News
SpaceX will transition all launches to Falcon 9 Block 5 rockets after next mission
SpaceX’s 13th reuse of a Falcon 9 booster marked the second-to-last orbital mission of older boosters before the rocket’s highly reusable Block 5 upgrade takes over all future commercial launches.
If only for the staggering rise of SpaceX’s program of reusable rockets, June 4’s Falcon 9 launch was novel and thrilling in part because its flight-proven booster was intentionally stripped of all reuse-related hardware to bestow as much performance as possible on the mission’s large geostationary communications satellite payload, named SES-12. While this practice of intentionally expending non-Block 5 flight-proven boosters after launch has actually been fairly common over the course of the last seven Falcon 9 reflights, excluding Falcon Heavy – SpaceX is, in essence, betting heavily on the viability and success of the rocket’s quasi-final Block 5 upgrade.
SpaceX’s second to last commercial launch with a non-Block 5 Falcon 9 was completed around 1 am EST June 4. It’s once flight-proven booster ended its life in the Atlantic soon after liftoff. (Tom Cross)
Following June 4’s SES-12 launch, after which Falcon 9 S1 (B1040, previously flown on the September 2017 launch of a classified X-37B spaceplane) arced down its final parabola into the Atlantic, SpaceX has just a single commercial launch of a Block 4 booster scheduled. In fact, that launch happens to be next up on the company’s manifest: currently no earlier than (NET) June 28, CRS-15 will see the same booster (B1045) that launched NASA’s TESS exoplanet observatory scarcely ten weeks prior send a refurbished Cargo Dragon to the International Space Station. After CRS-15, which will also see its booster expended in the Atlantic, just one flightworthy Block 4 rocket will remain in SpaceX’s fleet, and that Falcon 9 booster is understood to be undergoing refurbishment for its final reflight. That mission, however, is a suborbital demonstration designed to prove that SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft can wrest its human passengers out of harm’s way in the event of a launch vehicle failure during flight (SpaceX already proved it can accomplish the same task while the rocket is still on the launch pad in a 2015 demo).
https://twitter.com/_TomCross_/status/1003509362906853376
No turning back now
While a critical path for SpaceX’s future of reliably delivering crew to orbit, its suborbital nature makes categorically distinct from past and future Falcon launches, all of which have been conducted with the intent of placing payload(s) into Earth orbit. Thus we arrive back at B1045 and CRS-15, currently scheduled as both SpaceX’s next launch and the final orbital mission before Falcon 9/Heavy Block 5 becomes the company’s only operational route to space for at least the next two years, give or take half a year. It’s thus somewhat poetic that the booster tasked with CRS-15 will easily smash SpaceX’s previous record for refurbishment (135 days) by almost a factor of two, going from drone ship recovery to reflight in as few as 71 days. Whatever it becomes, that refurbishment record will likely be broken by the first Block 5 reflight, a trend that will almost certainly continue until SpaceX reaches Musk’s fabled 24-hour turnaround, perhaps before the end of next year.
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- A flight-proven Falcon 9, B1040, looking particularly well-done before its second and final launch on June 4. (Tom Cross)
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- SES-12’s Block 4 booster roars into the air on its final flight. (SpaceX)
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- Falcon 9 Block 5 completed its first launch on May 11, carrying the Bangabandhu-1 communications satellite to geostationary transfer orbit. (Tom Cross)
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- It may not immediately look like a major departure from past versions, but Block 5 could theoretically usher in 10-100 reflights of a single rocket booster. (SpaceX)
Extrapolating from the launch company’s recent history, the culmination of CRS-15 will potentially leave SpaceX with as few as two Falcon 9 Block 5 boosters as its entire flight-ready rocket fleet, despite anywhere from 12 to 16 launches remaining on the second half of the company’s 2018 manifest. Currently standing at six boosters produced in 2018, roughly eight to be completed before the end of the year per COO and President Gwynne Shotwell (in this case likely boosters B1048-1056), an achievement that would grow the ranks of the company’s fleet of new Block 5 boosters to ten total. But, assuming a core is delivered from the Hawthorne factory every month, SpaceX will need to reuse Block 5 boosters as early as July to prevent considerable delays to their 2018 manifest, delays that would undoubtedly push multiple missions into 2019.
