Lifestyle
Tesla community sends Elon Musk well-wishes as CEO works on his 48th birthday
Every so often, an innovator with the capability to inspire and move people emerges. These men and women in the past have left their mark in society, and in this era, one of these innovators could very well be Elon Musk. And as the industrialist celebrates yet another birthday working at his electric car company, the Tesla and SpaceX community has banded together to extend their well-wishes to the hard working chief executive.
Today marks Elon Musk’s 48th year on Earth (0 years on Mars, for now), and in a recent Twitter interaction with his social media followers, the CEO mentioned that he would just be working on his birthday. Tesla, after all, is at a crucial point, with the company attempting to reach its delivery and production goals before the end of the second quarter. This would require everyone at Tesla, Musk included, to work extra hard until the end of June to deliver as many vehicles to customers as possible.
The Tesla community is known for being an appreciative group. Taking the initiative, a number of enthusiasts have taken it upon themselves to compile several warm birthday greetings from Tesla and SpaceX supporters across the globe. One of these came in the form of a video compiled by Model 3 owner-enthusiast Tesla_Raj, who runs a YouTube channel. An initiative to gather letters from Tesla supporters in numerous countries has also resulted in a long list of around 500 people thanking Musk for his work and wishing him well on his birthday.
Many of Musk’s birthday greetings featured well-wishes from individuals, families, and groups who have been positively affected by Tesla in one way or another. Several greetings were also quick to remind the CEO that it is important to take a breather once in a while, a reference to Musk’s tendency to overwork himself during times when Tesla is under pressure. Musk explained this habit in an interview last year, when he described his 120-hour workweeks during the height of the Model 3 ramp as some of the most painful points of his career.
A key theme that is also present in a good number of greetings were references to Musk and Tesla’s ongoing battle against veterans in the auto industry, as well as the negative narrative surrounding the company that has remained persistent over the years. Quite unsurprisingly, some of these struggles were mentioned by a Tesla community member who created an Elon Musk-inspired track as a birthday gift under the meme-proficient CEO’s fictional label, Emo G records.
Looking at the history of Tesla and SpaceX, it is evident that Musk is someone who never really takes the path of least resistance. And it is evident in the constant battle that both companies continue to fight today. SpaceX is somewhat protected from the rabid attacks directed at Tesla by skeptics due to the company’s private nature, but the company is no stranger to negativity. Tesla, of course, is pretty much the resident whipping boy of critics thanks to a pervading negative narrative surrounding the company and its products.
Yet, despite these challenges, both companies have flourished nonetheless. SpaceX currently operates one of the world’s most powerful rockets, the Falcon Heavy, which has already flawlessly delivered two commercial payloads this year. Tesla, for its part, continues to take a steadily larger piece of the auto market that has long been guarded by veteran carmakers. All these, of course, were the results of the hard work of thousands upon thousands of people working tirelessly at both SpaceX and Tesla. All these won’t be possible either without a CEO that is willing to lead from the front lines.
Musk is considered to be a man of many talents, but perhaps his biggest strength is his stubborn refusal to give up. In an interview with 60 Minutes back in 2012, Musk noted that he would have to be “dead or completely incapacitated” before he throws in the towel, and he has stood by these words ever since. The original Tesla Roadster was released at the worst possible time due to the US financial crisis; the Model S was mocked as “vaporware” during the years leading up to its release; the Model X was dubbed impossible due to its complexity; and the Model 3 was dismissed as a sure-fire failure that will crumble amidst the shadow of competitors such as the Chevy Bolt EV. As history would prove, each one of these vehicles would prove to be successful.
Even at 48 years old, Musk remains optimistic, almost to a fault. One could sigh at how Musk seemingly retains some naïveté to a certain degree, being a person that seemingly still believes in the good in people. This is evident in the mission of both his companies, with SpaceX aiming to make humans an interplanetary species and Tesla looking to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy. As the Tesla and SpaceX story unravels more, one cannot help but conclude that in more ways than one, Elon Musk is precisely the type of innovator that the world needs right now: optimistic, persistent to a fault, flawed, relentless, and most of all, unwilling to accept the word “impossible.” And for being that, Musk deserves all the well-wishes he can get on this special (working) day.
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.
Cybertruck
Tesla Cybercab just rolled through Miami inside a glass box
Tesla paraded a Cybercab in a glass display at Miami’s F1 Grand Prix event this week.
Tesla set up an “Autonomy Pop-Up” at Lummus Park in Miami Beach from April 29 through May 3, 2026, embedded within the official F1 Miami Grand Prix Fan Fest. The centerpiece was a Cybertruck towing the Cybercab inside a glass display case marked “Future is Autonomous,” rolling through the beachfront crowd.
Miami is on Tesla’s confirmed list of cities for robotaxi expansion in the first half of 2026, making the promotion a strategic promotion that lays groundwork in a target market.
This was not Tesla’s first time using Miami as a showcase city. In December 2025, Tesla hosted “The Future of Autonomy Visualized” at its Miami Design District showroom, coinciding with Art Basel Miami Beach. That event featured the Cybercab prototype and Optimus robots interacting with attendees. The F1 pop-up this week marks Tesla’s return to Miami and follows a pattern Tesla has been running since early 2026. Just two weeks before Miami, Tesla stationed Optimus at the Tesla Boston Boylston Street showroom on April 19 and 20, directly on the final stretch of the Boston Marathon, letting tens of thousands of runners and spectators meet the robot for free, generating massive earned media at zero advertising cost.
Tesla is sending its humanoid Optimus robot to the Boston Marathon
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. On the production side, Musk told shareholders that the Cybercab manufacturing process could eventually produce up to 5 million vehicles per year, targeting a cycle time of one unit every ten seconds. Scaling robotaxis to 10 million operational units over the next ten years is a key condition of his compensation package, alongside selling 20 million passenger vehicles.
As for the Cybercab’s price, Musk has said buyers will be able to purchase one for under $30,000, with an average operating cost around $0.20 per mile. Whether those numbers hold through full production remains to be seen.
Cybercab at F1 Fan Fest in Miami
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