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Tesla employee at Design Center opens up about smart, aggressive innovation

(Image: Tesla)

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Tesla has a unique success story that can be largely attributed to the creative innovations the all-electric automaker fosters at its Design Center in Hawthorne, California. Pawel Pietryka, Creative Manager of User Interface Design at Tesla, was recently interviewed by job-centric website WorkWithUs and provided some insight on what it’s like working behind the scenes with Tesla’s creative teams. Overall, there’s an “aggressive” approach to innovation that comes from the unprecedented nature of Tesla’s mission in the automotive industry.

“This place is like nowhere else,” Pietryka is quoted at the introduction to the interview. “Driving a Tesla is honestly the most fun thing you can do – and we get to design that experience every single day.”

The team creating the experience that customers have come to expect from their Model S, Model 3, and Model X vehicles, along with related products like Superchargers, is a mixed group of car designers, vehicle engineers, software engineers, ergonomics specialists, visualization specialists, clay modelers, digital modelers, and prototypers. Producing technology-centric cars known for being fun and unconventional requires a special kind of work environment that fosters creativity, and Tesla’s approach to this involves collaboration and a high bar for candidates.

“Our teams are very small and that requires everyone to be ultra-collaborative, non-competitive and just plain smart,” Pietryka commented. “We…like to dabble in creative technologies and come up with some crazy ideas. It’s always exciting to create something new that doesn’t exist.”

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Pawel Pietryka with his team at Tesla’s Design Studio. | Image: Tesla

Tesla’s Design Studio also has an environment that produces supportive relationships among its team members which includes accessibility to management, i.e., to Franz von Holzhausen, Tesla’s Chief Designer.

“I value the camaraderie most of all. We care for each other as much as the products we design, and I don’t mean that in a corny way. You really feel something special when you’re here, everyone says that,” Pietryka detailed. “We…have this incredible ability to shift focus and realign priorities in an instant. We’re lean by design and a byproduct of that is vastly more responsibility for everyone.”

The former Art Director for Apple recounts his decision to embark on a new journey with Tesla. “The only other company that I was excited to work for was Tesla, honestly. I care deeply about our sustainability mission and our aggressive focus on innovation, and what we’re doing here is completely unprecedented. I’ve worked on many digital experiences, but none as exciting as an entire car,” notes Pietryka in his interview with WorkWithUs. “Every single day is different. It could start with a lot of meetings or start with a lot of deadlines. Unpredictable, and no two days are the same, which is pretty amazing. It’s challenging at times, for sure, but also very rewarding.”

Image: Tesla

Vehicle design is obviously very important to Tesla, and the teams that form the foundation of its success in the market have proven their worth time and time again.

“Everyone knows good design needs to be functional, simple, intuitive. But more than anything it needs to deliver a great user experience,” says Tesla’s Creative Manager, Product Designer. “That means sometimes an experience needs to be fun, sometimes unconventional, and sometimes that means beautiful typography or other unexpected characteristics. I see a lot of good product and UI designers focus too much on the former. What’s the point of good, clean design if customers are not engaged or bored by it?”

Earlier this month, classified advertising firm Auto Trader dubbed Tesla as the Most Loved Brand in the industry in its 2019 New Car Awards. A survey of 60,000 vehicle owners using 16 key metrics to rate their cars saw Tesla rise to the top of the list by a community of enthusiastic owners that were particularly passionate about the brand. Auto Trader noted that technology was a prominent theme among the feedback from Tesla’s customers, and the style and usability of that technology is a big part of why it’s so valued.

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Tesla’s vehicle design has even won over car enthusiasts that are primarily fans of traditionally-powered cars. In December last year, Henry Payne of The Detroit News purchased a Long Range RWD Model 3 and was immediately enthusiastic about the all-electric midsize sedan. His comments made in an appearance on Autoline TV focused on the Model 3’s remarkable combination of driving dynamics and software integration.

“Musk re-imagined the car like Steve Jobs re-thought the phone — as a study in design minimalism that is both gorgeous and more efficient than established platforms. Privately, other automaker execs tell me they admire Tesla for innovations that are pushing the industry forward: over-the-air updates, better connectivity, better user interfaces,” Payne commented.

