Lifestyle
Tesla’s 16-year anniversary: A tale of trials, tribulations, and grit that continues to this day
Sixteen years ago, engineer-entrepreneurs Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning incorporated a company that was, for the most part, a legitimate long shot. Named Tesla Motors, the company occupied an office that had three desks and two small rooms in a decrepit building situated at 845 Oak Grove Avenue in Menlo Park, CA. The duo had a crazy business idea: they wanted to make electric cars, and they wanted to turn it into a business. At the time, the idea was practically insane, as EVs were not even part of any legitimate conversations in the auto market. Tarpenning and Eberhard had a concept for a Lotus-based electric sports car, but finding an investor who could pony up the $7 million required to build a prototype was insanely challenging.
Tesla’s Roots
During this time, Elon Musk was still busy looking into the idea of sending mice on a journey into space. Fortunately for Eberhard and Tarpenning, they soon got word that Musk, a multimillionaire who started a private rocket company, was looking to invest in the electric vehicle sphere. The duo flew down to Los Angeles and met with the SpaceX founder on a Friday, and over the course of the following weekend, Musk peppered Tarpenning with a barrage of questions about Tesla Motors’ business model. By the following Monday, Tarpenning and Eberhard were back in LA for another meeting with Musk. At the end of the meeting, Musk simply informed the men, “Okay, I’m in.”
Musk was precisely what Tesla Motors needed. He had the engineering background to understand what the company was trying to build, and his funds from his Silicon Valley fortune were vast. Musk invested $6.5 million into Tesla Motors, making him the largest shareholder and the Chairman of the company. Not long after this, Musk contacted JB Straubel, particularly as Eberhard and Tarpenning were meeting challenges in their vehicle’s batteries. Musk and Straubel had previously formed a kinship after finding common ground in EVs, particularly with the latter’s interest in using lithium-ion batteries to power a car (Musk had also agreed to fund Straubel’s lithium-ion battery ideas). During his meeting with Eberhard and Tarpenning, Straubel told them that he was building the battery they were looking for, also using funding from Musk. “We agreed to join forces and formed this ragtag group,” Straubel said, recalling Tesla Motors’ earliest days.
A lot has happened over the next 16 years. Tesla Inc., as the company is now called, has a market cap of around $40 billion, despite being one of the most shorted companies in the auto industry. The company has also expanded its operations to energy storage systems, a field that Straubel is still incredibly involved with. Elon Musk remains the largest shareholder and stands as the company’s CEO, though he has relinquished his Chairman role to board member Robyn Denholm following a run-in with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Today, Tesla is involved in what could only be described as a battle for the future of transportation, being the undisputed trailblazer in the electric vehicle market. So vast is the potential of the company that legendary investor Ron Baron has predicted that Tesla could eventually be a trillion-dollar company.
From the Tesla Roadster to the Model 3
To say that it took a lot of effort for Tesla to get to this point is an understatement, particularly as every vehicle that the company has released was met with pushback and an immense amount of skepticism. The original Tesla Roadster, the car that Eberhard, Tarpenning, and Straubel were creating since the earliest days of the company, was released in 2008, right in the middle of the US financial crisis. Objectively speaking, a two-seater, all-electric sports car was not a practical purchase then. The original Tesla Roadster had its own fair share of production challenges as well, to the point where auto publication The Truth About Cars actually decided to do a Tesla Death Watch series. Though late, the Roadster became successful nonetheless, forcing the Tesla Death Watch to end and becoming prolific enough to usher in the WhiteStar project, which would eventually become the Model S.
Bringing the Model S to market was just as hard, if not more difficult than the Roadster’s already-painful production ramp. In 2007, Musk showed noted auto designer Henrik Fisker Tesla’s idea for the WhiteStar sedan, a vehicle that must haul a family and cost about half the Roadster’s price. Fisker had a reputation for creating stunning automobiles for Aston Martin, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz, but as noted by Ron Lloyd, the former vice president of Tesla’s WhiteStar project, the designs he submitted for Tesla’s family sedan were strangely substandard. When Musk pushed back, Fisker would blame the physical constraints that Tesla placed on the car. And in 2008, Musk and the Tesla team looked in shock as Fisker started his own car company, Fisker Automotive, and unveiled the Karma, a hybrid vehicle that had all the makings of a well-designed green vehicle. It wasn’t until an established designer from Mazda, Franz von Holzhausen decided to take a leap of faith that project WhiteStar started progressing. Working with Musk on every detail of the car, the results of von Holzhausen’s work was the Tesla Model S, a car that would redefine not just electric vehicles, but cars as a whole.
