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SpaceX ‘Starlink router’ approved by the FCC
A critical subcomponent of SpaceX’s Starlink ‘user terminal’ has received FCC approval, shedding additional light on the antennas and hardware customers around the world will use to access the orbital internet.
Deemed SpaceX’s “Starlink Router” in FCC regulatory approvals published on July 14th, the documents reveal that user terminals will ship to customers with a WiFi router – possibly designed and built by SpaceX itself – in the box. Public comments on social media after the details broke have quickly revealed that many prospective customers don’t understand why SpaceX would include a WiFi router – a common, off-the-shelf consumer device many millions of households likely already own – as part of the antenna.
Comments made by CEO Elon Musk and other SpaceX executives over the last year or so help to explain the reason behind that. In a word: simplicity.
Musk has repeatedly noted that Starlink user terminals will be extremely easy to set up out of the box. To gain access to the network, customers will simply have to unbox the antenna, install it anywhere that offers a clear view of the sky, and plug it into a power source with a single cable.
Of course, things are never as simple as they might seem, and installing a Starlink antenna is going to be a bit more complicated – although still extremely easy, by all appearances. The July 14th FCC filings and some not-yet-published details gleaned from SpaceX’s Starlink.com website offer some useful insight.
Customers will have four options for installing the antenna, taking between five minutes and three hours to complete. Once the antenna is secured, customers will plug in a single cable into the terminal and route that cable to a convenient location inside the building that needs service. Based on SpaceX’s recent FCC filings, that cable will plug into a Starlink router capable of delivering power over ethernet (PoE) to the antenna, allowing a single cable to deliver power and connectivity. The router, of course, will have to plug into a wall outlet, meaning that the user terminally technically needs two cables, but that distinction is splitting hairs.
Once connected to power and secured to a roof, fence, yard, or other miscellaneous object or location with a clear view of the sky, the Starlink user terminal will use built-in motors to point itself in the right direction, while the antenna itself – a flat-panel phased array – will likely be able to electronically steer itself for fine-tuning and satellite tracking. Thanks to the included WiFi router, customers will likely be able to simply connect to the user terminal to complete any necessary setup tasks like signing into a Starlink account or changing the network name and password.
SpaceX will almost certainly allow more savvy customers to connect the Starlink user terminal to an existing WiFi router or home network, as chances are that the Starlink router will be relatively simple. That would allow SpaceX to keep the base user terminal as simple and affordable as possible while still allowing customers with more complex needs to supply their own advanced networking equipment.
For now, SpaceX continues to target Summer 2020 for its first closed and public Starlink beta tests, in which prospective customers will be loaned Starlink user terminals and given free service in return for signing a non-disclosure agreement and providing feedback. SpaceX’s next Starlink launch has been chronically delayed since mid-June but is expected to launch no earlier than July 20-25. Barring more serious delays, SpaceX has another 5-10 Starlink launches planned for the second half of 2020.
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Starlink passes 9 million active customers just weeks after hitting 8 million
The milestone highlights the accelerating growth of Starlink, which has now been adding over 20,000 new users per day.
SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet service has continued its rapid global expansion, surpassing 9 million active customers just weeks after crossing the 8 million mark.
The milestone highlights the accelerating growth of Starlink, which has now been adding over 20,000 new users per day.
9 million customers
In a post on X, SpaceX stated that Starlink now serves over 9 million active users across 155 countries, territories, and markets. The company reached 8 million customers in early November, meaning it added roughly 1 million subscribers in under seven weeks, or about 21,275 new users on average per day.
“Starlink is connecting more than 9M active customers with high-speed internet across 155 countries, territories, and many other markets,” Starlink wrote in a post on its official X account. SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell also celebrated the milestone on X. “A huge thank you to all of our customers and congrats to the Starlink team for such an incredible product,” she wrote.
That growth rate reflects both rising demand for broadband in underserved regions and Starlink’s expanding satellite constellation, which now includes more than 9,000 low-Earth-orbit satellites designed to deliver high-speed, low-latency internet worldwide.
Starlink’s momentum
Starlink’s momentum has been building up. SpaceX reported 4.6 million Starlink customers in December 2024, followed by 7 million by August 2025, and 8 million customers in November. Independent data also suggests Starlink usage is rising sharply, with Cloudflare reporting that global web traffic from Starlink users more than doubled in 2025, as noted in an Insider report.
Starlink’s momentum is increasingly tied to SpaceX’s broader financial outlook. Elon Musk has said the satellite network is “by far” the company’s largest revenue driver, and reports suggest SpaceX may be positioning itself for an initial public offering as soon as next year, with valuations estimated as high as $1.5 trillion. Musk has also suggested in the past that Starlink could have its own IPO in the future.