Tesla’s Design Studio may not be in the spotlight very often or be very forthcoming with details about its operations, but the results it produces in the company’s vehicles certainly speak well of the work that’s going on inside.

Check out the full interview with Pawel Pietryka at WorkWithUs.io

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Accidental computer geek, fascinated by most history and the multiplanetary future on its way. Quite keen on the democratization of space. | It's pronounced day-sha, but I answer to almost any variation thereof.

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Tesla gathers 93,000 FSD miles in a country where FSD isn’t approved – here’s how

Tesla has quietly logged an impressive 93,000 miles (roughly 150,000 km) of autonomous driving at its Giga Berlin factory—using Full Self-Driving (FSD) in a country where the technology remains unavailable to consumers on public roads.

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Credit: Tesla AI | X

Tesla has gathered 93,000 Full Self-Driving miles in a country where Full Self-Driving is not even approved. Here’s how.

Tesla has quietly logged an impressive 93,000 miles (roughly 150,000 km) of autonomous driving at its Giga Berlin factory—using Full Self-Driving (FSD) in a country where the technology remains unavailable to consumers on public roads.

The milestone, revealed alongside news that Giga Berlin has now built 750,000 Model Y vehicles, highlights how Tesla is putting its AI to work in one of the most controlled environments imaginable: it’s own factory floor.

Every Model Y that rolls off the final assembly line at Giga Berlin doesn’t need a human driver to reach the outbound lot. Instead, the freshly built vehicles engage FSD and navigate themselves across the factory campus.

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The route—from the end of the production line through marked internal pathways to the staging area where cars await delivery or export—is entirely on private property. No public roads, no mixed traffic, and no regulatory hurdles for on-road autonomous operation.

It’s a closed-loop system: wide lanes, predictable layouts, minimal pedestrians, and consistent conditions that make it one of the simplest proving grounds for the software.

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A short factory tour video shared by Tesla Manufacturing shows General Assembly team member Jan explaining the process. Gesturing beside a glossy black Model Y still wearing its protective wrap, he notes the cumulative distance the fleet has covered autonomously.

Tesla Giga Berlin seems to be using FSD Unsupervised to move Model Y units

The cars handle the short drive flawlessly, freeing up workers who would otherwise spend hours shuttling vehicles manually. For a high-volume plant like Giga Berlin, the time and labor savings add up quickly. Even small gains in cycle time per car can reclaim valuable space in the outbound lot and streamline logistics.

This internal deployment serves multiple purposes. First, it delivers zero-cost validation data. Each factory run exposes FSD to real-world physics—acceleration, steering precision, obstacle avoidance—in a repeatable setting far safer than public testing.

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Second, it demonstrates the system’s readiness at scale. If FSD can reliably move thousands of brand-new cars without intervention inside a busy factory, it underscores the robustness of the vision-based, end-to-end neural network Tesla has been refining.

Critics often point to Europe’s cautious regulatory stance on unsupervised autonomy, yet Tesla has turned that limitation into an advantage. While owners in Germany still cannot activate consumer FSD on highways or city streets, the software is already proving its worth behind the factory gates.

The 93,000 miles represent not just internal efficiency gains but a subtle flex: the cars are manufactured ready to navigate autonomously, at least in the bounds of the factory. It’s a big feather in the cap of FSD, even if regulators have yet to green-light broader use.

As Giga Berlin continues ramping output, expect this autonomous logistics loop to grow. What began as a practical workaround for moving finished vehicles has quietly become one of the most compelling real-world showcases of FSD’s potential—right in the heart of regulated Europe. Tesla isn’t waiting for approval to perfect its autonomy; it’s already driving the future, one factory mile at a time.

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Elon Musk reveals how SpaceX is always on board Air Force One

Musk confirmed Tuesday that Starlink internet is live and kicking on Air Force One. Responding with a simple “Yup!” to a post showing him and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang aboard the presidential jet en route to Beijing with President Trump, Musk proved the point: America’s most important aircraft now has seamless, high-speed satellite connectivity—even over the middle of the Pacific.