Here’s to hoping that the Block 5 upgrade is as incredible of a success as SpaceX has designed it to be. Follow the Teslarati team for real-time updates, glimpses behind the scenes, and photos from Teslarati’s East and West Coast photographers.
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Elon Musk
What is Digital Optimus? The new Tesla and xAI project explained
At its core, Digital Optimus operates through a dual-process architecture inspired by human cognition.
Tesla and xAI announced their groundbreaking joint project, Digital Optimus, also nicknamed “Macrohard” in a humorous jab at Microsoft, earlier this week.
This software-based AI agent is designed to automate complex office workflows by observing and replicating human interactions with computers. As the first major outcome of Tesla’s $2 billion investment in xAI, it represents a powerful fusion of hardware efficiency and advanced reasoning.
At its core, Digital Optimus operates through a dual-process architecture inspired by human cognition.
Macrohard or Digital Optimus is a joint xAI-Tesla project, coming as part of Tesla’s investment agreement with xAI.
Grok is the master conductor/navigator with deep understanding of the world to direct digital Optimus, which is processing and actioning the past 5 secs of…
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 11, 2026
Tesla’s specialized AI acts as “System 1”—the fast, instinctive executor—processing the past five seconds of real-time computer screen video along with keyboard and mouse actions to perform immediate tasks.
xAI’s Grok model serves as “System 2,” the strategic “master conductor” or navigator, providing high-level reasoning, world understanding, and directional oversight, much like an advanced turn-by-turn navigation system.
When combined, the two can create a powerful AI-based assistant that can complete everything from accounting work to HR tasks.
Will Tesla join the fold? Predicting a triple merger with SpaceX and xAI
The system runs primarily on Tesla’s low-cost AI4 inference chip, minimizing expensive Nvidia resources from xAI for competitive, real-time performance.
Elon Musk described it as “the only real-time smart AI system” capable, in principle, of emulating the functions of entire companies, handling everything from accounting and HR to repetitive digital operations.
Timelines point to swift deployment. Announced just days ago, Musk expects Digital Optimus to be ready for user experience within about six months, targeting rollout around September 2026.
It will integrate into all AI4-equipped Tesla vehicles, enabling parked cars to handle office work during downtime. Millions of dedicated units are also planned for deployment at Supercharger stations, tapping into roughly 7 gigawatts of available power.
Oh and it works in all AI4-equipped cars, so your car can do office work for you when not driving.
We’re also deploying millions of dedicated Digital Optimus units in the field at Superchargers where we have ~7 gigawatts of available power.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 12, 2026
Digital Optimus directly supports Tesla’s broader autonomy strategy. It leverages the same end-to-end neural networks, computer vision, and real-time decision-making tech that power Full Self-Driving (FSD) software and the physical Optimus humanoid robot.
By repurposing idle vehicle compute and extending AI4 hardware beyond driving, the project scales Tesla’s autonomy ecosystem from roads to digital workspaces.
As a virtual counterpart to physical Optimus, it divides labor: software agents manage screen-based tasks while humanoid robots tackle physical ones, accelerating Tesla’s vision of general-purpose AI for productivity, Robotaxi fleets, and beyond.
In essence, Digital Optimus bridges Tesla’s vehicle and robotics autonomy with enterprise-scale AI, promising massive efficiency gains. No other company currently matches its real-time capabilities on such accessible hardware.
It really could be one of the most crucial developments Tesla and xAI begin to integrate, as it could revolutionize how people work and travel.
News
Tesla adds awesome new driving feature to Model Y
Tesla is rolling out a new “Comfort Braking” feature with Software Update 2026.8. The feature is exclusive to the new Model Y, and is currently unavailable for any other vehicle in the Tesla lineup.