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NVIDIA Director of Robotics: Tesla FSD v14 is the first AI to pass the “Physical Turing Test”
After testing FSD v14, Fan stated that his experience with FSD felt magical at first, but it soon started to feel like a routine.
NVIDIA Director of Robotics Jim Fan has praised Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (Supervised) v14 as the first AI to pass what he described as a “Physical Turing Test.”
After testing FSD v14, Fan stated that his experience with FSD felt magical at first, but it soon started to feel like a routine. And just like smartphones today, removing it now would “actively hurt.”
Jim Fan’s hands-on FSD v14 impressions
Fan, a leading researcher in embodied AI who is currently solving Physical AI at NVIDIA and spearheading the company’s Project GR00T initiative, noted that he actually was late to the Tesla game. He was, however, one of the first to try out FSD v14.
“I was very late to own a Tesla but among the earliest to try out FSD v14. It’s perhaps the first time I experience an AI that passes the Physical Turing Test: after a long day at work, you press a button, lay back, and couldn’t tell if a neural net or a human drove you home,” Fan wrote in a post on X.
Fan added: “Despite knowing exactly how robot learning works, I still find it magical watching the steering wheel turn by itself. First it feels surreal, next it becomes routine. Then, like the smartphone, taking it away actively hurts. This is how humanity gets rewired and glued to god-like technologies.”
The Physical Turing Test
The original Turing Test was conceived by Alan Turing in 1950, and it was aimed at determining if a machine could exhibit behavior that is equivalent to or indistinguishable from a human. By focusing on text-based conversations, the original Turing Test set a high bar for natural language processing and machine learning.
This test has been passed by today’s large language models. However, the capability to converse in a humanlike manner is a completely different challenge from performing real-world problem-solving or physical interactions. Thus, Fan introduced the Physical Turing Test, which challenges AI systems to demonstrate intelligence through physical actions.
Based on Fan’s comments, Tesla has demonstrated these intelligent physical actions with FSD v14. Elon Musk agreed with the NVIDIA executive, stating in a post on X that with FSD v14, “you can sense the sentience maturing.” Musk also praised Tesla AI, calling it the best “real-world AI” today.
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Tesla AI team burns the Christmas midnight oil by releasing FSD v14.2.2.1
The update was released just a day after FSD v14.2.2 started rolling out to customers.
Tesla is burning the midnight oil this Christmas, with the Tesla AI team quietly rolling out Full Self-Driving (Supervised) v14.2.2.1 just a day after FSD v14.2.2 started rolling out to customers.
Tesla owner shares insights on FSD v14.2.2.1
Longtime Tesla owner and FSD tester @BLKMDL3 shared some insights following several drives with FSD v14.2.2.1 in rainy Los Angeles conditions with standing water and faded lane lines. He reported zero steering hesitation or stutter, confident lane changes, and maneuvers executed with precision that evoked the performance of Tesla’s driverless Robotaxis in Austin.
Parking performance impressed, with most spots nailed perfectly, including tight, sharp turns, in single attempts without shaky steering. One minor offset happened only due to another vehicle that was parked over the line, which FSD accommodated by a few extra inches. In rain that typically erases road markings, FSD visualized lanes and turn lines better than humans, positioning itself flawlessly when entering new streets as well.
“Took it up a dark, wet, and twisty canyon road up and down the hill tonight and it went very well as to be expected. Stayed centered in the lane, kept speed well and gives a confidence inspiring steering feel where it handles these curvy roads better than the majority of human drivers,” the Tesla owner wrote in a post on X.
Tesla’s FSD v14.2.2 update
Just a day before FSD v14.2.2.1’s release, Tesla rolled out FSD v14.2.2, which was focused on smoother real-world performance, better obstacle awareness, and precise end-of-trip routing. According to the update’s release notes, FSD v14.2.2 upgrades the vision encoder neural network with higher resolution features, enhancing detection of emergency vehicles, road obstacles, and human gestures.
New Arrival Options also allowed users to select preferred drop-off styles, such as Parking Lot, Street, Driveway, Parking Garage, or Curbside, with the navigation pin automatically adjusting to the ideal spot. Other refinements include pulling over for emergency vehicles, real-time vision-based detours for blocked roads, improved gate and debris handling, and Speed Profiles for customized driving styles.
Starlink passes 9 million active customers just weeks after hitting 8 million
NVIDIA Director of Robotics: Tesla FSD v14 is the first AI to pass the “Physical Turing Test”
