Lifestyle
Leave Tesla alone, autonomous cars can’t come soon enough
Here in Philly, I could set my clock by daily rush hour accidents once school starts. I’ve joked that since most school kids aren’t old enough to drive, teachers must be terrible drivers. Either that or they don’t drive all summer and have to learn all over again. In reality, roads are just more crowded. Many more people are on the roads during the 7am and 4pm hours that I commute. In addition, there are a new set of stressors and distractions for parents that come with the kids going back to school. All of this is a recipe for disaster.
Yesterday was the first day of school for those in Philadelphia public schools and as expected, I encountered an accident on my way home. The car, a Nissan, was turned the wrong way and had an exceptionally mangled front end. I sincerely hope whoever was driving the car survived, though I wouldn’t be surprised if they hadn’t.
What caused the accident? Driving a car is a series of mundane tasks and subconscious mental processes. Did the driver make an honest mistake and misjudge something? Or was he distracted by thoughts of school supplies or a little red number showing a notification on any one of the many communication apps on his smart phone? Maybe he had nothing to do with it. Maybe another driver made an egregious error and the Nissan did all it could to avoid it, but ended up losing control. Maybe he and another driver both processed routine thoughts to make driving decisions such as seeing that there was a space in the middle lane and deciding to merge into it.
Whatever the case, I’m fairly certain that being in a Tesla while using Autopilot driver’s assistance features, the Nissan driver would be a very different situation right now. The Tesla would have attempted some maneuver to mitigate the crash as best as it could. Not knowing the situation, I certainly can’t claim the accident would not have happened in a Tesla. What I can claim is that once full autonomy comes to cars, the roads will be measurably safer. They have to be, or the technology will be regulated out of existence.
“once full autonomy comes to cars, the roads will be measurably safer”
A few miles later and more minutes than it should have taken, I was off the highway. I came to a 4-way stop sign, which are extremely common where I live. The problem with 4-way stop signs is that you process them without even thinking. Stop, wait a few seconds, move. I’ve been guilty a few times of going too early and cutting off the person who deserved to cross the intersection ahead of me. I’ve been the one cut off plenty too. So many times with stop signs you are just stopping for an appropriate interval of time rather than actually waiting for someone. (Chances are, that someone has already gone quickly, if there is someone on the cross street at all.) Again, this all happens so many times per drive that it has become an almost subconscious process. Your foot holds the brake pedal. Your foot moves to the go pedal.
Oh Sh#! Moment
What happened next did so in a flash, and left my hands shaking. I came to a stop and stayed that way for some appropriate length of time. In an imperceptibly short amount of time, my brain decided the pickup truck waiting to cross my path wasn’t going and I should go. There was a woman standing on the corner with a dog. I’m pretty sure my brain processed that the pickup truck driver was talking to her. He didn’t wave me on, but something made me go.
What should have happened next is that the pickup truck driver should have honked at me and cursed me out. Maybe even held up a 1-finger salute. That is not what happened. What happened is that after I had already started going, he did too. For another imperceptibly short amount of time, my brain thought ‘crap, I guess just cut this guy off.’ Then, he didn’t stop. After his nearly subconscious process of moving his foot from brake to go pedal, he should have seen me in his path and stopped. I can only assume he was not looking ahead. He was getting closer and I quickly calculated that since I was in a Tesla and he in a truck, the best course of action was to stomp on the go pedal. That’s what I did. I accelerated faster than I should have in a residential area, but I’d certainly rather go from 10 to 30 mph too quickly than be in an accident. I heard tires screeching, then the word “asshole” being yelled.
What just happened? Who was at fault? Me, partially, because I took his turn. Him, mostly, because regardless of what another person does, if you are stopped then begin moving and t-bone that someone, you’re at fault. He should have been looking. He should have stopped. He would have had plenty of time to stop considering he was starting from a complete stop. I had been paying attention. He hadn’t. There was no reason for this situation to result in tire screeching. There was definitely no reason for it to result in a collision.
