News
Tesla Autopilot twists and turns through complex Sin City construction zone on its own
The owner of a Tesla Model S released footage of his electric sedan seamlessly navigating on Autopilot through the sharp and narrow twists and turns of a construction zone.
Model S owner Fred Hassen was traveling on South Las Vegas Boulevard in the “Sin City” while using the vehicle’s Navigate on Autopilot feature as part of the Full-Self Driving suite. The Model S car managed to recognize the confusing lane shifts and road changes and navigate through the cones and safety barrels that were set up by local construction crews. Hassen seemed pleased by his car’s flawless navigation through the make-shift lanes, as can be heard in his video.
The appearance of traffic cones and traffic light indicators on the Model S’ instrument cluster suggests that the vehicle is equipped with Tesla’s latest Hardware 3 and capable of responding to red traffic lights and stop signs, including automatically stopping.
Autopilot progress in clearly marked construction zones is mighty impressive https://t.co/tb1tsuRQaD
— TREV PAGE (@Model3Owners) April 23, 2020
Navigate on Autopilot is one of the most sophisticated driver-assistance features in the automotive industry today. The suite is capable of performing lane changes, navigating through on and off-ramps, and helping drivers make their way through confusing construction zones. The development of Tesla’s software for its self-driving features helps the company work toward a “feature complete” Full Self-Driving suite, which aims to revolutionize the act of driving for every owner in the world.
Tesla’s Artificial Intelligence and Autopilot systems were broken down by Andrej Karpathy, Director of the company’s AI team. Karpathy explained that Tesla’s use of vehicle cameras and artificial intelligence trains its neural network to help cars respond to road conditions safely and accurately. Tesla’s fleet of 1,000,000 vehicles uses “raw images to perform semantic segmentation, object detection, and monocular depth estimation,” according to its website. These images are then used as data to improve the safety of Autopilot.
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The data compiled by the fleet of Tesla vehicles is critical to Tesla’s teams who determine improvements that need to be made within the company’s self-driving software. Tesla vehicles likely travel through construction zones every day, but the performance of the cars continues to improve through its continuously-learning Neural Network.
In the past, a Tesla hacker known as “green” has showed Tesla Autopilot’s thought process when navigating through construction zones.
and finally a bit of construction zone (this is the only one of the set where AP is actually on), nothing groundbreaking since it was widely reported already long ago, but still interesting to see it "from the inside": pic.twitter.com/TmGkqhGPQz
— green (@greentheonly) November 7, 2019
The technology seems to recognize cones as the guidance point for the lane, forgetting about painted “on-road” lines when construction zones are concerned. The car understands that the standard path of travel is obsolete because of construction. Autopilot instead uses the cones lined up on both sides of the lane as the new guidance markers for travel. This video is from a previous version of firmware, so the program has improved since then as more data has entered the Neural Network.
Tesla initial plans were to release the “feature complete” FSD suite by the end of 2019, but the program was not ready for a full release. After the company release Stop Sign and Traffic Light recognition in mid-April, all that is left for Tesla to unveil is city driving. As the cars seem to be navigating through tricky construction zones with relative ease, city street driving could roll out soon.
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News
SpaceX just launched a secret payload from California
SpaceX launched a classified Space Force mission from Vandenberg, revealing almost nothing about its payload.
SpaceX launched a classified Falcon 9 mission for the U.S. Space Force from Vandenberg Space Force Base on Saturday night, and the government released almost nothing about what was on board. The mission, designated USSF-366, lifted off from Space Launch Complex 4E with a window that opened at 9:52 p.m. ET and ran into the early hours of Sunday, according to SpaceX’s own mission page, which described the payload only as classified. SpaceX confirmed the launch on its X account and pointed viewers to a livestream that began roughly ten minutes before liftoff.
Watch Falcon 9 launch the USSF-366 mission from pad 4E in California https://t.co/FFEzeYOds1
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) August 16, 2026
The lack of detail did not stop analysts from filling in the blanks. Independent tracking of the rocket’s stage drop zones matched the pattern SpaceX has used on previous Starlink Group 15 missions, according to reporting from Outer Space Today, which pointed to Starshield as the likely payload rather than a one off government satellite. Starshield is SpaceX’s national security product, a version of the Starlink satellite bus built to Pentagon specifications for earth observation, communications and hosted payloads. Unlike consumer Starlink, government agencies do not have to disclose what Starshield satellites are actually doing once they reach orbit.
USSF-366 is the latest entry in a steady flow of classified and semi classified work between SpaceX and the Space Force. The company picked up a $178.5 million task order in April to launch missile tracking satellites for the Space Development Agency, as Teslarati reported at the time, and followed that in July with a $1.6 billion award covering 18 more Falcon 9 missions from Vandenberg through the end of 2027, also detailed by Teslarati. Add those contracts up and SpaceX’s Pentagon business for 2026 alone tops $8 billion.
