adapter for Premium Model Y vehicles in the United States, meaning you can now power devices like laptops or light strings with your vehicle’s battery.
It appears the capability will be available for any Model Y Premium trim, including those that were purchased prior to the Adapter being launched. It will also only impact Juniper Model Y vehicles, so the first-gen owners will unfortunately not have access to this capability.
If your Model Y was purchased before Tesla renamed the trim levels to “Premium” and “Standard,” it does not seem to be compatible. My Model Y is technically a Premium build, as it is the Long Range All-Wheel-Drive. However, Tesla says it is not compatible with my vehicle.
🚨 Tesla has launched the Outlet Adapter for Model Y Premium in the U.S., enabling V2L capability for all Premium trims (that’s what it appears to be as it is available for purchase with all Premium trims)
It’s available for $80. 2.4kW max power and rated for 120v, 20A pic.twitter.com/lDxlVIk5s8
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) August 14, 2026
For $80, you can now utilize your car as a portable charger for small appliances or devices. This is perfect for things like tailgates, concerts, or camping, as you can now plug in devices that you might use. Those string lights for camping? That laptop for the other games that are on at the tailgate?
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They’ll both utilize energy from your Tesla’s battery to be powered. This is the first time Tesla has expanded the capability to vehicles outside of the Model Y Performance and Cybertruck. However, this feature has been highly requested by owners for an extended period of time.
Tesla launched the Outlet Adapter in China last year:
Tesla China rolls out Model Y L V2L adapter, and it’s free for early owners
You will need the Mobile Connector to operate the Outlet Adapter: the Outlet Adapter will plug into the main housing of the Mobile Connector, where the appropriate adapter to charge your vehicle will plug in.
It is rated for 120 volts and 20 amps, and has a max power rating of 2.4kW.
You can buy it here from Tesla for $80.
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Tesla is nearing its long-awaited unveiling of the all-electric Tesla Roadster, a new report from The Information claims, as the company has said several times this year that the event would take place “soon.”
Now, it appears there is movement on Tesla’s end regarding when it will happen.
The report says that Tesla will unveil the Roadster as soon as this month with a SpaceX version that will utilize cold-gas thrusters to help the vehicle float for a short period of time. This is something CEO Elon Musk has talked about with the Roadster for years.
🚨 The Information is reporting this morning that Tesla is ready to unveil the “flying” Roadster as soon as this month
It’s almost here, folks. pic.twitter.com/IdL4atsucQ
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) August 14, 2026
Additionally, due to the delays, Tesla explored “a variety of designs” for the Roadster, potentially planning to abandon the design it showed off for the first time in 2017 and adopting an entirely new aesthetic.
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According to The Information, Tesla considered utilizing a repurposed Model S Plaid and even wanted to upgrade the look to something like a Lamborghini Countach.
We’ve heard all of these things before, including teases about the date and how “soon” the Roadster will finally be ready to be shown off to the world (for the second time). Musk said that the event would occur in April, then May, then Chief Designer Franz von Holzhausen continued to say it would be coming “soon.”
We do expect to see the Roadster by the end of the year, and now with this new report swirling, it appears it could be sooner rather than later.
The wait has been incredibly long, but there is likely a good reason for it. Tesla’s desire to make the Roadster the craziest vehicle on the road was non-negotiable, and it likely took a lot of time and resources to develop and perfect into something that was safe and suitable for a vehicle like this.
Featured
Tesla finally got its Nevada Robotaxi Permit but with a few catches hard to miss
Nevada granted Tesla’s robotaxi permit, but capped the fleet at just ten vehicles for now.
Tesla has received its robotaxi permit in Nevada, more than two months after regulators closed the public comment period on the company’s application. News of the approval surfaced Wednesday night when Tesla investor and longtime company watcher Sawyer Merritt posted a copy of the interim order, and the Nevada Transportation Authority’s own carrier registry now lists the permit, AVNC Permit 002 under Docket 26-05015, as active for Tesla Robotaxi, LLC.
Tesla asked Nevada in June for authority to run up to 5,000 vehicles in Clark County within a year, however the permit the NTA issued is initially capping Tesla at ten fully autonomous vehicles and confines them to a defined geofence along the Las Vegas Strip corridor. Any expansion of that operating area, or any increase to the fleet size, requires the NTA’s approval first.
Tesla has received its Autonomous Vehicle Network Company permit in Nevada.
The Nevada Transportation Authority says that operations are limited to a maximum fleet of 10 fully autonomous vehicles and shall be conducted only within the Authority-approved Operational Design… https://t.co/Cxfd6GIfDk pic.twitter.com/iOO6wSZkHF
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) August 13, 2026
The order also sets rules that look more restrictive than what Tesla runs in Austin. Rides are barred on roads with posted speed limits above 45 miles per hour, pickups are off limits within a quarter mile of Harry Reid International Airport without separate authorization, and every vehicle has to carry visible “Robotaxi” markings while notifying riders before each trip that no one is driving. The order also requires “appropriate human supervision”, language that suggests Nevada isn’t ready to let Tesla offer the rides without a safety monitor that it has run in parts of Austin since January. As with standard protocol with robotaxi services, Tesla must report any accident, system failure, or vehicle that becomes stranded on a Nevada road within five business days.
Tesla is entering a market Nevada already knows well. Zoox, the Amazon owned robotaxi company, has run its own autonomous vehicle permit in the state since last year, building up to roughly 100 vehicles and 350,000 rides along the Strip. That history likely explains why the NTA started Tesla at ten cars rather than the fleet size the company asked for. The agency has a template for scaling a permit up once a company proves out its safety record.
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Tesla’s Nevada application first surfaced in June, when the company filed for the permit alongside plans for a maintenance hub in southwest Las Vegas. The company has said it won’t meaningfully scale its robotaxi fleet anywhere until FSD v15 ships, expected in late 2026 or early 2027, which makes the ten vehicle cap less of a constraint today than it might look on paper. For now, Tesla has the legal right to start Nevada rides. Whether it starts before FSD v15 arrives is a separate question the permit doesn’t answer.
Tesla launches V2L Outlet Adapter for Premium Model Y in the U.S.
Tesla Roadster unveiling nears, and it will fly: The Information
