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SpaceX moves next high-altitude Starship to launch pad after fixing fall damage
Update: Right on schedule, SpaceX rolled Starship serial number 9 (SN9) out of its ‘high bay’ assembly roost and transported the 50-meter-tall (~165 ft) stainless steel rocket to a launch pad about a mile down the road.
Wasting no time at all after having preemptively delivered a large crane from factory to pad the day prior, SpaceX began the process of lifting and installing Starship SN9 on one of two simple launch mounts less than three hours after arrival and began securing the rocket to the stand less than an hour after that. As discussed below, it’s nothing short of spectacular (and possibly unprecedented) that Starship SN9 was a victim of a workstand collapse, suffered some damage as a result, had that damage repaired or parts replaced, and was ready to roll to the launch pad to start pre-launch testing within a span of eleven days.
Additionally, SN9’s arrival means that SpaceX has now delivered a second complete Starship less than two weeks after Starship SN8 became the first full-size prototype to launch to high altitude atop multiple Raptor engines and skydive back to Earth. With the landing pad yet to be fully cleared after that launch debut, the crash-landed wreckage of SN8’s nose is even visible behind Starship SN9 in unofficial coverage of the new rocket’s pad transport and launch mount installation. As of December 22nd, SpaceX has one more road closure scheduled on Dec 23, followed by a trio from 8 am to 5 pm CST (UTC-6) from Dec 28-30. Stay tuned for updates as SpaceX prepares the second full-size Starship ever for tank proof and static fire testing!
A handful of days after a workstand collapse threatened to end SpaceX’s next high-altitude Starship before it could leave the cradle, the rocket appears to have shrugged off whatever damage was caused with ease.
On the morning of December 11th and less than 24 hours after SpaceX investors and VIPs like COO Gwynne Shotwell and CEO Elon Musk were standing almost underneath the rocket, an unknown issue cause Starship SN9’s workstand to partially collapse. Seemingly through sheer luck, the part of the circular stand that collapsed was towards the corner of the ‘high bay’ building housing SN9, causing the rocket to tip around five degrees before colliding with the wall’s steel frame.
Again, by some stroke of luck, the same angle of Starship SN9’s fall that prevented the rocket from tipping over onto Super Heavy’s in-work tank section (with workers possibly inside) seemingly allowed its flaps to absorb the bulk of that impact. One of two pairs used to keep the ship steady during a skydiver-like freefall maneuver, SN9’s forward and aft starboard flaps suffered obvious damage, perhaps unintentionally functioning like the crumple zones designed to protect passengers during car crashes.
Aside from one or two subtle dents caused by the thoroughly off-axis stresses, the rest of the fully-assembled vehicle remained visibly untouched, though it was a near-complete unknown if Starship was capable of surviving such an ordeal. For 99% of the world’s rockets, almost all of which are either built out of aluminum or carbon fiber, tipping from a vertical position into a steel wall at anything less than a snail’s pace would likely be the end of any normal propellant tank – probably up to and including even SpaceX’s own reusable Falcon boosters. At a minimum, extensive repairs would be required.
On December 20th, nine days after the incident and six days after a crane lifted SN9 back into a stable position, SpaceX quietly replaced the Starship’s crumpled forward flap after having removed both damaged flaps in the days prior. The installation of that replacement flap – possibly taken from Starship SN10’s nose – all but confirmed a best-case scenario, as it would be hard to remove the damaged hardware and install a new flap so quickly if the underlying hinge and mounting mechanisms had been damaged in the fall. If only the aft – but not forward – flap mechanism was somehow damaged, it would also make little sense to install a new forward flap.
Meanwhile, in another kind of encouraging sign, SpaceX moved the crane needed to lift Starships onto the launch mount from the build site to the launch pad on December 21st – right on schedule. It’s extremely unlikely that SpaceX would complete that move unless it was confident that a Starship prototype would be ready to roll to the launch pad, further implying that Starship SN9 really has shrugged off its workplace accident after less than two weeks of delays. Stay tuned for updates – road closures that could be used to transport SN9 are still in place from around 8 am to 5 pm CST on December 22nd and 23rd.
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Tesla intertwines FSD with in-house Insurance for attractive incentive
Every mile logged under FSD now carries a documented financial value—lower risk, lower cost—based on Tesla’s internal driving data rather than external crash statistics alone.
Tesla intertwined its Full Self-Driving (Supervised) suite with its in-house Insurance initiative in an effort to offer an attractive incentive to drivers.