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elon musk and donald trump in front of a tesla cybertruck at the white house
President Donald J. Trump purchases a Tesla on the South Lawn, Tuesday, March 11, 2025. (Official White House Photo by Molly Riley)

Air Force One, the official call sign for a U.S. Air Force aircraft carrying the President, now runs on SpaceX Starlink, CEO Elon Musk revealed.

Musk confirmed Tuesday that Starlink internet is live and kicking on Air Force One. Responding with a simple “Yup!” to a post showing him and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang aboard the presidential jet en route to Beijing with President Trump, Musk proved the point: America’s most important aircraft now has seamless, high-speed satellite connectivity—even over the middle of the Pacific.

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The timing couldn’t be more symbolic. With trillion-dollar CEOs and the President sharing the cabin, Starlink wasn’t just a nice-to-have—it was mission-critical. No more spotty signals or dropped calls. Instead, real-time video conferences, secure data transfers, and global coordination at Mach speed.

Starlink’s aviation push has already transformed commercial and private flying. Dozens of major airlines have signed on or begun rollouts.

Hawaiian Airlines, United Airlines, Qatar Airways, Air France, SAS, WestJet, airBaltic, and Emirates (now equipping its Boeing 777 and A380 fleets) offer Starlink Wi-Fi to passengers. Lufthansa plans to follow in late 2026.

On private jets, the upgrade is even hotter: owners and charter companies report skyrocketing demand because Starlink turns cabins into flying boardrooms.

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Starlink gets its latest airline adoptee for stable and reliable internet access

The advantages are massive. Traditional in-flight Wi-Fi relied on slow, high-latency geostationary satellites or ground-based systems that cut out over oceans and remote areas. Starlink’s low-Earth-orbit constellation delivers blazing speeds—often exceeding 200 Mbps download with latency as low as 25-60 milliseconds—gate-to-gate, from takeoff to landing.

Passengers stream 4K video, join Zoom calls, or work in the cloud without buffering. Pilots get real-time weather, NOTAM updates, and live ATC data. Even private-jet travelers get the benefits, as it means productivity that rivals the office.

On Air Force One, those benefits become strategic superpowers. The presidential aircraft demands unbreakable communications for national security, diplomacy, and crisis response. Starlink provides global coverage with no dead zones, offering redundancy against traditional systems that could fail in contested airspace or during long-haul flights.

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It enables the President and staff to maintain secure links with the Pentagon, allies, or business leaders anywhere on Earth. During the Beijing trip, it likely facilitated direct coordination on trade, tech, and AI—proving the system’s reliability for the highest-stakes missions.

Critics once dismissed Starlink as a rich-person toy or military experiment. Now, it’s the backbone of commercial fleets, private aviation, and the world’s most visible symbol of American power, and it is providing stable internet to travelers.

With over 2,000 commercial aircraft committed and private-jet installations booming, Starlink is rewriting the rules of connected flight, and it seems like each week, a new airline is choosing to use it for on-flight connectivity.

For Air Force One, it’s more than faster Wi-Fi. It’s uninterrupted command-and-control in an increasingly connected world—ensuring the President never has to go dark at altitude. Elon Musk just made sure of it.

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SpaceX unveils sweeping Starship V3 upgrades ahead of May 19 launch

SpaceX has released a detailed list of changes for Starship Version 3, the next iteration of its fully reusable super-heavy-lift vehicle. Scheduled for its maiden flight as early as May 19 from Starbase in Texas, Starship V3 incorporates dozens of redesigns across the Super Heavy booster, Starship upper stage, Raptor 3 engines, and Launch Pad 2.

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SpaceX Starship V3 from Starbase, Texas on April 14, 2026
SpaceX Starship V3 from Starbase, Texas on April 14, 2026

SpaceX has unveiled sweeping upgrades to its Starship v3 rocket ahead of the upcoming May 19 launch.

SpaceX has released a detailed list of changes for Starship Version 3, the next iteration of its fully reusable super-heavy-lift vehicle. Scheduled for its maiden flight as early as May 19 from Starbase in Texas, Starship V3 incorporates dozens of redesigns across the Super Heavy booster, Starship upper stage, Raptor 3 engines, and Launch Pad 2.

