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Suspect charged in connection with Tesla New Mexico arson
Another suspect has been charged in connection with the vandalism of a Tesla store—this time in New Mexico.
Authorities have arrested and charged a suspect in connection with a firebombing attack on a Tesla store in New Mexico, amidst a larger wave of vandalism attempts targeting the company’s vehicles and retail locations.
On Monday, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel announced that a suspect had been arrested in relation to a pair of firebombing attempts on Tesla’s Albuquerque store, saying that authorities would attempt to seek up to 40 years in prison for the suspect.
Later in the day, the Albuquerque resident, 40-year-old Jamison Wagner, had officially been charged related to separate fires at the Tesla store on February 9 and at a nearby Republican Party office on March 30, according to a report Bloomberg. The suspect is charged with two counts of malicious destruction of property by fire or explosives.
“We have made an arrest in connection to the February firebombing of a New Mexico Tesla dealership and the March attack on the New Mexico Republican Party Headquarters,” Bondi wrote in a post on X. “We will be prosecuting to the fullest extent of the law. We are seeking up to 40 years in prison—no negotiating.”
🚨 Elon Musk announces the measures Tesla is taking to fight the vandalism that has been going on at stores across the country https://t.co/rAZzbzLayQ
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) March 20, 2025
READ MORE ON TESLA VANDALISM: Tesla attacks get FBI task force to squash the acts of ‘domestic terrorism’
Patel went on to say in his own post that evidence recovered at the crime scene suggested that the arrest, made on Saturday, prevented further arson attempts.
The February attack involved two Tesla vehicles that had been set on fire, along with graffiti saying “Tesla Nazi Inc,” “Die Elon,” and drawings of swastikas, court documents show.
After gaining a search warrant for Wagner’s home, Federal investigators discovered evidence that linked him to both the Tesla store attack and the Republican headquarters attack, including incendiary devices and spray paint identified as the graffiti at the crime scenes.
The news follows a series of vandalism targeting Tesla stores in the U.S. and around the world, in response to Elon Musk’s controversial involvement with the administration of President Donald Trump.
Over the past few months, Bondi, Patel, Musk, and the Trump administration have repeatedly vowed to prosecute offenders to the fullest extent of the law in the past several weeks, along with noting that the attacks would be considered “domestic terrorism.”
In late March, authorities charged another vandal in connection with a Las Vegas repair center fire, concluding that the alleged attacker had used Molotov cocktails to set the building and five vehicles on fire. The same week, another 17 cars at a Tesla store in Rome, Italy were set on fire, while the country’s anti-terror police unit, the General Investigations and Special Operations Division, known as DIGOS, continues to investigate how the fire began.
Last Tuesday, Tesla announced that the company was working with the FBI to investigate an explosion at a Supercharger in Lacey, Washington. While a suspect hasn’t been arrested, authorities and users online have since been circulating photos from surrounding security footage to attempt to identify a man who is now wanted by police in connection with the attack.
This Tesla vandal caused thousands in damage, but she was let off the hook: Here’s why
Elon Musk
Tesla’s Elon Musk: 10 billion miles needed for safe Unsupervised FSD
As per the CEO, roughly 10 billion miles of training data are required due to reality’s “super long tail of complexity.”
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has provided an updated estimate for the training data needed to achieve truly safe unsupervised Full Self-Driving (FSD).
As per the CEO, roughly 10 billion miles of training data are required due to reality’s “super long tail of complexity.”
10 billion miles of training data
Musk comment came as a reply to Apple and Rivian alum Paul Beisel, who posted an analysis on X about the gap between tech demonstrations and real-world products. In his post, Beisel highlighted Tesla’s data-driven lead in autonomy, and he also argued that it would not be easy for rivals to become a legitimate competitor to FSD quickly.
“The notion that someone can ‘catch up’ to this problem primarily through simulation and limited on-road exposure strikes me as deeply naive. This is not a demo problem. It is a scale, data, and iteration problem— and Tesla is already far, far down that road while others are just getting started,” Beisel wrote.
Musk responded to Beisel’s post, stating that “Roughly 10 billion miles of training data is needed to achieve safe unsupervised self-driving. Reality has a super long tail of complexity.” This is quite interesting considering that in his Master Plan Part Deux, Elon Musk estimated that worldwide regulatory approval for autonomous driving would require around 6 billion miles.
FSD’s total training miles
As 2025 came to a close, Tesla community members observed that FSD was already nearing 7 billion miles driven, with over 2.5 billion miles being from inner city roads. The 7-billion-mile mark was passed just a few days later. This suggests that Tesla is likely the company today with the most training data for its autonomous driving program.
