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Tesla Cybertruck named “Disruptor of the Year” in Top Gear 2023 awards

Credit: Top Gear/YouTube

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The Tesla Cyberttruck has not started its deliveries yet, but the all-electric pickup truck is already gathering some accolades. One of these was granted by British motoring magazine Top Gear, which gave the Tesla Cybertruck its “Disruptor of the Year” award for 2023. 

In a recently posted video, Top Gear editor-in-chief Jack Rix admitted that they actually did not think that the Cybertruck would make it to production. But it did, and the all-electric pickup truck is less than two days away from being delivered to its first customers. Top Gear also filmed some footage with the all-electric pickup truck, though the video would likely be released following the Cybertruck delivery event at Giga Texas on Thursday. 

Top Gear’s sentiments surrounding the Cybertruck are unsurprising, as many, such as the typical Tesla critic, have assumed that the all-electric pickup truck would not be produced at all. The vehicle just seemed like it was just too different, too strange, to actually bring to production. Yet four years since its unveiling and the Tesla Cybertruck is here, ready for its initial deliveries. 

The Cybertruck’s Disruptor of the Year award from Top Gear is particularly interesting considering the motoring publication’s history with Tesla. Back during the time of the original Tesla Roadster, Top Gear ran a segment with presenter Jeremy Clarkson that claimed that the all-electric sports car ran out of range at the track. Tesla sued Top Gear for libel, though the automaker lost the case as the courts noted that no viewers of the show, which is known for its nonserious nature, would be likely to reasonably compare the Roadster’s performance on the segment with its real-world capabilities.

Following the lawsuit, Tesla would stop providing its cars to Top Gear for testing, though presenters such as Richard Hammond did test a Model S in a written article for The Mirror. The Model S, however, was not provided by Tesla. Former Top Gear Jeremy Clarkson, who was behind the Roadster controversy, later reviewed a Tesla Model X for The Grand Tour, though the vehicle was also not provided by Tesla. 

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Watch Top Gear’s 2023 awards in the video below.  

Don’t hesitate to contact us with news tips. Just send a message to simon@teslarati.com to give us a heads up.

Simon is an experienced automotive reporter with a passion for electric cars and clean energy. Fascinated by the world envisioned by Elon Musk, he hopes to make it to Mars (at least as a tourist) someday. For stories or tips--or even to just say a simple hello--send a message to his email, simon@teslarati.com or his handle on X, @ResidentSponge.

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Elon Musk is setting high expectations for Tesla AI5 and AI6 chips

Musk confirmed this week that Tesla had just completed a design review for AI5.

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Image used with permission for Teslarati. (Credit: Tom Cross)

Elon Musk is setting high expectations for Tesla’s in-house silicon program. As per Musk in a set of recent posts on X, Tesla’s AI5 and AI6 will be game-changing. 

Tesla’s AI5 and AI6 are incredibly important for Tesla’s future, which will likely be built on the back of very high-volume products like Optimus and the Cybercab.

Musk sets high expectations

Musk confirmed this week that Tesla had just completed a design review for AI5, which will initially be manufactured by TSMC in Taiwan before production ramps in Arizona. As per Musk, consolidating Tesla’s chip design efforts into one architecture has allowed the company to focus its silicon talent on delivering a single high-performance platform. 

“Just had a great design review today with the Tesla AI5 chip design team! This is going to be an epic chip. And AI6 to follow has a shot at being the best (by) AI chip by far. Switching from doing 2 chip architectures to 1 means all our silicon talent is focused on making 1 incredible chip. No-brainer in retrospect,” Musk wrote in his post.

In a follow-up post, the CEO also stated that the company’s upcoming AI5 chip “will probably be the best inference chip of any kind” for models below ~250 billion parameters, with the “lowest cost silicon and best performance per watt.” Musk added that AI6, which follows AI5, “has a shot at being the best AI chip by far.”

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AI6 as Dojo’s successor

While AI5 is nearing production, Musk has also pointed to AI6 as Tesla’s next major target. The chip will be manufactured at Samsung’s upcoming Texas facility, part of a multibillion-dollar deal to support Tesla’s next-generation products such as the Cybercab and the Optimus humanoid robot. Musk also noted that AI6 could effectively replace Project Dojo as Tesla’s training platform, given its potential for both inference and training workloads.

