News
Tesla Arcade in China to get online multiplayer titles from Tencent
Tesla China plans to roll out three popular online games, a local weather app, an air quality alert system, and two streaming apps to its customers in the country in the first quarter of 2020. The official announcement as shared by Tesla owner-enthusiast Ray4Tesla on Twitter lists popular online titles Fight Landlords, Mahjong, and Happy Upgrade as part of the expected update. Tesla owners can play these games with their friends using their WeChat or QQ accounts.
These video games and apps are all products of Tencent Holdings, a Chinese multinational conglomerate with a market cap of about $461 billion that offers internet and mobile value-added services, advertising, and e-commerce transactions through its subsidiaries. In 2017, Tencent bought a 5% stake in Tesla, a strategic move that gave the electric car manufacturer a solid ally in China.
Fight Landlords, Mahjong, and Happy Upgrade are among the most popular Tencent Games played on QQ, an instant messaging app with more than 807 million users as of last year. Such games add color to the in-car entertainment system of Tesla that could provide a good boost to attract local, young, and tech-savvy car buyers in the country. Likewise, WeChat is also a property of Tencent and is the most popular messaging app in China with over a billion active users per month.
- Tesla China Multiplayer Video Games And Useful Apps (Source: Ray4Tesla | Twitter)
- Tesla China Multiplayer Video Games And Useful Apps (Source: Ray4Tesla | Twitter)
- Tesla China Multiplayer Video Games And Useful Apps (Source: Ray4Tesla | Twitter)
QQ and WeChat are prominent messaging and social media apps treasured by businesses in China where 91 percent of online users have social media accounts. Consumers use these platforms to communicate, research brands, play games, and engage in transactions. Tesla’s presence on these popular apps gives the company some leverage if it wants to crack the local market. This should give Tesla an edge against established brands such as BMW, GM, and Volkswagen, to name a new.
Video games are nothing new in Tesla cars as the electric car maker has practically turned its vehicles’ infotainment system into a gaming console that could be used while the cars are on Park. Tesla offers various games that appeal to a wide range of users such as classic Atari games, Chess, Beach Buggy Racing 2, and more recently, Cuphead.
As Tesla China prepares for its first deliveries of the Model 3, rolling out popular games and useful apps can also help the brand attract more buyers away from local competition. They can serve as talking points that can further strengthen word of mouth marketing that has saved Tesla millions in advertising costs too. Furthermore, such a move shows the local market that Tesla is fully-committed to provide owners in the country with the best user experience possible.
#Tesla 🇨🇳 officially announced 3 popular online games (“Fight Landlords”, “Mahjon”, “Happy Upgrade”) will be pushed to #Tesla owners in Q1, along w/ 2 streaming APPs, local weather plus air quality alert. Owners can log into their QQ or WeChat account to play remotely w/ others. pic.twitter.com/vrgRln21Wt
— Ray (@ray4tesla) December 20, 2019
This focus on its vehicles’ fun factor has been mentioned by CEO Elon Musk in the past. “The goal for the infotainment system is to say what’s the most amount of fun you can have in a car. I don’t think other car companies really think about it that way. It’s not just some sort of transport utility device with no soul and no character,” Musk said during the Q3 2019 earnings call.
Aside from the popular video games, the local weather app and air quality app come handy for consumers in China who live in areas with poor air quality.
As announced by the country’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology earlier this month, two variants of the locally-made Tesla Model 3 will receive subsidies from the government. Deliveries of Made-in-China Model 3s also appear to be just around the corner, with car carriers filled with the vehicle being spotted in Gigafactory 3’s holding lots.
The announcement of Tesla China coincides with Elon Musk’s tweet about Tesla’s upcoming 2019 holiday software update, which is expected to include a “sneak preview” of Full-Self Driving, new games, and possibly a number of video streaming apps.
Elon Musk
Tesla extends Cybertruck production as Musk concedes ‘sentimentality’
Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced that the company will extend Cybertruck production slightly to handle its extensive order backlog.
On Wednesday, Musk announced that “In order to work through more of the Cybertruck order backlog, production will be extended through the end of summer 2027.”
In order to work through more of the Cybertruck order backlog, production will be extended through the end of summer 2027
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 11, 2026
Tesla has already attempted to simplify its last months of production for the Cybertruck by eliminating several trim levels and only offering the Cyberbeast, the most expensive trim that starts at $109,990. The other two trim levels, the Cybertruck All-Wheel-Drive and Premium All-Wheel-Drive have both been discontinued.
There has been plenty of backlash against Tesla’s decision to ax the Cybertruck, but the company’s forecast prioritizes Cybercab and autonomy. Factory space at Gigafactory Texas that is not necessary is now being set aside for the Cybercab as the company truly embraces its “transportation-as-a-service” model.
There is still a slim chance the Cybertruck survives. Last evening, Tesla upfitter Unplugged Performance offered to take the Cybertruck line off of Tesla’s hands and continue building it, along with a CyberSUV.
Nevertheless, Tesla seems to be ending the Cybertruck on its terms after what will be a three-and-a-half-year run. It still does not really feel quite real; I think many of us thought the Cybertruck would be around for years to come.
Musk added more detail, stating that while it was not the smartest move, “there must be some room in this world for sentimentality or what’s the point?”
This is not the smartest move from a profit-maximizing standpoint btw, but there must be some room in this world for sentimentality or what’s the point?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 11, 2026
Other EV pickups on the market have experienced a similar fate.