Computers vs. the Human Brain
The point is, human brains are amazing. They process unlimited amounts of information in record time. They are efficient. Too efficient even. They take shortcuts to arrive at a thought. (Lights are off at CVS and it’s midnight, it must be closed. No need to go to the door and check the sign to see closing time.) All of these shortcuts help us to drive but can also harm us. We get too complacent, too quick to take action without intentional thought. Have you ever been driving and realized you don’t really recall the last few miles? Probably. Your brain and hands and feet drove you, without incident, to that point. To add to this, our brains are thinking about other things. We change the radio station, adjust our air conditioning, mentally plan dinner and chores, wonder how our spouse’s day went. Autonomous cars will have one job. That job will be to drive safely. I picture a world where cars communicate too, so the question of whose turn it is at a 4-way stop sign should be an easy one. An autonomous car won’t stop to talk to the lady on the corner with the dog. An autonomous car won’t look away from the road ahead. An autonomous car may have camera failure, but it would know it was unable to see and act accordingly.
If anyone out there still thinks Tesla’s Autopilot is a gimmick, hear this: it is a group of driver’s assistance features that make us leaps closer to truly autonomous driving. In my opinion – and presumably that of the poor Nissan driver – it can’t come soon enough.
Elon Musk
Trump’s invite for Elon just reshuffled Tesla’s big Signature Delivery Event
Tesla rescheduled its final Model S farewell to May 20 after Musk joined Trump in China.
Tesla has rescheduled its Model S and Model X Signature Edition delivery event to Wednesday, May 20, 2026, after abruptly calling off the original May 12 celebration. The event will take place at Tesla’s factory at 45500 Fremont Boulevard in Fremont, California, the same location where the Model S first rolled off the line in 2012. Invitees received a follow-up email asking them to reconfirm attendance and download a new QR code ticket, with Tesla noting that all travel and accommodation expenses remain the buyer’s responsibility.
The reason behind the original cancellation came into focus the same day it was announced. President Trump invited Elon Musk, Apple’s Tim Cook, BlackRock’s Larry Fink, Boeing’s Kelly Ortberg, and executives from Goldman Sachs, Blackstone, Citigroup, and Meta to join his trip to China this week for a summit with President Xi Jinping. The agenda covers trade, artificial intelligence, export controls, Taiwan, and the Iran war, following weeks of escalating friction between Washington and Beijing over AI technology, sanctions, and rare earth exports. Trump wrote on Truth Social, “I am very much looking forward to my trip to China, an amazing Country, with a Leader, President Xi, respected by all.”
Tesla launches 200mph Model S “Gold” Signature in invite-only purchase
The vehicles at the center of all this are the last Model S and Model X units Tesla will ever build. Priced at $159,420 each, the 250 Model S and 100 Model X Signature Edition units come finished in Garnet Red with a one-year no-resale agreement, giving Tesla right of first refusal if the owner decides to sell. As Teslarati reported, the Model S defined Tesla’s early identity as a serious luxury automaker, and the Fremont factory line that built it is now being converted to manufacture Optimus humanoid robots.
Musk’s inclusion in the China delegation drew attention given his very public relationship with Trump, and the invitation signals the two have moved past and past grievances. Trump originally brought Musk on to lead the Department of Government Efficiency following his inauguration, and despite a sharp public dispute in mid-2025, the two have appeared together repeatedly in recent months. A seat on the China trip, the most diplomatically consequential visit of Trump’s current term, puts Musk back at the table on U.S. economic policy at a moment when Tesla’s China revenue remains one of the company’s most important financial pillars.
Lifestyle
Tesla Semi hauls fresh Cybercab batch as Robotaxi era takes hold
A Tesla Semi was filmed hauling Cybercab units out of Giga Texas for the first time.
A Tesla Semi loaded with Cybercab units was recently filmed leaving Gigafactory Texas, marking what appears to be the first documented delivery run of Tesla’s autonomous two-seater. The footage shows multiple Cybercabs secured on a flatbed trailer being hauled by a production Tesla Semi, a truck rated for a gross combination weight of 82,000 lbs. The location is consistent with Giga Texas in Austin, where Cybercab production has been ramping since February 2026.
