Lifestyle
Tesla drivers add to Supercharging with ChargePoint’s EV charging network
I love California in many more ways than one. Show me a land that seemingly basks in eternal sunshine and is home to arguably one of the most iconic automotive brands in history, Tesla, and I’ll tell you that any Model S owner like myself would be hard-pressed to imagine the Golden State as anything less than a basket of rainbows and unicorns. Except, I don’t live there. And the thought of possibly having to wait in long lines to charge my Tesla frightens me.
I’m a Philly Gal who’s grown used to my electric car lifestyle over the years, and in a region where finding a charging station was once akin to playing a game of Where’s Waldo. We don’t have Tesla Superchargers in every town like our left coast friends (unicorn world). Not to mention that it took a long while before Tesla installed one of their Supercharger stations along the east side of Pennsylvania where I would frequent.
However, Tesla has done a phenomenal job of making long distance and cross-country travel possible with its ever-expanding Supercharger network. Still, I found solace in being able to plug my Model S into a Level 2 charger from time to time, especially during my local routines like going to the market or dining out in the city. And it’s for those reasons that I turned my attention to California-based ChargePoint, the world’s largest electric vehicle charging network, to highlight reasons why Tesla owners might want to extend their charging options beyond Superchargers.
Teslarati’s Interactive Map includes over 42,000 ChargePoint chargers
I asked our development team if we can somehow include ChargePoint chargers into our Teslarati mobile app for iOS and Android, as it could bring value to the incoming Model 3 crowd that won’t have free Supercharger access, but more importantly help advance the adoption of electric vehicles around the world. Furthermore, Tesla owners that have the CHAdeMO adapter will be able to locate their nearest ChargePoint DC Fast Charger through our app and initiate a charge that would replenish roughly 200 miles (322 kilometers) of range per hour. I’m happy to report that ChargePoint was kind enough to let us integrate their charging locations into Teslarati’s app, and explained the reasons as such:
“ChargePoint’s mission is to help every driver get behind the wheel of an electric vehicle. We are committed to electric mobility and are eager to partner with progressive organizations like Teslarati to make it easier for EV drivers to charge up, and ultimately, help advance the adoption of electric vehicles around the world. We are excited to work with Teslarati to offer even more choice for drivers as more Teslas hit the road.”
Life beyond Superchargers
Because our mobile app now features integration with ChargePoint’s public charging stations, we encourage Tesla drivers, current and future, to feel unbounded by the types of all-electric journeys they can make in their vehicles. Gather information about those locations; check-in and share your favorite recommendations, like the tens of thousands have done across their Supercharger travels, and further the adoption of electric mobility.
Teslarati App available for iOS and Android
As convenient as Tesla’s Superchargers are, the chargers are generally located along major freeways and meant for long distance travel only. Level 2 chargers on the other hand are great for topping off and arguably easier to use for local charging.
I recall a plan I had to utilize nothing but Tesla Superchargers on a recent road trip, only to be pleasantly surprised when we saw a ChargePoint station at our destination. This wasn’t at a fancy hotel or winery like where some of Tesla’s destination chargers are located, but at a nearby strip mall next to where we were staying. Plugging into the Level 2 charger allowed us to charge up overnight and skip the first planned Supercharger on our way out, which would have required us to drive into a traffic congested area that’s off of a major highway.
Having the option to charge at a typical 6.6 kW Level 2 speed at home is the ultimate in convenience. But not everyone has the option. This is where work place Level 2 charging comes into play. Be it your actual employer or some nearby business, grabbing a few hours of charge during your work day can be the difference between owning an EV effortlessly and having to plan for and make dedicated charging trips.
In fact, major cities across the country are starting to get hip to this need. Where I live, having dedicated parking is something only certain neighborhoods enjoy. The coolest of places to live are in or near our center city, which are overwhelmingly full of rowhomes with no garages and a first come, first served street parking system. Most of these folks can only now start considering EV ownership as Level 2 chargers pop up in their neighborhoods, at their shopping destinations and other places they frequent. The city itself is considering how to facilitate and encourage a charging network that results in increased EV ownership. Sustainability and cleaner air are priorities in many places, including my beloved Philadelphia.
Having a mobile app with location services to tell you where nearby chargers can be found is key to convenience. Even more importantly, being able to find a trusted charging provider like ChargePoint, along with crowdsourced comments and photos, and access to charging station statuses will make trip planning even easier.
