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Tesla China owners show love for their all-electric cars in new promo
Tesla owners are a special breed of car buyer. While everyone who buys a new car seems to become attached to it at some point or another, Teslas are increasingly appealing to many people because of their technology and environmental advantages. This has shaped Tesla to be one of the most brand-loyal companies globally in terms of its customers’ support.
In a recent promo for a new Tesla Service Center in the city of Shaoxing, owners in the world’s largest automotive market had the opportunity to share some of the reasons they bought their all-electric car from Tesla, and why some of themselves as lifelong owners of the company’s cars.
The new Tesla Center in Shaoxing, enjoy the beautiful old city in China😆#Tesla pic.twitter.com/i348PcOMtv
— Tesla Asia (@Tesla_Asia) November 3, 2020
Tesla has created a fairly loyal consumer base across the globe. With over 1 million all-electric vehicles roaming the streets of Planet Earth, Tesla has gone from a small, barely-surviving car company to a dominating automotive manufacturer who is changing the tides of what is considered normal within the industry. Before Tesla, nobody was really making electric cars or putting a hard-nosed focus on the need for a more sustainable form of transportation. It was Tesla who brought the issues to the forefront and showed time and time again that EVs didn’t have to be boring, slow, or whine like a remote-controlled car that you played with when you were a child.
Instead, Tesla has shown that EVs are the superior option for what car to buy and drive. Not only is it a more sustainable and environmentally-friendly option than driving a gas or diesel-powered car, but Tesla has brought cars and automotive back into the 21st century. For years, the coolest new feature on a new model year was a touchscreen radio, heated seats, or new safety features. While those are all great to have with a new car, they should be included in something worth between $20,000 and $80,000.
Enter Tesla, the company that changed it all. Tesla showed minimalistic interiors could work, that cars didn’t need to be from this year to be “up to date,” and that people didn’t need fossil fuels to get from one place to the other.
Since Tesla’s insurgence into the leader of the car industry, other car companies have adopted the company’s take on minimalistic interiors. Tesla showed that cars could be like phones, and new features could be downloaded to its cars via an internet connection. Lastly, it inspired some of the biggest car companies in the world to give EVs a shot. While many carmakers may be years away from electric powertrains, these companies are still attempting to bring something competitive and worthwhile to the market. At first, they may not be a manufacturer’s biggest seller, but it could eventually be the basis for which companies are developing new vehicles. Constant improvement from the first EV Ford, Chevy, or another legacy car company brings to the market could spell a concentration of highly-effective electric cars for the future.
Brand loyalty with Tesla is expected with its owners, but even people who have never driven one of the company’s cars are inspired by the design and the technology that the Elon Musk-headed company brings to the table. In China, the opening of a new Service Center is more than just another location for cars to be worked on; it’s proof that Tesla’s tenure in the country is just beginning.
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