Tesla is adding an awesome new driving feature to Model Y vehicles, effective on Juniper-updated models considered model year 2026 or newer.
Tesla is rolling out a new “Comfort Braking” feature with Software Update 2026.8. The feature is exclusive to the new Model Y, and is currently unavailable for any other vehicle in the Tesla lineup.
Tesla writes in the release notes for the feature:
“Your Tesla now provides a smoother feel as you come to a complete stop during routine braking.”
🚨 Tesla has added a new “Comfort Braking” update with 2026.8
“Your Tesla provides a smoother feel as you come to a complete stop during routine braking.” https://t.co/afqCpBSVeA pic.twitter.com/C6MRmzfzls
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) March 13, 2026
Interestingly, we’re not too sure what catalyzed Tesla to try to improve braking smoothness, because it hasn’t seemed overly abrupt or rough from my perspective. Although the brake pedal in my Model Y is rarely used due to Regenerative Braking, it seems Tesla wanted to try to make the ride comfort even smoother for owners.
There is always room for improvement, though, and it seems that there is a way to make braking smoother for passengers while the vehicle is coming to a stop.
This is far from the first time Tesla has attempted to improve its ride comfort through Over-the-Air updates, as it has rolled out updates to improve regenerative braking performance, handling while using Full Self-Driving, improvements to Steer-by-Wire to Cybertruck, and even recent releases that have combatted Active Road Noise.
Tesla holds a unique ability to change the functionality of its vehicles through software updates, which have come in handy for many things, including remedying certain recalls and shipping new features to the Full Self-Driving suite.
Tesla seems to have the most seamless OTA processes, as many automakers have the ability to ship improvements through a simple software update.
We’re really excited to test the update, so when we get an opportunity to try out Comfort Braking when it makes it to our Model Y.
News
Tesla finally brings a Robotaxi update that Android users will love
The breakdown of the software version shows that Tesla is actively developing an Android-compatible version of the Robotaxi app, and the company is developing Live Activities for Android.
Tesla is finally bringing an update of its Robotaxi platform that Android users will love — mostly because it seems like they will finally be able to use the ride-hailing platform that the company has had active since last June.
Based on a decompile of software version 26.2.0 of the Robotaxi app, Tesla looks to be ready to roll out access to Android users.
According to the breakdown, performed by Tesla App Updates, the company is preparing to roll out an Android version of the app as it is developing several features for that operating system.
🚨 It looks like Tesla is preparing to launch the Robotaxi app for Android users at last!
A decompile of v26.2.0 of the Robotaxi app shows some progress on the Android side for Robotaxi 🤖 🚗 https://t.co/mThmoYuVLy
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) March 13, 2026
The breakdown of the software version shows that Tesla is actively developing an Android-compatible version of the Robotaxi app, and the company is developing Live Activities for Android:
“Strings like notification_channel_robotaxid_trip_name and android_native_alicorn_eta_text show exactly how Tesla plans to replicate the iOS Live Activities experience. Instead of standard push alerts, Android users are getting a persistent, dynamically updating notification channel.”
This is a big step forward for several reasons. From a face-value perspective, Tesla is finally ready to offer Robotaxi to Android users.
The company has routinely prioritized Apple releases because there is a higher concentration of iPhone users in its ownership base. Additionally, the development process for Apple is simply less laborious.
Tesla is working to increase Android capabilities in its vehicles
Secondly, the Robotaxi rollout has been a typical example of “slowly then all at once.”
Tesla initially released Robotaxi access to a handful of media members and influencers. Eventually, it was expanded to more users, so that anyone using an iOS device could download the app and hail a semi-autonomous ride in Austin or the Bay Area.
Opening up the user base to Android users may show that Tesla is preparing to allow even more users to utilize its Robotaxi platform, and although it seems to be a few months away from only offering fully autonomous rides to anyone with app access, the expansion of the user base to an entirely different user base definitely seems like its a step in the right direction.
What is Digital Optimus? The new Tesla and xAI project explained
Tesla adds awesome new driving feature to Model Y