The sighting follows a wave of Cybercab activity at the Austin facility. In late April, drone operator Joe Tegtmeyer spotted approximately 60 Cybercabs parked in two organized groups in the factory’s outbound lot, the largest concentration observed to date. Units being staged in an outbound lot is a standard pre-delivery step, and the Semi footage is the logical next frame in that sequence.
En route with @tesla_semi pic.twitter.com/ZfuOjaeLH1
— Tesla Robotaxi (@robotaxi) May 7, 2026
This is not the first time Tesla has used its own Semi to move Tesla products. When the Semi was unveiled in 2017, Musk noted it would be used for Tesla’s own operations, and over the years Semi prototypes were spotted carrying cargo ranging from concrete weights to Tesla vehicles being delivered to consumers. In 2023, a Semi was photographed transporting a Cybertruck on a trailer ahead of that vehicle’s delivery launch.
The Cybercab itself was first revealed publicly at Tesla’s “We, Robot” event on October 10, 2024, at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, where 20 pre-production units gave attendees rides around the studio lot. Musk stated at the event that Tesla intends to produce the Cybercab before 2027. The first production unit rolled off the Giga Texas line on February 17, 2026, with Musk posting on X: “Congratulations to the Tesla team on making the first production Cybercab.”
Tesla’s annual production goal is 2 million Cybercabs per year once multiple factories reach full design capacity, with the company targeting a price under $30,000 per unit. Tesla has confirmed plans to expand its robotaxi service to seven cities in the first half of 2026, including Dallas, Houston, Phoenix, Miami, Orlando, Tampa, and Las Vegas, building on the unsupervised service already running in Austin. Musk has said he expects robotaxis to cover between a quarter and half of the United States by end of year.
Tesla has taken home the “Overall Loyalty to Make” award from S&P Global Mobility for the fourth consecutive year, reinforcing Tesla owners’ willingness to come back. The 2025 awards are based on S&P Global Mobility’s analysis of 13.6 million new retail vehicle registrations in the U.S. from October 2024 through September 2025. The complete list of 2025 winners includes General Motors for Overall Loyalty to Manufacturer, Tesla for Overall Loyalty to Make, Chevrolet Equinox for Overall Loyalty to Model, Mini for Most Improved Make Loyalty, Subaru for Overall Loyalty to Dealer, and Tesla again for both Ethnic Market Loyalty to Make and Highest Conquest Percentage.
Tesla’s streak in this category started in 2022, and the brand has now won the Highest Conquest Percentage award for six straight years, meaning it keeps pulling buyers away from other brands at a rate no competitor has matched. Tesla’s retention among Asian households reached 63.6% and among Hispanic households 61.9%, rates that significantly outpace national averages for those groups. That breadth of appeal across demographics adds a layer of significance to a win that some might dismiss as routine.
The timing matters too. After several consecutive quarters of decline, Tesla’s share of U.S. EV sales jumped to 59% in Q4 2025. That rebound, arriving just as competitors were flooding the market with new models and incentives, suggests Tesla’s loyalty numbers are not simply the result of limited alternatives. Buyers are still choosing it when they have plenty of other options.
What keeps Tesla owners coming back has a lot to do with the and convenience of charging. The Supercharger network is the most straightforward example. With over 65,000 Superchargers globally, it remains the largest and most reliable fast-charging network in the world, and owners who have built their routines around it face a real practical cost when considering a switch. Competitors have made progress, but the consistency, speed, and availability of Tesla’s network is still the benchmark the rest of the industry is chasing. Then there is the software side. Tesla has built a model where the car you own today is functionally different from the car you bought two years ago, through over-the-air updates that add continuous game-changing improvements such as Full Self-Driving that has moved from a driver-assist feature to an increasingly capable autonomous system. For many Tesla owners, leaving the brand means starting over with a car that will not get meaningfully better over time, and that is a trade-off fewer and fewer are willing to make.
Tesla Cybertruck chosen by Kazakhstan’s elite security force: here’s why
Tesla grabs massive Las Vegas warehouse for interesting Cybercab project
