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SpaceX Starship factory and rocket prototypes weather Texas hurricane
SpaceX’s South Texas Starship factory and the latest full-scale rocket prototypes built there have managed to weather their first hurricane and tropical storm.
Known as Hurricane Hanna, the Gulf of Mexico weather system made landfall just a few dozen miles north of SpaceX’s facilities on July 25th with 90 mph (145 km/h) winds recorded. Thankfully, SpaceX’s rocket factory and Starship prototype SN5 were spared from the worst of Hanna, which quickly devolved into a less threatening tropical storm eight hours after landfall.
Still, they were subjected to heavy rain, gusty winds, low visibility, and the threat of much worse conditions if Hurricane Hanna were to veer south. Originally planned on Saturday, July 25th, SpaceX was forced to delay Starship SN5’s first full wet dress rehearsal (WDR) and Raptor engine static fire test, following a solid two weeks of delays unrelated to bad weather.
Weather, rocket, pad, and planet alignment willing, SpaceX may finally have a shot at static firing Starship SN5’s Raptor SN27 engine, installed more than three weeks ago. As of now, Tropical Storm Hanna continues to fade away as it travels west over South Texas and Mexico. Ironically, testing Starship during extreme weather events could actually be a useful activity for SpaceX, given that the launch rates it may eventually need to squeeze out of Super Heavy and Starship will all but necessitate all-weather launch capabilities.
Nevertheless, for early prototypes like SN5, testing during a major storm would do more harm than good by confounding critical data and observations needed to inform future tests and improve newer prototypes. Along those lines, Starship SN5 is now scheduled to attempt a WDR and static fire test no earlier than Monday, July 27th with a window stretching from 8am to 8pm CDT (UTC-5). There is still a chance of moderate rainfall and thunderstorms but Boca Chica should be clear of Hanna-related storm warnings by the time Starship’s test window opens.

Plans change and Starship SN5’s test plans have been exceptionally fluid, but if the rocket’s static fire goes off as planned on Monday and weather cooperates, there’s a chance that SpaceX will attempt to hop the full-scale prototype just a few days later. According to NASASpaceflight.com, prior to Hurricane Hanna, a rapid static fire and ~150m (~500 ft) hop debut was reportedly in order for Starship SN5.
Meanwhile, SpaceX and its contractors are in the midst of constructing a massive new vehicle assembly building (VAB; also known as a high bay) required for the imminent start of Super Heavy booster prototype assembly. Work is also well underway on the assembly of Starship SN8, an upgraded prototype that could be the first to receive a nosecone, aerodynamic control surfaces, fully functional header tanks, and three Raptor engines. Those facilities and hardware have also made it through Hurricane Hanna unscathed.
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Elon Musk
Elon Musk reveals date of Tesla Robotaxi’s first rides open to public
Tesla CEO Elon Musk continues to roll out new details regarding the Robotaxi launch that is expected to happen soon.

Tesla Robotaxi is set to launch in the coming days, but the first rides will be confined to those who receive invitations that the company sends out. However, CEO Elon Musk revealed the date that Tesla is aiming for when anyone in the general public will be able to call for a Robotaxi.
There has been quite a bit of information today about what appears to be an imminent launch of the Robotaxi platform. The first video of a Robotaxi was captured on a public road in Austin today, just one day after Tesla was added to the City of Austin’s list of licensed autonomous vehicle operators.
First Tesla driverless robotaxi spotted in the wild in Austin, TX
In the coming days, it is expected that Tesla will launch the Robotaxi platform in Austin to a select few. For now, Tesla is taking this ultra-conservative approach as it pertains to the rollout, citing safety precautions. It will be the first time Tesla has done this in public and offered it to people outside of the company.
It did launch a small, limited version of it to employees last month in Austin and the San Francisco Bay Area, but there was someone in the driver’s seat. Today’s video only had an occupant in the passenger seat.
People are eager to know: when will they be able to fetch a driverless Tesla Model Y Robotaxi in Austin for themselves? Musk finally answered the long-awaited question with a tentative date of June 22:
🚨 BREAKING: Elon Musk confirms public Robotaxi rides will tentatively begin on June 22
Safety remains the ultimate priority for Tesla with this cautious rollout https://t.co/Mw5kOzA9Sm
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) June 11, 2025
Musk cited that Tesla’s utmost priority is still safety and not necessarily the speed of rollout. The current plan seems to be to deploy it in a controlled and slow fashion until confidence is at an extremely high level. Musk seems to believe the rollout will go smoothly, as the date comes less than two weeks after the initial launch.
Anyone who has experienced Full Self-Driving for themselves knows what the cars are capable of. However, Tesla, at this point in time, still requires drivers to pay attention and remain ready to take over the wheel in case of an emergency. This will be a major step in the right direction for Tesla as it prepares to launch Robotaxi in Austin and slowly expand to surrounding areas.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk says Tesla Robotaxi launch will force companies to license Full Self-Driving
“The automakers keep being told that this isn’t real or that just buying some hardware from Nvidia will solve it. As Tesla robotaxis become widespread and their other solutions don’t work, they will naturally turn to us.”