Tesla announced that its new Safety Score 3.0 will automatically have a perfect score of 100 with every mile driven with Full Self-Driving (Supervised) enabled.
The change is designed to boost customers’ average safety scores and deliver noticeably lower monthly premiums.
The move marks the clearest link yet between Tesla’s autonomous driving technology and its proprietary insurance product. Tesla Insurance already relies on real-time vehicle data—such as acceleration, braking, following distance, and speed—to calculate a Safety Score between 0 and 100. Higher scores have long translated into cheaper rates.
Under the previous system, however, even brief manual interventions could drag down the average, frustrating owners who rely heavily on FSD. Version 3.0 eliminates that penalty for supervised autonomous miles, effectively treating FSD-driven segments as the safest possible driving behavior.
The incentive is immediate and financial. Drivers who keep FSD engaged for the majority of their trips will see their overall score rise, potentially shaving hundreds of dollars off annual premiums.
Tesla framed the update as a direct response to customer feedback, many of whom had complained that the old scoring model punished the very behavior it was meant to encourage.
For now, the program applies only to new policies in six states: Indiana, Tennessee, Texas, Arizona, Virginia, and Illinois.
Existing policyholders are not yet included, a point that drew swift questions from the Tesla community. Many owners in other states, including California and Georgia, expressed hope that the benefit would expand nationwide soon.
The announcement arrives as Tesla continues to roll out FSD Supervised updates and push for regulatory approval of more advanced autonomy. By tying insurance savings directly to FSD usage, the company is putting its own actuarial weight behind the technology’s safety claims.
Every mile logged under FSD now carries a documented financial value—lower risk, lower cost—based on Tesla’s internal driving data rather than external crash statistics alone.
Tesla has not disclosed exact premium reductions or the full rollout timeline beyond the six launch states.
Still, the message is clear: the more drivers trust FSD Supervised, the more Tesla Insurance will reward them. In an era when legacy insurers remain cautious about autonomous tech, Tesla is betting that its own data will prove the safest miles are the ones driven hands-free.
Elon Musk
Tesla finalizes AI5 chip design, Elon Musk makes bold claim on capability
The Tesla CEO’s words mark a strategic shift. Tesla has long emphasized software-hardware co-design, squeezing maximum performance from every transistor. Musk previously described AI5 as optimized for edge inference in both Robotaxi and Optimus.
Tesla has finalized its chip design for AI5, as Elon Musk confirmed today that the new chip has reached the tape-out stage, the final step before mass production.
But in a brief reply on X, Musk clarified Tesla’s AI hardware roadmap, essentially confirming that the new chip will not be utilized for being “enough to achieve much better than human safety for FSD.”
He said that AI4 is enough to do that.
Instead, the AI5 chip will be focused on Tesla’s big-time projects for the future: Optimus and supercomputer clusters.
Musk thanked TSMC and Samsung for production support, noting that AI5 could become “one of the most produced AI chips ever.” Yet, the key pivot came in his direct answer: vehicles no longer need the bleeding-edge silicon.
And thank you to @TaiwanSemi_TSC and @Samsung for your support in bringing this chip to production! It will be one of most produced AI chips ever.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 15, 2026
Existing AI4 hardware, which is already deployed in hundreds of thousands of HW4-equipped Teslas, delivers safety metrics superior to human drivers for Full Self-Driving. AI5 will instead accelerate Optimus robot development and massive Dojo-style training clusters.
The Tesla CEO’s words mark a strategic shift. Tesla has long emphasized software-hardware co-design, squeezing maximum performance from every transistor. Musk previously described AI5 as optimized for edge inference in both Robotaxi and Optimus.
Now, with AI4 proving sufficient, the company avoids costly retrofits across its fleet while redirecting next-generation compute toward higher-value applications: dexterous robots and exponential training scale.
But is it reasonable to assume AI4 enables unsupervised self-driving? Yes, but with important caveats.
On the hardware side, the claim is credible. Tesla’s FSD stack runs end-to-end neural networks trained on billions of miles of real-world data. Internal safety data reportedly shows AI4-equipped vehicles already outperforming average human drivers by a significant margin in controlled metrics (collision avoidance, reaction time, edge-case handling).
Dual-redundant AI4 chips provide ample headroom for the driving task, leaving bandwidth for future model improvements without new silicon. Musk’s assertion aligns with Tesla’s pattern of over-provisioning compute early, then optimizing ruthlessly, exactly as HW3 once sufficed before HW4 scaled further.
