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SpaceX CEO Elon Musk & Raptor engine make surprise visit to Florida Starship

Starmus 2019 attendee Julien Ston captured this photo of SpaceX CEO Elon Musk's recorded Stephen Hawking Medal acceptance speech. (Julien Ston - Twitter)

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While on the East Coast for Falcon Heavy’s third launch, also described as SpaceX’s most difficult launch yet, CEO Elon Musk dropped by the company’s Florida Starship campus and recorded a small acceptance speech for his 2019 Stephen Hawking Medal.

On the very same day, at the very same site, a lone Raptor was effectively displayed for all to see to such an extent that unaffiliated photographers were able to capture impressively detailed photos. Almost the certainly the first time a full-scale Raptor has traveled east of Texas, the engine’s presence at SpaceX’s Florida Starship site is truly surprising in light of the fact that the East Coast campus is solely focused on building orbital-class prototypes. Why, then, is one of SpaceX’s small handful of completed Raptors in Florida?

https://twitter.com/Launch360_/status/1143277614725025793

About a month ago, Elon Musk was announced as the recipient of 2019’s Stephen Hawking Medal of Science Communication. Meant to be awarded in person at a ceremony in Switzerland, Musk was unable to attend the event due to a schedule conflict with Falcon Heavy’s third launch, but the infamously busy CEO managed to film a brief thank you message that was then broadcast in Switzerland.

In what seems to be a coincidence, Musk’s message – either recorded or streamed – was filmed on SpaceX’s Florida Starship development campus, a surprisingly large facility uncovered less than two months ago. The CEO was standing in the sun directly in front of two large segments of the second orbital-class Starship prototype, part of a parallel development process featuring a second Starship prototype (and separate Starhopper) in Texas. Musk’s appearance at Starship Florida is not particularly surprising; if he flew all the way to Florida for Falcon Heavy, might as well tour SpaceX’s newest Florida facilities on the same trip.

Raptor Mystery: Episode II

What is surprising, however, is the presence of what looks like a finished Raptor engine in Florida. Looks can certainly be deceiving but SpaceX’s Florida Starship prototype – while undeniably flying through preliminary assembly – does not appear to be anywhere near flight-readiness. In Boca Chica, a partially separate SpaceX team is working to prepare Starhopper – a partial-fidelity, suborbital prototype – for low-altitude, low-velocity hop tests

SpaceX’s South Texas Starhopper sits under the blistering summer sun on June 4th. (Pauline Acalin)

Back in May, a mystery Raptor engine – believed to be serial number 04 (SN04 – appeared in South Texas and was soon installed on Starhopper for fit-checks and tests of the engine’s thrust vectoring capabilities. SN04 was soon uninstalled and shipped elsewhere; perhaps to SpaceX’s rapidly-progressing Florida Starship. If the surprise Florida Raptor is, in fact, SN04, then it’s safe to assume that it will remain inert for the time being, serving as a fit-check article and opportunity for training and familiarizing technicians and build engineers. At the moment, Florida’s Starship lies in several large segments, including what appears to be the early stages of its first propellant tank bulkhead(s).

https://twitter.com/_TomCross_/status/1142886427887308800

Nevertheless, as partially demonstrated above, SpaceX’s Florida team is wasting no time at all. By all appearances, they are rapidly catching up with Texas, at least as long as Boca Chica’s Starhopper work is excluded. Given the benefit of the doubt, SpaceX Texas would likely be at a similar stage of Starship develop after a similar amount of time (~2-3 months), but much of the Boca Chica workforce has been focused intently on building, upgrading, and testing Starhopper, essentially a flying testbed for Raptor and BFR development.

To an extent, Florida’s orbital Starship prototype looks even more refined than its relatively rugged Texas cousin. Given an additional 1-2 months of nonstop work and a rate of progress similar to the last two months, it’s not out of the question that the Florida prototype will begin to seriously resemble a finished Starship. By all realistic accounts, some of the most difficult work will be found inside and around Starship’s finished aeroshell, though, and the process of outfitting avionics, plumbing the propellant/propulsion sections, and implementing hydraulic/actuation systems will be a huge amount of work.