Tesla’s next vehicles were no less challenging. The Model X was dismissed as an impossible vehicle to make due to its Falcon Wing Doors. While significantly delayed, the all-electric SUV nevertheless entered production, though it took extreme measures, such as Musk sleeping in the Fremont factory, to get the vehicle’s manufacturing underway. Fortunately for Tesla, it appears that the Model X became a lesson for the company, as evidenced by the more straightforward design of the Model 3, and later on, the Model Y. After coming to terms with its own hubris and creating what Elon Musk aptly described as the Fabergé egg of cars in the Model X, Tesla appears to have matured. This could be seen in the similarity of the company’s two mass-market vehicles.
Into the Future
Led by arguably one of the most relentless innovators alive today, Tesla remains engaged in battle every step of the way. Yet, despite the emergence of competitors that are generously dubbed “Tesla Killers,” and despite the persistently negative narrative surrounding the company, the electric car maker continues to grow. Tesla has even expanded its operations in China, where Gigafactory 3 is being built at a record pace. Once that is completed, Tesla could tap into China’s lucrative electric vehicle market without any unnecessary restraints. Other vehicles in the company’s lineup, from the new Tesla Roadster to the Tesla Semi to the Tesla Truck, are expected to be just as disruptive as every other electric car that the company has released.
Tesla’s electric cars are by no means the first EVs on the market. But they are the vehicles that forced the auto industry to recognize that there is a legitimate demand for compelling, well-designed electric cars. The presence of EVs such as the Porsche Taycan, which the German automaker expects will likely be practically as important as the 911, is proof that Tesla has and is succeeding in its mission to accelerate the world’s transition to renewable energy. A lot has happened in 16 years, but if Tesla’s character is any indication, it would seem that the company’s story is still just beginning.
Watch a Tesla enthusiast’s tribute video to Tesla’s 16 years in the video below.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk’s Boring Company lands a new Middle East deal, and Nashville is about to get faster
The Boring Company signs Abu Dhabi tunnel agreement while adding more Prufrock machines in Nashville.
The Boring Company has signed an agreement with Abu Dhabi to study underground transport and utility tunnels across the emirate, adding a second UAE city to its pipeline as it prepares to also scale up tunneling back home in Nashville.
The deal was signed Thursday at the Liveability and Investment Exhibition (LIVEX 2026) by Boring Company President Steve Davis and Maysarah Mahmoud Salim Eid, director general of the Abu Dhabi Projects and Infrastructure Centre (ADPIC), according to the Abu Dhabi Media Office. Mohamed Ali Al Shorafa, chairman of the emirate’s Department of Municipalities and Transport, attended the signing.
Under the agreement, the two sides will assess feasibility, delivery and operating models for tunnels that could carry passengers or utilities. They will also look at Abu Dhabi’s potential as a regional hub for tunneling work. The current phase is exploratory, and no construction commitment or project budget has been announced.
“Abu Dhabi provides an ideal environment to explore the next generation of underground infrastructure solutions, supported by its ambitious growth vision and strong commitment to advanced technologies,”
Davis said. He added that the company wants to assess how tunnels can “expand urban capacity more efficiently, and enable better use of available space.”
The timing lines up with the money, considering last month, The Boring Company closed a $3 billion Series D led by the UAE and affiliated investors, valuing the company at $23 billion, as Teslarati reported. That round came with a commitment to build more than 150 kilometers of tunnel across the UAE, separate from the Dubai Loop pilot already under contract with Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority. That pilot covers 6.4 kilometers and four stations linking DIFC and Dubai Mall at a cost of about $154 million.
Back home, The Boring Company projects in Nashville are also scaling up, with the company telling local NewsChannel 5 that a third Prufrock machine could start digging the Music City Loop in late October. A fourth is also targeted before the end of the year. Two machines are already mining Nashville limestone at the same time, and work is underway on a new launch site for the third.
The company said it has made more than 300 design and performance upgrades to its original Nashville machine. It is also working with property owners on more than 40 planned stations, with approvals in place for a future Nashville International Airport connection, a downtown station near the Music City Center, and stops at residential towers and the JW Marriott.
Construction on the Music City Loop began the same evening Tennessee and federal regulators approved the project’s lease in February, and the company targeted its first operational segment for late 2026. Back in Las Vegas, The Boring Company has said it plans to double its Vegas Loop station count by year’s end.
Lifestyle
Tesla FSD changed its mind mid-intersection, and it may have saved a life
Tesla shares dashcam footage of FSD Supervised stopping mid intersection to avoid a T-bone crash.
Tesla is putting another Full Self-Driving save in front of its 24.8 million followers on X.
On Tuesday morning, Tesla’s main account shared a dashcam clip with the caption “FSD Supervised preventing T-bone crash.” The footage came from an owner posting as TheNewGrid, who described what happened at a stop sign: “I looked at the car coming to the stop sign figured they would stop, my car went, then came to a stop mid intersection as they flew by. Had I been manually driving this would have resulted in a crash.”
The sequence is the notable part. FSD had already started crossing when the other driver ran the stop sign. Instead of pressing on, the car braked hard in the middle of the intersection and let the crossing vehicle pass in front of it. By the owner’s own account, they had made the same assumption the software initially made, that the other car would stop, and would not have corrected in time.
