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Tesla’s date-specific releases are spelling trouble for competing car companies
Tesla continues to release the newest and most exciting features in automotive technology on what seems like a daily basis. Recently, CEO Elon Musk has dropped several exciting developments dealing with manufacturing, battery technology, or Self-Driving functionality, all pointing toward the beginning of the end of the internal combustion engine industry. With every strategically-timed feature that Tesla releases, the ICE industry suffers another hit, making the numerous manufacturers that have been around for nearly a century rethink their strategies for the future as consumers look for new technology in cars. Tesla has established itself as the leader in moving the automotive industry forward.
Just last week, Musk stated on Twitter that Tesla would be releasing a “zero-intervention” version of the FSD suite, allowing owners to have their cars drive to destinations with no real responsibilities being left on the driver.
Musk confirmed the exact date of release earlier this morning, saying that the feature will be subject to a “limited FSD beta” on October 20th. The release date is “as promised,” as last week, the CEO indicated that it would be released “in a few weeks.”
Limited FSD beta releasing on Tuesday next week, as promised. This will, at first, be limited to a small number of people who are expert & careful drivers.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 12, 2020
Tesla has been fairly accurate with its timeframes in terms of releasing new technology to owners. However, there have been a few times in the past where the company has released something a few days, weeks, or months past the announced date. Usually, delays come down to whether the feature or functionality is ready for public use. When it comes to self-driving or semi-autonomous driving features, mistakes must be minimal. Tesla has to be sure that all bases are covered before releasing even a new characteristic’s limited-version.
Without performing the proper due-diligence, Tesla could be set back for months or even years. The company must continue to use its strive for perfection to its advantage. But now, Tesla is becoming more accurate with its timeframes, which spells significant amounts of trouble for other carmakers.
When the Full Self-Driving suite was aimed at a “feature complete” release toward the end of last year, many enthusiasts knew it would be tough for Tesla to complete this task. After the goal was not met, Musk indicated that Tesla would continue to work on the FSD suite and would release new features intermittently. Tesla did just this.
One of the most relevant examples of this is the Traffic Light and Stop Sign Control feature that became available in April 2020. When initially released, it required users to confirm that an intersection was safe for navigation by confirming it through the driving stalk. In June, Tesla removed the need for driver confirmation, allowing cars to navigate through intersections without driver intervention.
Tesla has kept its word with releasing features. However, what has been missing is an accurate timeframe, which has kept owners guessing about which features will be available at what times. But, Tesla is improving with this and is becoming more deliberate with keeping up with goals.
With more predictable release dates, Tesla becomes significantly more dangerous to legacy and ICE automotive companies. Knowing exactly when features will be ready and when the public will have the opportunity to experience them is effectively Tesla digging the six-foot deep hole where ICE car companies will lie within a few years. It means Tesla is developing functionalities in a timely fashion with accuracy and confidence.
Even though the feature is not a wide-release, FSD features rarely are. They often start with Tesla employees, and then roll out to members of the company’s “Early Access Program.” After the bugs and kinks, if there are any, are modified, then the wide-release begins.
As Tesla continues to raise the bar in semi-autonomous driving, electric vehicle technology, and EV battery functionality, it is evident that soon, there will be no more advantages to driving a car that is powered by gas. While fun for some, driving is a chore for others, and FSD will give those who are forced to travel the opportunity to have cars drive themselves.
The big picture of Tesla is narrowing down specific release dates for features is that their approach is becoming more calculated, defined, and precise. All of which are a disaster for traditional car companies who are still lagging in EV development and Advanced Driver Assistance features. Tesla is pulling away, not only literally, but metaphorically, as well.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk’s Boring Company has big plans for Las Vegas by year’s end
Elon Musk’s Boring Company says Vegas Loop stations will double by year end once again.
The Boring Company says the Vegas Loop’s station count will double by the end of the year, tying the target to a hiring push for drivers and operations managers in Las Vegas. “Vegas Loop is getting bigger – the station count will double by end of year!” the company wrote in a post on X, attaching listings for a Loop driver and a senior Loop operations manager.
The number checks out against what’s already public, with the Vegas Loop currently running 14 operational stations, while the Boring Company’s own project page lists 28 as the target for the end of 2026.
Vegas Loop is getting bigger – the station count will double by end of year!
Urgently hiring exceptional and enthusiastic Drivers and Ops Managers.
Apply here!
Driverhttps://t.co/ZUPXBYTONb
Senior Loop Ops Managerhttps://t.co/mV6V22V8jH pic.twitter.com/IZ9FqIw8WY
— The Boring Company (@boringcompany) September 14, 2026
Much of that growth is tied to tunnels that are already built and waiting on an opening date. A roughly two-mile dual tunnel system under Paradise Road, connecting Westgate to a planned station at 4744 Paradise Road, is expected to open in stages over the coming weeks, Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority chief executive Steve Hill told the Review-Journal last week. New stations at 4744 Paradise, Virgin Hotels Las Vegas, and the former Gordon Biersch site would come online with it, several of them built to speed up rides to Harry Reid International Airport ahead of Formula 1’s Las Vegas Grand Prix.
Clark County entitled Vegas Loop for 123 stations after approving 19 more in August, as Teslarati reported at the time. Entitlement and construction move at different speeds on this project, so county approval alone does not guarantee a station opens on any particular schedule.