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The top half of SpaceX’s South Texas orbital Starship prototype awaits for the completion of its business end, June 4th. (Tom Cross)

Even after Starship East is effectively complete, SpaceX will still face the seemingly immense challenge of transporting a massive spacecraft that weighs several dozen tons and measures 9m (30 ft) in diameter and 60m (200 ft) tall from Cocoa to Pad 39A, a full 20-30 miles of public roads and highways. In fact, the easiest method of transporting may involve getting Starship onto a barge in the nearby Indian River and towing it 100+ miles by water to the beach adjacent to Pad 39A. Regardless, neither method is going to be quick or easy and both will put on quite a show for local observers.

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Eric Ralph is Teslarati's senior spaceflight reporter and has been covering the industry in some capacity for almost half a decade, largely spurred in 2016 by a trip to Mexico to watch Elon Musk reveal SpaceX's plans for Mars in person. Aside from spreading interest and excitement about spaceflight far and wide, his primary goal is to cover humanity's ongoing efforts to expand beyond Earth to the Moon, Mars, and elsewhere.

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Tesla Full Self-Driving shows stunning maneuver in Europe to silence skeptics

In a striking demonstration of autonomous driving prowess, Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) system recently showcased its capabilities on the narrow rural roads of the Netherlands. Captured in two in-car videos, the system encountered scenarios that would challenge even the most experienced human drivers.

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla Full Self-Driving, fresh on the heels of its approval for operation on European roads for the first time, showed off a stunning maneuver that will certainly silence any skeptics on the continent.

Fresh off its approval in the Netherlands, Full Self-Driving is working toward a significant expansion into more parts of Europe.

In a striking demonstration of autonomous driving prowess, Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) system recently showcased its capabilities on the narrow rural roads of the Netherlands. Captured in two in-car videos, the system encountered scenarios that would challenge even the most experienced human drivers.

In the first clip, a wide tractor occupied more than half the lane on a tight two-way road. Rather than braking abruptly or forcing a collision risk, FSD smoothly edged the vehicle onto the adjacent bike path—using the extra space with precision—before seamlessly returning to the lane once clear.

The second clip was equally demanding: while overtaking a group of cyclists, an oncoming car approached at speed.

FSD maintained a safe, minimal buffer to the cyclists while timing the pass perfectly, avoiding any swerve or hesitation that could unsettle passengers or other road users.

This maneuver highlights FSD’s advanced spatial reasoning and predictive planning. On roads often under three meters wide, with no room for error, the system calculated available clearance in real time, incorporated shoulder and path geometry, and executed a controlled deviation without compromising safety.

It treated the bike path as a legitimate extension of navigable space, something many drivers might hesitate to do, while respecting Dutch road norms and cyclist priority.

Such feats align closely with a growing library of impressive FSD maneuvers documented on camera worldwide.

In urban Amsterdam, for instance, FSD has navigated the world’s densest cyclist environments, weaving through hundreds of unpredictable bike movements on canal-side streets with tram tracks and pedestrians.

One uncut drive showed it yielding smoothly at crossings, overtaking where needed, and even handling a near-perfect auto-park in a tight residential spot, demonstrating the same low-speed precision seen in the rural clips.

Teslas using FSD have tackled turbo roundabouts in the Netherlands, complex multi-lane circles notorious for geometry challenges, merging confidently while yielding to traffic. Similar clips depict smooth handling of construction zones, emergency vehicle pull-overs, and gated parking barriers, where the car stops precisely, waits for clearance, and proceeds without driver input.

Collectively, these examples illustrate FSD’s evolution toward handling the unpredictable.

The rural Netherlands maneuvers aren’t isolated. Instead, they reflect a pattern of spatial awareness, cyclist deference, and traffic anticipation seen from city streets to highways.

As FSD continues refining through real-world data, videos like this one are certainly building a compelling case for its readiness on Europe’s varied roads.

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Tesla utilizes its ‘Rave Cave’ for new awesome safety feature

Part of the massive interior overhaul of both the Model 3 “Highland” and Model Y “Juniper” was the addition of interior accent lighting to help bring out the mood of the vehicle, increase the customization of the interior, and to create a unique listening experience.