FSD Supervised preventing T-bone crash
— Tesla (@Tesla) October 6, 2026
The clip is the latest in a run of safety posts Tesla has amplified over the past several days. On Saturday, the company shared a video from Selling Sunset star Jason Oppenheim, who sold his Bentley for a Model Y and said he was buying Teslas with FSD for 10 of his employees. Ashok Elluswamy, who leads Tesla AI, followed up by writing that Tesla self-driving “reacts to other people cutting into your path with super-human response times.” On Monday, a Cybertruck owner posted footage of FSD moving across three lanes from a red light to clear a path for an ambulance approaching from behind.
This recent clip also lands a few weeks after Tesla began shipping Automatic Collision Evasion with FSD v14.3.9, a feature that can activate FSD on the driver’s behalf when a frontal collision is imminent or the driver appears distracted. Elluswamy said in September that “even earlier prediction of hazards, even faster reaction time and overall significantly better safety and collision avoidance” are coming with v15, the release Tesla has tied to round the clock Robotaxi operation.
The safety messaging matters beyond social media. Tesla has said FSD Supervised was 4.1 times less likely to crash than manual driving across 100 million kilometers on European roads, and it has been putting those figures in front of regulators. Eight EU countries have now approved FSD Supervised, with Croatia the most recent, but the EU’s bloc-wide vote originally set for October 6 has been pushed to December at the earliest.
FSD Supervised is still a Level 2 system, and the driver remains responsible at all times. Even heavy users find reasons to step in. Teslarati’s Joey Klender, who uses FSD for about 76 percent of his driving, laid out five recurring issues on Tuesday that still prompt him to intervene. Clips like this one show the other column of that ledger: moments where the software caught a mistake a human was about to make.
Lifestyle
Tesla wins over Netflix’s Selling Sunset star, who’s now ditching his Bentley
Selling Sunset’s Jason Oppenheim swapped his Bentley for a Tesla and promised ten for employees.
Jason Oppenheim, the luxury real estate broker best known as the star of Netflix’s Selling Sunset, has parked his Bentley for good and moved into a Tesla Model Y, and he says Full Self-Driving (Supervised) is the reason.
Oppenheim, who founded The Oppenheim Group, the Los Angeles brokerage at the center of the show, posted a video to X on Saturday evening that he called “the most important video I’ve ever posted.” In it, he rides from Newport Beach to his firm’s Los Angeles office, a trip he put at roughly an hour and 15 minutes, while FSD handles the drive and parks the car without him touching the wheel or the accelerator. He said he handed the Bentley to his father because he no longer has any use for it.
Tesla shared the clip from its main account on X about two hours later, pulling out the quote that has since spread well beyond the Tesla community:
“[FSD Supervised] is life-changing. I was on the phone with my brother last night, and I made him buy one. He literally bought one while we were talking. I’m buying 10 of my employees a Tesla with FSD. It’s 8x safer than the average driver. There’s nothing more important than the safety of you and your loved ones.”
Oppenheim was candid about why the safety pitch landed with him. He admitted in the video that he is a distracted driver who answers emails and texts behind the wheel, and framed the employee purchases as a way to keep his team off their phones while driving. Elon Musk posted “Tesla FSD feels like magic” less than half an hour after the video went live.
The endorsement lands at a convenient moment for Tesla. The company delivered 486,532 vehicles in Q3, beating Wall Street’s estimates and marking its best quarter ever without the $7,500 federal EV tax credit.
A public service announcement. https://t.co/NYa1IpKwBX
— Jason Oppenheim (@OppenheimJason) October 4, 2026
Tesla FSD has been subscription only in the U.S. since February at $99 per month, and Tesla said in its Q2 update that active subscriptions hit 1.48 million, up 56 percent year over year, with more than 55 percent of new North American deliveries leaving with FSD attached. That attach rate is the figure Ron Baron cited last month when he told CNBC “the time to buy the stock is now.” At current pricing, Oppenheim’s 10 employee cars alone would add $990 a month, or about $11,880 a year, in FSD revenue.
Tesla AI head Ashok Elluswamy said in July that FSD had logged more than 12 billion miles while going roughly twice as far between collisions as manual driving. FSD also remains a supervised system, so Oppenheim and his employees are still required to watch the road, even as Tesla rolls out v14.3.10 with Automatic Collision Evasion, which can steer or brake on its own to avoid a frontal crash.
It’s official: SpaceX takes aim at Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile
Trump presents Elon Musk with National Medal of Science, calls him “modern-day Thomas Edison”
Elon Musk’s Boring Company lands a new Middle East deal, and Nashville is about to get faster
The Pentagon taps Elon Musk to design the battlefield of the future
Tesla Roadster’s new patent preps white-knuckle speeds, keeping it grounded