Elon Musk reveals date of SpaceX Starship v3’s maiden voyage

The updates focus on simplification, mass reduction, reliability, and enabling core capabilities like rapid reusability, in-orbit refueling, Starlink deployment, and crewed missions to the Moon and Mars.

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Collectively, these modifications mark a major step-change. By reducing dry mass, improving thermal protection, and integrating systems for orbital operations, Starship V3 aims to transition from test vehicle to operational infrastructure.

Here is an explicit, broken-down list of the key changes, first starting with the changes to Super Heavy V3:

  • Grid Fin Redesign: Reduced from four fins to three. Each fin is now 50% larger and stronger, repositioned for better catching and lifting performance. Fins are lowered on the booster to reduce heat exposure during hot staging, with hardware moved inside the fuel tank for protection.
  • Integrated Hot Staging: Eliminates the old disposable interstage shield. The booster dome is now directly exposed to upper-stage engine ignition, protected by tank pressure and steel shielding. Interstage actuators retract after separation.
  • New Fuel Transfer System: Massive redesign of the fuel transfer tube—roughly the size of a Falcon 9 first stage—enables simultaneous startup of all 33 Raptors for faster, more reliable flip maneuvers.
  • Engine Bay / Thermal Protection: Engine shrouds removed entirely; new shielding added between engines. Propulsion and avionics are more tightly integrated. CO₂ fire suppression system deleted for a simpler, lighter aft section.
  • Propellant Loading Improvements: Switched from one quick disconnect to two separate systems for added redundancy and reduced pad complexity.

Next, we have the changes to Starship V3:

  • Completely Redesigned Propulsion System: Clean-sheet redesign supports new Raptor startup, larger propellant volume, and an improved reaction control system while reducing trapped or leaked propellant risk.
  • Aft Section Simplification: Fluid and electrical systems rerouted; engine shrouds and large aft cavity deleted.
  • Flap Actuation Upgrade: Changed from two actuators per flap to one actuator with three motors for better redundancy, mass efficiency, and lower cost.
  • Faster Starlink Deployment: Upgraded PEZ dispenser enables quicker satellite release.
  • Long-Duration Spaceflight Capability: New systems for long orbital coasts, orbital refueling, cryogenic fluid management, vacuum-insulated header tanks, and high-voltage cryogenic recirculation.
  • Ship-to-Ship Docking + Refueling: Four docking drogues and dedicated propellant transfer connections added to support in-space refueling architecture.
  • Avionics Upgrades: 60 custom avionics units with integrated batteries, inverters, and high-voltage systems (9 MW peak power). New multi-sensor navigation for precision autonomous flight. RF sensors measure propellant in microgravity. ~50 onboard camera views and 480 Mbps Starlink connectivity for low-latency communications.

Next are the changes to the Raptor 3 Engine:

  • Higher Thrust: Sea-level Raptors increased from 230 tf (507k lbf) to 250 tf (551k lbf); vacuum Raptors from 258 tf (568k lbf) to 275 tf (606k lbf).
  • Lower Mass: Sea-level engine mass reduced from 1630 kg to 1525 kg.
  • Simpler Design: Sensors and controllers integrated into the engine body; shrouds eliminated; new ignition system for all variants. Results in ~1 ton of vehicle-level weight savings per engine.

Finally, the upgrades to Launch Pad 2 are as follows:

  • Faster propellant loading via larger farm and more pumps.
  • Chopstick improvements: shorter arms, electromechanical actuators (replacing hydraulic) for reliability.
  • Stronger quick-disconnect arm that swings farther away.
  • Redesigned launch mount for better load handling and protection.
  • New bidirectional flame diverter eliminates post-launch ablation and refurbishment.
  • Hardened propellant systems with separated methane/oxygen lines and protected valves/filters.

SpaceX states these elements “are designed to enable a step-change in Starship capabilities and aim to unlock the vehicle’s core functions, including full and rapid reuse, in-space propellant transfer, deployment of Starlink satellites and orbital data centers, and the ability to send people and cargo to the Moon and Mars.”

With these upgrades, Starship V3 is poised for an epic test flight that could accelerate humanity’s multiplanetary future. The rapid pace of iteration underscores SpaceX’s relentless drive toward making life multiplanetary. Launch watchers are in for a spectacular show.

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