The difficulties of achieving autonomy were referenced by Elon Musk recently, when he commented on Nvidia’s Alpamayo program. As per Musk, “they will find that it’s easy to get to 99% and then super hard to solve the long tail of the distribution.” These sentiments were echoed by Tesla VP for AI software Ashok Elluswamy, who also noted on X that “the long tail is sooo long, that most people can’t grasp it.”
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Tesla earns top honors at MotorTrend’s SDV Innovator Awards
MotorTrend’s SDV Awards were presented during CES 2026 in Las Vegas.
Tesla emerged as one of the most recognized automakers at MotorTrend’s 2026 Software-Defined Vehicle (SDV) Innovator Awards.
As could be seen in a press release from the publication, two key Tesla employees were honored for their work on AI, autonomy, and vehicle software. MotorTrend’s SDV Awards were presented during CES 2026 in Las Vegas.
Tesla leaders and engineers recognized
The fourth annual SDV Innovator Awards celebrate pioneers and experts who are pushing the automotive industry deeper into software-driven development. Among the most notable honorees for this year was Ashok Elluswamy, Tesla’s Vice President of AI Software, who received a Pioneer Award for his role in advancing artificial intelligence and autonomy across the company’s vehicle lineup.
Tesla also secured recognition in the Expert category, with Lawson Fulton, a staff Autopilot machine learning engineer, honored for his contributions to Tesla’s driver-assistance and autonomous systems.
Tesla’s software-first strategy
While automakers like General Motors, Ford, and Rivian also received recognition, Tesla’s multiple awards stood out given the company’s outsized role in popularizing software-defined vehicles over the past decade. From frequent OTA updates to its data-driven approach to autonomy, Tesla has consistently treated vehicles as evolving software platforms rather than static products.
This has made Tesla’s vehicles very unique in their respective sectors, as they are arguably the only cars that objectively get better over time. This is especially true for vehicles that are loaded with the company’s Full Self-Driving system, which are getting progressively more intelligent and autonomous over time. The majority of Tesla’s updates to its vehicles are free as well, which is very much appreciated by customers worldwide.
Elon Musk
Judge clears path for Elon Musk’s OpenAI lawsuit to go before a jury
The decision maintains Musk’s claims that OpenAI’s shift toward a for-profit structure violated early assurances made to him as a co-founder.
A U.S. judge has ruled that Elon Musk’s lawsuit accusing OpenAI of abandoning its founding nonprofit mission can proceed to a jury trial.
The decision maintains Musk’s claims that OpenAI’s shift toward a for-profit structure violated early assurances made to him as a co-founder. These claims are directly opposed by OpenAI.
Judge says disputed facts warrant a trial
At a hearing in Oakland, U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers stated that there was “plenty of evidence” suggesting that OpenAI leaders had promised that the organization’s original nonprofit structure would be maintained. She ruled that those disputed facts should be evaluated by a jury at a trial in March rather than decided by the court at this stage, as noted in a Reuters report.
Musk helped co-found OpenAI in 2015 but left the organization in 2018. In his lawsuit, he argued that he contributed roughly $38 million, or about 60% of OpenAI’s early funding, based on assurances that the company would remain a nonprofit dedicated to the public benefit. He is seeking unspecified monetary damages tied to what he describes as “ill-gotten gains.”
OpenAI, however, has repeatedly rejected Musk’s allegations. The company has stated that Musk’s claims were baseless and part of a pattern of harassment.
Rivalries and Microsoft ties
The case unfolds against the backdrop of intensifying competition in generative artificial intelligence. Musk now runs xAI, whose Grok chatbot competes directly with OpenAI’s flagship ChatGPT. OpenAI has argued that Musk is a frustrated commercial rival who is simply attempting to slow down a market leader.
The lawsuit also names Microsoft as a defendant, citing its multibillion-dollar partnerships with OpenAI. Microsoft has urged the court to dismiss the claims against it, arguing there is no evidence it aided or abetted any alleged misconduct. Lawyers for OpenAI have also pushed for the case to be thrown out, claiming that Musk failed to show sufficient factual basis for claims such as fraud and breach of contract.
Judge Gonzalez Rogers, however, declined to end the case at this stage, noting that a jury would also need to consider whether Musk filed the lawsuit within the applicable statute of limitations. Still, the dispute between Elon Musk and OpenAI is now headed for a high-profile jury trial in the coming months.
Tesla’s Elon Musk: 10 billion miles needed for safe Unsupervised FSD
Tesla earns top honors at MotorTrend’s SDV Innovator Awards
