News
SpaceX wins almost $1B to bring Starlink internet to half a million US homes, businesses
In a competition against hundreds of providers, many established, SpaceX’s Starlink constellation has come out of left field to win almost $1B from the FCC – funds that will help bring high-quality internet to hundreds of thousands of rural Americans.
Just 13 months after Starlink v1.0 flights began, SpaceX has successfully delivered almost 900 operational Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit (LEO) over the course of 15 dedicated Falcon 9 launches. At least 700 of those ~265 kg (~580 lb) spacecraft have completed orbit raising maneuvers with krypton-fueled electric thrusters and are truly operational, serving an ever-growing number of Starlink internet beta customers across the northern US and southern Canda.
Out of 180 winning FCC auction bidders, SpaceX appears to be just one of two space-based internet providers despite the entrenched and monopolistic nature of existing rural satellite internet companies like Viasat and HughesNet – the latter of which did secure about $1.25 million to subsidize services at ~3700 locations. The main reason: designed to operate in LEO to ensure extremely low latencies, only SpaceX’s Starlink constellation was deemed eligible to compete for the majority of Auction 904, which prioritized high speeds and low latency (ping).
All told, SpaceX appears to be second only to one other competitor – a Charter Communications subsidiary – for the number of service locations it won during the FCC’s latest rural broadband auction. Based on a brief scan and analysis of official spreadsheets released by the regulatory agency, Charter won around $1.22 billion to subsidize service for 1.05 million rural American “locations” (i.e. homes, businesses, community centers, etc.), followed by SpaceX ($885 million for ~643,000 locations), and the Rural Electric Cooperative Consortium ($1.1 billion for ~618,500 locations).
LTD Broadband took home the biggest monetary prize, winning $1.32 billion to subsidize service at ~528,000 locations. While it’s difficult to compare on a level playing field due to the varying degrees of subsidy determined necessary by the FCC on a roughly case-by-case basis, SpaceX appears to be as cost-efficient or cheaper than the other two-dozen or so competitors that secured 100,000+ locations, averaging around $138 per site per year. For the entire auction, the average annual subsidy will be $176 per location.
According to the FCC, the funds will be evenly dispersed over the next 10 years, hopefully ensuring high-quality internet access for 5.2 million unserved rural homes and businesses and positively impacting the lives and communities of at least 10-20 million rural Americans.
Additionally, thanks to a very competitive auction, the FCC wound up committing only $9.2 billion of a total $16 billion available for this “Phase I” rural auction. Combined with funds reserved for future auctions, the FCC says it will be able to commit at least $11.2 billion to an upcoming Phase II auction, which will focus on underserved (“partially-served”) areas to complement Phase I’s focus on unserved locations.
To be clear, the ~$88 million SpaceX will receive annually for the next decade will go directly towards lowering the barrier to entry and cost of service for hundreds of thousands of Americans that currently have little to no reliable internet access. The company will be required to regularly hit buildout milestones, proving to the FCC that it’s on track to serve all ~543,000 awarded locations within six years of the first payment – but the faster, the better.
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