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Credit: Tesla | X

Tesla is utilizing its ‘Rave Cave’ for an awesome new safety feature that will arrive with the upcoming Spring Update for 2026.

Part of the massive interior overhaul of both the Model 3 “Highland” and Model Y “Juniper” was the addition of interior accent lighting to help bring out the mood of the vehicle, increase the customization of the interior, and to create a unique listening experience.

Tesla added a Sync Lights feature that will strobe the accent strips with the beat of the music.

It is one of the most unique and one of the coolest non-functional features of a Tesla, as it does not improve the driving of the vehicle, but makes it a cool and personal addition to the interior.

However, Tesla is going to take it one step further, as the Rave Cave lights will now be used for blind spot recognition. This feature will be added as the Spring 2026 Update starts to roll out.

Tesla writes:

“Accent lights now turn red when an object is in your blind spot and your turn signal is engaged, or when an approaching object is detected while parked.”

This neat new safety feature will now increase the likelihood of a driver, who is operating their Tesla manually, of seeing the blind spot warnings that are currently available on the A pillar and on the center touchscreen.

These new alerts will now warn drivers of cross traffic as they back out of a parking space with little to no visibility of what is coming. It is a great new addition that will only increase the safety of the vehicles, while also utilizing something that is already installed in these specific Model 3 and Model Y units.

The Model 3 and Model Y were the central focus of the Spring 2026 Update, especially considering the fact that the Model S and Model X are basically gone, with only a few hundred units left. Additionally, Tesla included new Immersive Sound and Car Visualization for the Model 3 and Model Y specifically in this new update.

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Tesla parked 50+ Cybercabs outside its Texas Factory with some crash tested

Dozens of Tesla Cybercabs have been spotted at Giga Texas crash testing facility ahead of launch.

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Tesla Cybercab fleet spotted at Gigafactory Texas [Credit: Joe Tegtmeyer)
Tesla Cybercab fleet spotted at Gigafactory Texas on April 13, 2026 [Credit: Joe Tegtmeyer)

Drone footage captured by longtime Giga Texas observer Joe Tegtmeyer shows over 50 units of Tesla Cybercab at the Austin factory campus, including several units clustered by Tesla’s on-site crash testing facility.

The outbound lot at Gigafactory Texas sits just outside the factory exit and serves as the primary staging area where finished vehicles are held before being loaded onto transport carriers or dispatched for validation testing. On any given day, the lot holds a mix of Model Y and Cybertruck units alongside the growing Tesla Cybercab fleet, as can be seen in the drone footage captured by Joe Tegtmeyer.

Tesla Cybercab fleet spotted at Gigafactory Texas [Credit: Joe Tegtmeyer)

Tesla Cybercab fleet spotted at Gigafactory Texas on April 13, 2026 [Credit: Joe Tegtmeyer)

Roughly 50 Cybercab units are visible across the campus, parked in tight organized rows. Most of the units visible still carry steering wheels and pedals, temporary additions Tesla included to satisfy current safety regulations while the vehicles accumulate real-world data ahead of full regulatory approval for a steering wheel-free design.

Tesla Cybercab fleet spotted at Gigafactory Texas [Credit: Joe Tegtmeyer)

Tesla Cybercab fleet spotted at Gigafactory Texas [Credit: Joe Tegtmeyer)

Tesla operates dedicated Crash Labs at both its Giga Texas and Fremont facilities that are purpose-built for controlled structural crash tests. Historically, automakers begin intensive crash testing roughly one to two months before volume production kicks off. The Cybertruck followed almost exactly that pattern. The Cybercab appears to be on the same track facility that we first saw back in October 2025.

Tesla Cybercab crash test units spotted at Gigafactory Texas [Credit: Joe Tegtmeyer)

Tesla Cybercab crash test units spotted at Gigafactory Texas [Credit: Joe Tegtmeyer)

The first production Cybercab rolled off the Giga Texas line on February 17, 2026. Volume production is now targeted for April. Musk previously wrote on X that “the early production rate will be agonizingly slow, but eventually end up being insanely fast,” and separately stated Tesla is targeting at least 2 million Cybercab units per year. Commercial robotaxi service in Austin is targeted for late 2026.

 

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