Optimus and our supercomputer clusters.
AI4 is enough to achieve much better than human safety for FSD.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 15, 2026
Unsupervised autonomy, meaning Level 4 or higher, is not solely a compute problem. Regulatory approval remains the primary gate.
Even if AI4 achieves “much better than human” safety statistically, agencies like the NHTSA demand exhaustive validation, liability frameworks, and public trust.
Tesla’s supervised FSD has shown rapid gains in recent versions, yet real-world edge cases, like construction zones, emergency vehicles, and adverse weather, still require driver intervention in many jurisdictions. Competitors like Waymo operate limited unsupervised fleets, but only in geofenced areas with extensive mapping. Tesla’s vision-only, fleet-scale approach is more ambitious—and harder to certify globally.
In short, Musk’s post is both pragmatic and bullish. AI4 is likely capable of unsupervised FSD from a technical standpoint. Whether regulators and consumers agree, and how quickly, will determine if Tesla’s bet pays off.
The company’s capital-efficient path keeps existing cars relevant while pouring future compute into robots. If the safety data holds, unsupervised autonomy could arrive sooner than many expect.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk signals expansion of Tesla’s unique side business
Long envisioning the Tesla Diner as more than a charging stop, Musk has clearly adopted the idea that the Supercharger and Restaurant combo is a good thing for the company to have. It’s a blend of classic American drive-in culture with futuristic Tesla flair, complete with a 1950s-inspired design, movie screens, and on-site dining.
Elon Musk has signaled an expansion of Tesla’s unique side business, something that really has nothing to do with cars or spaceships, but fans of the company have truly adopted it as just another one of its awesome ventures.
Musk confirmed on Wednesday that Tesla would build a new Diner location in Palo Alto, Northern California. After hinting last October that it “probably makes sense to open one near our Giga Texas HQ in Austin and engineering HQ in Palo Alto,” it seems one of those locations is being set into motion.
Sure
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 15, 2026
Long envisioning the Tesla Diner as more than a charging stop, Musk has clearly adopted the idea that the Supercharger and Restaurant combo is a good thing for the company to have. It’s a blend of classic American drive-in culture with futuristic Tesla flair, complete with a 1950s-inspired design, movie screens, and on-site dining.
He first floated broader expansion plans shortly after the LA opening in July 2025, noting that if the prototype succeeded, Tesla would roll out similar venues in major cities worldwide and along long-distance Supercharger routes.
Earlier hints included a confirmed second site at Starbase in Texas, tied to SpaceX operations, underscoring the Diner’s role in enhancing Tesla’s ecosystem behind vehicles.
The Los Angeles location on Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood has served as a high-profile test case. Opened in July 2025 at 7001 Santa Monica Blvd., it features the world’s largest urban Supercharging station with 80 V4 stalls open to all NACS-compatible EVs, over 250 dining seats, rooftop views, and 24/7 service.
The retro-futuristic building replaced a former Shakey’s and quickly became a destination. Tesla reported selling 50,000 burgers in the first 72 days—an average of over 700 daily—drawing crowds with Cybertruck-shaped packaging, breakfast extensions until 2 p.m., and movie screenings.
Palo Alto stands out as a logical next step for several reasons. As Tesla’s longstanding engineering headquarters in the heart of Silicon Valley, the city is home to thousands of Tesla employees, engineers, and executives who could benefit from a convenient, branded gathering spot.
The area boasts high EV adoption rates, dense tech talent, and heavy traffic along key corridors, making a large Supercharger-diner an ideal fit for both daily commuters and long-haul travelers.
Proximity to Stanford University and the innovation ecosystem would amplify its appeal, potentially serving as a showcase for Tesla’s vision of integrated mobility and lifestyle experiences. It could be a great way for Tesla to recruit new talent from one of the country’s best universities.
If Tesla and Musk decide to move forward with a Palo Alto diner, it would build directly on the LA prototype’s momentum while addressing Musk’s earlier calls for expansion near core Tesla hubs.
Whether it materializes as a full confirmation or evolves from these hints remains to be seen, but the pattern is clear: Tesla is testing ways to make charging stops memorable. For EV drivers and enthusiasts alike, a Silicon Valley outpost could blend cutting-edge tech with nostalgic comfort, further embedding Tesla into everyday culture. As Musk’s comments suggest, the future of the Diner looks promising.
Tesla intertwines FSD with in-house Insurance for attractive incentive
Tesla finalizes AI5 chip design, Elon Musk makes bold claim on capability