Tesla CEO Elon Musk says the automaker’s Robotaxi platform launch later this month will essentially force other companies to license Full Self-Driving to achieve their own goals of achieving autonomy.
Musk’s statement comes as a video captured today showed the first Tesla Robotaxi test mules on public streets in Austin, Texas, just one day after the City officially listed the company as an autonomous vehicle operator.
A prediction by investing YouTube and Tesla community member Dave Lee stated that “at least one automaker by end of year” will license Full Self-Driving from the Musk-led company, as it will give rivals the confidence to use the software to run their own self-driving operations.
Lee detailed his theory by stating that the company that chooses to commit to FSD licensing will not be able to integrate the hardware and sell those units immediately. Instead, it will take two years or so to solve the engineering and design applications.
First Tesla driverless robotaxi spotted in the wild in Austin, TX
Musk revealed his true thoughts on other automakers’ attempts at vehicle autonomy, and said many are being told that Robotaxi is not real or that they can solve their problems with hardware orders to Nvidia.
He went on to say that companies will be forced to turn to Tesla at some point or another, because Robotaxi will be widespread and their solutions to figuring out an effective deployment will prove to be failures:
“The automakers keep being told that this isn’t real or that just buying some hardware from Nvidia will solve it. As Tesla robotaxis become widespread and their other solutions don’t work, they will naturally turn to us.”
The automakers keep being told that this isn’t real or that just buying some hardware from Nvidia will solve it.
As Tesla robotaxis become widespread and their other solutions don’t work, they will naturally turn to us.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 10, 2025
Musk has not been shy to respond to speculation regarding the video of the Robotaxi, which was shared on X earlier today. This is perhaps one of the more fiery things he revealed. He seems ultra-confident in what Tesla will prove and achieve in the near future with the launch of the Robotaxi platform.
Many believe it will be rolled out this month. Bloomberg reported recently that Tesla was internally aiming for June 12. The company has not directly responded to these rumors.
Tesla has discussed on several occasions that it is in talks with an automaker about licensing Full Self-Driving, but it has never revealed who. The company first revealed discussions with another automaker in early 2024 when Elon Musk said:
“We’re in conversations with one major automaker regarding licensing FSD. It really just becomes a case of having them use the same cameras and inference computer and licensing our software. Once it becomes obvious that if you don’t have this (FSD) in a car, nobody wants your car. It’s a smart car… The people don’t understand all cars will need to be smart cars, or you will not sell, or nobody would buy it. Once that becomes obvious, I think licensing becomes not optional.”
Tesla confirms it is in talks with major automaker for potential FSD licensing
Many, including us, suspected that Ford was the company that Tesla was speaking of due to Musk’s relationship with Jim Farley, which resulted in the legacy automaker being the first major car company to adopt Tesla’s North American Charging Standard (NACS), which gave them access to the Supercharging Network.
This catalyzed an onslaught of companies choosing to make the same move as Tesla had truly set itself apart in terms of charging infrastructure.
Companies may be forced to make a similar decision if it can make the same type of statement with the rollout of Robotaxi.
Elon Musk
Tesla CEO Elon Musk reveals new details about Robotaxi rollout
The first Tesla Robotaxi unit was spotted in Austin earlier today, and CEO Elon Musk is revealing some cool new details.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has revealed new details about the company’s relatively imminent rollout of the Robotaxi platform as the suspected launch date of June 12 continues to near.
Earlier today, the first video showing the first driverless Tesla Robotaxi in Austin was shared on X, just a day after the City officially listed the company as an autonomous vehicle operator on its website. Tesla is listed as a company in the “Testing” phase.
🚨 BREAKING: The first Tesla Robotaxi has been spotted in Austin!
It’s has the word “Robotaxi” inscribed on the side, and it’s very clear that there is nobody in the driver’s seat.
It does appear that someone is in the passenger’s seat. https://t.co/6BdTfd4B8p pic.twitter.com/dygWCeQ5kZ
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) June 10, 2025
The initial details of the Robotaxi are being revealed by Musk, who is carefully releasing small tidbits that seem to show the capabilities of the entire Tesla fleet, and not necessarily just the vehicles that will be involved in the initial rollout in Austin.
First Tesla driverless robotaxi spotted in the wild in Austin, TX
His first tidbit is one that many Tesla owners and fans will already know: many Teslas are capable of this driveless performance, but Full Self-Driving is not yet refined to the point where the software is quite ready to handle it. Current versions are robust, but not prepared for driverless navigation. The hardware, however, will enable Teslas to be Robotaxis, even if they’re already purchased by owners:
These are unmodified Tesla cars coming straight from the factory, meaning that every Tesla coming out of our factories is capable of unsupervised self-driving! https://t.co/n94ln0Uas6
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 10, 2025
This is one of the biggest advantages Tesla has over other vehicle makers. Simply put, the Over-the-Air software updates that will roll out to FSD users will eventually make their cars into Robotaxis as well.
However, Musk shed some details on the version of FSD that is being run in these new Robotaxis that were spotted. Musk said that the version these Robotaxis are running is a new version, but will soon “merge to main branch.”
There is also an even newer version that has four times the parameters as this newer version that the test-stage Robotaxis are using, but Musk admits that this needs significant refinement before it is released to the public.
It’s a new version of software, but will merge to main branch soon.
We have a more advanced model in alpha stage that has ~4X the params, but still requires a lot of polishing.
That’s probably ready for deploy in a few months.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 10, 2025
As of now, Tesla is simply teasing the actual launch date of the Robotaxi program, but Bloomberg reported earlier this month that it will occur on June 12.
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