Clark County approved 18 additional stations back in 2023, part of a plan that pushed the system’s target to 69 stations across 65 miles, doubling the network on paper for the first time. The target kept climbing after that, to roughly 93 stations by the end of that year and 104 by last year, before August’s vote pushed it to 123. This week’s announcement is the first time that doubling language has been attached to stations actually running rather than stations merely approved on a county map.
Ridership gives some sense of what a denser network could carry. Boring Company executive Mike Baier said in July that the Vegas Loop already moves around 40,000 passengers on busy convention days, a total that tops most light rail systems in the country despite the system running on a fraction of its planned tunnel mileage. Company leadership has projected ridership could triple or quadruple once the airport connector tunnels fully open.
Boring Company did not say which stations beyond those already under construction would open by year end, or whether the hiring push points to a fleet expansion alongside the new stops.
Tesla is looking to expand into a new Asian market, strengthening its presence in a region that has been bullish on electric vehicles as a whole.
Tesla officially filed to establish a subsidiary of its business in Vietnam, a report from Reuters suggests. Tesla named the entity “Tesla Motors Vietnam Limited Liability Company.”
The planned entrance into the Vietnamese market is a good sign and move for Tesla, as it has become one of the fastest-growing EV markets in Southeast Asia. It is already among the leaders in the region in both volume and electrification rate. In the first half of this year, Vietnam led Southeast Asia in battery-electric passenger car sales at about 116,000 units, up about 71 percent year over year.
Currently, Vietnamese EV drivers rely on VinFast’s V-Green network, which has about 150,000 ports, but these are primarily reserved for VinFast vehicles. Public third-party charging is fragmented and unreliable for those who do not own chargers that are dedicated to a certain manufacturer’s vehicles.
Tesla has had mixed results in Asia as a whole, and as China remains the core part of its story in Asia, the company is evidently working on expanding its footprint on the continent. Tesla’s domestic retail deliveries fell about 12 percent year over year through the first eight months of 2026.
Model Y remains a standout individual product, holding its position as one of, if not the, best-selling vehicles in the world. However, Model 3 has been weaker than it has been in past years.
Gigafactory Shanghai, the company’s Chinese production facility, still performs very well. Wholesale volumes in terms of exports have more than doubled and now exceed domestic retail sales; Giga Shanghai builds vehicles for Europe, South Korea, Japan, Australia, and other markets. South Korea has been an explicit bright spot, with registrations doubling year-to-date and Tesla frequently appearing as the top imported brand.
Tesla just did something in South Korea that no foreign carmaker has ever done
Tesla’s entrance into Vietnam signals a broader effort to take over the Asian market and grab more market share from rivals.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk’s companies made up with Apple but OpenAI still on the hook
Elon Musk’s X Corp and SpaceXAI dropped their Apple antitrust suit, leaving OpenAI as defendant.
X Corp and SpaceXAI, Elon Musk’s social platform and AI venture, have dropped Apple from the antitrust lawsuit that they filed against the iPhone maker and OpenAI last year. In a filing in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, attorneys for X and SpaceXAI moved to dismiss the Apple portion of the case, first reported by Reuters. The filing does not explain why the companies are dropping Apple or say whether a settlement was reached.
X and SpaceXAI say they intend to keep pursuing the case against OpenAI, which remains a defendant. That resolves the dispute with one company while leaving the core allegation intact against the other, with no public accounting of what changed in between.
The lawsuit dates to August 2025, when xAI and X sued Apple and OpenAI, arguing that Apple’s decision to make ChatGPT the only generative AI chatbot built into iOS gave OpenAI an unfair structural advantage. The complaint claimed ChatGPT controlled roughly 80 percent of the chatbot market at the time, while Grok held only a few percent. It sought billions of dollars in damages and asked the court to unwind the arrangement.
Elon Musk’s xAI and X file antitrust suit against Apple and OpenAI over AI exclusivity
The filing followed weeks of Musk publicly complaining that Grok and X weren’t appearing in Apple’s “Must Have” App Store section, though Grok ranked second in the Productivity category and X ranked first in News at the time. He accused Apple of “playing politics” and warned of immediate legal action before following through days later.
Apple and OpenAI tried to get the case thrown out, but a federal judge denied both motions in November, ruling the dispute was better suited to summary judgment than an early dismissal. That decision sent the case into discovery, which is presumably what led to Monday’s filing.
Hey @Apple App Store, why do you refuse to put either 𝕏 or Grok in your “Must Have” section when 𝕏 is the #1 news app in the world and Grok is #5 among all apps?
Are you playing politics? What gives? Inquiring minds want to know. https://t.co/3wenLZGtwG
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 11, 2025
The timing is notable given how Musk’s sentiment toward Apple has shifted, with Musk noting that he was open to letting Grok power a revamped Siri after a user suggested Apple replace its aging assistant with xAI’s model.
xAI, the AI venture Musk folded into X Corp last year, has since combined with SpaceX under the SpaceXAI brand. That structure now puts X, Grok and SpaceX’s rocket and satellite businesses under one roof as Musk pushes his AI ambitions beyond chatbots.
OpenAI remains the sole defendant going forward, and Musk’s companies have not said if there’s any changes to those original claims. Apple and OpenAI did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the filing.
Elon Musk’s Boring Company has big plans for Las Vegas by year’s end
Tesla looks to expand into new Asian market, strengthening presence