Industry veterans have echoed this view, with former Apple and Rivian engineer Phil Beisel suggesting that “AI6 is now Dojo.” Musk appeared to agree, responding with a “bullseye” emoji. Musk has also noted on X that he would personally be walking the line in Samsung’s upcoming AI6 factory in Texas, to make sure that the facility’s output is accelerated according to Tesla’s requirements. 

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Elon Musk: Neuralink could restore partial vision to the blind next year

The executive posted the update on social media platform X.

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Credit: Steve Jurvetson/Twitter

Elon Musk has suggested that Neuralink could attempt to restore limited sight to visually impaired patients as early as 2026. 

The executive posted the update on social media platform X amid news of Neuralink’s first successful Telepathy implants outside the United States. 

Blindsight trials

In a response to a post from Neuralink’s official X account about its first Canadian patients, Musk wrote that the company is “Aiming to restore (limited) sight to the completely blind next year.” The update was well-received on social media, as the device would most likely provide notable quality of life improvements to patients. Neuralink’s current implant, Telepathy, is already changing lives today, and the same will likely be true for Blindsight.

This was not the first time that Musk has provided an update to Neuralink’s Blindsight trials. Earlier this year, Musk told the Qatar Economic Forum that the first human implantation of Blindsight could occur early 2026, potentially in the United Arab Emirates. Neuralink has explored collaboration with the Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi to perform the initial surgery. Blindsight has also received a “breakthrough device” designation from the US FDA, hinting at the implant’s development.

Blindsight’s potential

Musk has previously described Blindsight as Neuralink’s brain-computer interface (BCI) designed to restore vision. During Neuralink’s 2022 Show & Tell event, Musk stated that Blindsight would target the brain’s visual cortex, bypassing damaged eyes entirely to generate visual perception. This means that vision could be restored even for people who were born blind. 

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“The first two applications we’re going to aim for in humans are restoring vision, and I think this is notable in that even if someone has never had vision ever, like they were born blind, we believe we can still restore vision. The visual part of the cortex is still there. Even if they’ve never seen before, we’re confident they could see,” Musk said.

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Sweden Mediation Institute throws in the towel on Tesla vs IF Metall union conflict

After nearly two years, the union’s strike has become the country’s longest labor dispute to date.

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Credit: @NicklasNilsso14/X

Sweden’s Mediation Institute has formally ended its efforts to resolve the conflict between Tesla Sweden and trade union IF Metall. After nearly two years, the union’s strike has become the country’s longest labor dispute to date. 

Launched 677 days ago by the IF Metall union, the strike was intended to push Tesla Sweden into signing a collective agreement. Tesla Sweden, however, remained firm, maintaining that its working conditions are already better than union standards.

Mediation Institute withdraws

The state-run Mediation Institute, which had been involved early in the strike, confirmed this week that it was officially closing the case. The two parties have had several meetings, but neither side has been able to come to an agreement.

Director General Irene Wennemo described the effort as unprecedented in difficulty in a comment to Ekot. “We have tried in every possible way to get the parties to come closer to each other in a way that allows this conflict to end. But now we have come to the end of the road and have realized that it is just as good to end the case,” she told the Swedish outlet.

Union signals flexibility

The mediators noted in their final report that Tesla Sweden had limited authority in the talks, with key decisions appearing to rest with executives in the United States. The situation, they stated, created barriers to compromise that made the conflict “unlike anything else.” Tesla has maintained throughout that its Swedish workers already receive strong benefits and protections without the need for a formal collective agreement, as noted in a CarUp report.

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IF Metall, for its part, has begun hinting that it was open to alternatives. This was highlighted by Union Chair Marie Nilsson, who noted that while the preferred outcome of the country’s longest strike in history is a signed agreement, “other alternative solutions” are now on the table. “You can do it in different ways. The easiest thing would be to sign a collective agreement. But when that is not possible, we have to find other alternative solutions as well, so we are open to discussion,” the union official stated.

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