SpaceX scores another massive Pentagon deal to support military satellites
The Falcon 9 that flew Saturday landed back near the launch site, producing the sonic booms that have become routine for residents near Vandenberg. What is less routine is how little the public will likely ever learn about what the rocket carried. SpaceX and the Space Force have not confirmed the Starshield connection, and government satellite programs built on commercial buses rarely get identified beyond a mission number and a general orbit. For a company that live streams almost everything else it does, from Starship test flights to Optimus robot demos, USSF-366 is a reminder that some of SpaceX’s busiest work now happens entirely out of public view.
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On Friday, Tesla launched the Outlet Adapter that enabled Vehicle-to-Load (V2L) energy transfer, meaning owners could essentially utilize their cars as a power source for things like laptops, electric grills, or string lights.
However, even owners of some of the newest builds of the Model Y are finding out that their cars are not compatible with the new $80 accessory, stirring up a new complaint among members of the community.
Tesla launches V2L Outlet Adapter for Premium Model Y in the U.S.
Upon the release of the Outlet Adapter on Friday, I signed into my Tesla account to order the accessory. However, I was met with the dreaded “This product is not compatible with your 2026 Model Y” message at the bottom of the screen.
Some said their accounts also displayed the same message, but they ordered anyway. However, they might be surprised to find that this is no mistake; some of the newest Model Ys do not have the appropriate Power Conversion System (PCS). Mine, which was ordered on this day last year and delivered on August 31, has the old 48A, single-phase PCS.
Vehicles with the new, two-piece PCS are able to utilize V2L features on their cars:
🚨 Looks like you can hit the Parts Catalog and enter your VIN and check to see if your Model Y will be able to use the adapter for V2L.https://t.co/QA9zRk7n2k
h/t to @SawyerMerritt for finding this out.
-I am sad but this isn’t a huge loss. https://t.co/AYpI12QVV9 pic.twitter.com/LRFSrtRywo
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) August 16, 2026
Obviously, it’s disappointing. Many owners have taken delivery this year and still can not utilize the Outlet Adapter because their cars feature the old PCS:
Took delivery in February of 2026. I have the older one, so not going to work for me pic.twitter.com/RcOVq8gvvT
— Russell (@QuietTesla) August 16, 2026
It looks like if you have one of these older PCS units, you can upgrade, but the parts alone are $1,750, and that’s before Tesla adds labor for installing. It is honestly more logical to get some kind of portable power supply or power station at that point.
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It is great that Tesla has enabled V2L for Model Y vehicles, but it is also unfortunate that vehicles that are less than one year old are not able to take advantage of this awesome new feature.
With that being said, it truly is a first-world problem; can you really complain when Full Self-Driving is available, maintenance is incredibly inexpensive, and the car has been so good through a year of ownership?
Tesla has launched a new Vehicle-to-Load (V2L) Outlet Adapter for Premium Model Y vehicles in the United States, meaning you can now power devices like laptops or light strings with your vehicle’s battery.
It appears the capability will be available for any Model Y Premium trim, including those that were purchased prior to the Adapter being launched. It will also only impact Juniper Model Y vehicles, so the first-gen owners will unfortunately not have access to this capability.
If your Model Y was purchased before Tesla renamed the trim levels to “Premium” and “Standard,” it does not seem to be compatible. My Model Y is technically a Premium build, as it is the Long Range All-Wheel-Drive. However, Tesla says it is not compatible with my vehicle.
🚨 Tesla has launched the Outlet Adapter for Model Y Premium in the U.S., enabling V2L capability for all Premium trims (that’s what it appears to be as it is available for purchase with all Premium trims)
It’s available for $80. 2.4kW max power and rated for 120v, 20A pic.twitter.com/lDxlVIk5s8
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) August 14, 2026
For $80, you can now utilize your car as a portable charger for small appliances or devices. This is perfect for things like tailgates, concerts, or camping, as you can now plug in devices that you might use. Those string lights for camping? That laptop for the other games that are on at the tailgate?
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They’ll both utilize energy from your Tesla’s battery to be powered. This is the first time Tesla has expanded the capability to vehicles outside of the Model Y Performance and Cybertruck. However, this feature has been highly requested by owners for an extended period of time.
Tesla launched the Outlet Adapter in China last year:
Tesla China rolls out Model Y L V2L adapter, and it’s free for early owners
You will need the Mobile Connector to operate the Outlet Adapter: the Outlet Adapter will plug into the main housing of the Mobile Connector, where the appropriate adapter to charge your vehicle will plug in.
It is rated for 120 volts and 20 amps, and has a max power rating of 2.4kW.
You can buy it here from Tesla for $80.
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SpaceX just launched a secret payload from California
Tesla V2L adapter for Model Y stirs up a new complaint among owners