The Ford F-150 Lightning was axed by the Detroit company due to the continued losses the company took from sales. That truck was never profitable, and Ford is still taking a quarterly loss in its EV side. However, things are moving along as it has plans for a mass market EV pickup, which will likely gather some substantial demand if Ford can get it just right.
Perhaps another extension or even a total change of heart might come. Only Musk knows.
News
Tesla overtakes Waymo in Texas as Robotaxi fleet performs shock flip
In a sudden and closely watched milestone, Tesla Robotaxi has edged past Waymo on the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles automated vehicle registry. As of November 10, Tesla lists 1,302 registered vehicles under Tesla Robotaxi, LLC, compared with Waymo’s 1,297.
The flip is narrow, but real, according to the State’s books. Tesla’s Texas fleet, following an expansion on November 10, now consists of 729 Model Ys and 573 purpose-built Cybercab vehicles. Waymo’s roster is dominated by the Jaguar I-PACE and a growing number of Zeekr-based Ojai minivans.
NEW: Tesla Robotaxi just added 20 Tesla Model Ys to its fleet. The Texas fleet now stands at 1302 vehicles.
Live tracker: https://t.co/ri0WMLRhCQ
Tracker powered by @EVject
— Texas Autonomous Vehicle Tracker (@texasavtracker) November 10, 2026
Those figures come from the same public TxDMV automated vehicle listings that independent trackers have monitored since a Texas law required operators to disclose fleet sizes.
The scale of Tesla’s climb is pretty interesting and shows how much the company has grown its autonomous ride-hailing fleet over the past months. When the registry first became public in late May 2026, Tesla listed just 42 vehicles on it. Meanwhile, Waymo had several hundred vehicles registered to it.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk shades Waymo: ‘Never really had a chance’
Since then, Tesla has multiplied its authorized Texas fleet more than thirty times, driven by repeated Model Y additions and a steady build of Cybercabs. Waymo has also expanded, but at a slower pace than Tesla.
It is also important to note that registrations are not necessarily equal to operational fleet. The TxDMV list shows the number of vehicles each company is permitted to run, but it does not report how many are actively carrying riders, which cities they serve, or trip volume. Both companies stage vehicles and run mixed fleets that can include units in testing or temporarily offline.
A lead on the registry therefore signals capacity and regulatory positioning more than immediate ride volume.
Tesla has use the growing authorized fleet to expand its unsupervised service beyond the original Austin geofence area, as now it is flowing into cities like San Antonio and Dallas. The company has highlighted plans for a broader Cybercab deployment, eventually into new states and territories.
Waymo is operating across multiple Texas markets and in other areas of the United States.
Right now, the five-vehicle margin is thin and could reverse with the next large registration from either side. For the moment, however, the public Texas record shows Tesla holding the larger authorized Robotaxi fleet in the state.
Elon Musk
SpaceX just cleared a key FCC hurdle in its fight with Verizon and AT&T
The FCC accepted SpaceX’s bid for Grain’s 800 MHz spectrum, opening review for Starlink Mobile.
The Federal Communications Commission has formally opened its review of SpaceX’s plan to buy a nationwide block of 800 MHz spectrum from Grain Management, moving Starlink Mobile one step closer to operating as a full U.S. wireless carrier.
In a public notice issued Tuesday, the FCC’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau said it accepted for filing the applications to transfer control of two Grain license companies, Prism License Co. 1 and Prism License Co. 2, to Starlink Spectrum Holdings, a wholly owned SpaceX subsidiary. The deal covers 546 paired licenses across 3,224 counties, reaching roughly 100% of the U.S. population in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The proceeding sits under WT Docket No. 26-313.
Acceptance is not approval. It means the applications cleared an initial review and the public comment window is now open. Comments and petitions to deny are due December 1, and oppositions are due December 8. The bureau also said the conditions attached to Grain’s July purchase of the licenses from T-Mobile, which require rapid buildout for terrestrial and direct to device service, would carry over to SpaceX if the transfer is approved.
SpaceX announced the agreement on October 8, saying the new airwaves would let Starlink Mobile’s signal reach phones inside buildings, something its 2 GHz spectrum from EchoStar cannot do as well. The portfolio includes up to 14 MHz of paired spectrum in the 817 to 824 MHz and 862 to 869 MHz bands, which most existing phones already support. Elon Musk called it “the last critical piece of the spectrum puzzle needed for SpaceX to provide complete phone coverage in America.”
According to the filing, SpaceX would hold up to 89 MHz of total spectrum in any given market after the deal closes, including up to 14 MHz below 1 GHz. That is far under the 385 MHz threshold the FCC uses to flag a transaction for closer competitive scrutiny, and well short of the roughly 300 MHz each of AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile holds.
Tuesday’s notice does not decide how SpaceX can use the spectrum from orbit. A separate application SpaceX filed on October 27 seeking authority to provide supplemental coverage from space on the same frequencies, along with related waiver requests, is still pending before the commission.
The ground network is already taking shape. Last week, SpaceX picked Qualcomm to supply radios, baseband units and software for a nationwide 5G build, with deployment across tens of thousands of U.S. cell sites starting in 2027. The FCC also voted on October 29 to advance a proposal opening another 482 MHz to direct to device service, though AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile hacritive pushed to strip nearly 300 MHz from it. SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell has said service on SpaceX’s own airwaves is targeted for early 2028.