Happy electric journeys.
Lifestyle
Watch Tesla’s “guardian angel” FSD feature take over for collision evasion
Tesla’s Automatic Collision Evasion feature can be seen in one of the first owner videos of it in action.
Tesla owner Spencer (@scotsrule08) posted on Monday that the feature “worked flawlessly,” saying FSD reengaged itself just as he was about to hit a curb. Ashok Elluswamy, who leads Tesla’s AI team, shared the clip and wrote, “A guardian angel always looking out for you.”
The video arrives in the middle of a staged rollout. Tesla first shipped Automatic Collision Evasion with FSD (Supervised) v14.3.9 in software update 2026.27.6 earlier this month, which Teslarati covered as it reached cars. Update 2026.27.10, which began going out on September 19, carried the feature improvements with FSD v14.3.10, according to release notes tracked by Not a Tesla App. The newer 2026.27.11 build is now reaching another wave of vehicles.
The new Automatic Collision Evasion feature worked flawlessly! FSD reengaged itself just as I was about to hit a curb.
Kudos @Tesla_AI team! 👏 pic.twitter.com/Fbp15HhpL2
— Spencer (@scotsrule08) September 28, 2026
The feature only runs on HW4 vehicles, and it requires an active FSD purchase or subscription with both FSD (Supervised) and Automatic Emergency Braking enabled. HW3 owners receive FSD v14.2 Lite in the same updates, but that build does not include collision evasion.
Tesla’s release notes describe two triggers. The first is an imminent frontal collision that braking alone may not prevent, in which case the car can activate FSD to steer, brake or accelerate around the hazard. That scenario is limited to highways below 85 mph, with no pedestrians or cyclists detected and no slippery road surface. The second covers a driver who appears inattentive, such as reaching into the back seat, or who seems to have switched off FSD by accident. Spencer’s curb clip appears to fall into that second category.
Tesla plans big safety improvements for Full Self-Driving v15
Once the system takes over, the accelerator is muted and light brake input will not cancel the maneuver. Drivers need to apply firm, deliberate steering force to take back control, and the car chimes to hand control back once the danger has passed.
Elluswamy recently noted that earlier hazard prediction, faster reaction time and better collision avoidance would arrive with FSD v15, the next major version.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk drops a surprise update on Boring Company’s next big dig
Musk says Boring Company could shrink the Austin to San Antonio drive to just minutes.
Elon Musk says The Boring Company is working on what he called “a simple, precursor Hyperloop” tunnel connecting Austin and San Antonio, targeting speeds above 200 mph and cutting a drive that can take up to two and a half hours down to a consistent under 30 minutes. Musk posted the idea on X Sunday, in a reply to a repost of an AI generated video imagining a science fiction future with human colonies on other worlds, which he shared with the line “This is the future we shall bring into being.”
This is the future we shall bring into being pic.twitter.com/8aD0w8MDVc
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 20, 2026
The Boring Company’s own account picked up the idea in the same thread, adding a detail about how the trip would actually work: “Because Loop/Hyperloop is express (i.e. no intermediate stops), one could travel from an Austin parking lot to a favorite San Antonio restaurant in about 30 minutes. As long as they both have Loop stations.” That framing ties the proposed intercity link to the same station model the company already runs in Las Vegas, where riders enter the tunnel network through small, garage style stops rather than one central terminal.
This is not the company’s first run at the Austin to San Antonio corridor. Boring Company floated tunnels between the two cities as far back as 2021, and later competed for a separate San Antonio Loop project tied to the airport before that specific bid stalled. Pitches for tunnels in Chicago, Los Angeles, and a New York to Washington corridor have followed a similar pattern of big announcement without a shovel in the ground.
What is different this time is the balance sheet, especially since The Boring Company closed a 3 billion dollar funding round led by investors in the United Arab Emirates earlier this month at a valuation near 23 billion dollars, giving the tunneling company more capital to chase speculative projects than it had during its earlier Texas pitches. The company is also mid-build on two other intercity systems it has actually broken ground on, inc;luding a Nashville tunnel linking downtown to the airport, where a second boring machine finished commissioning in June, and its Las Vegas network, where the station count keeps climbing on paper faster than tunnels get dug.
That gap between announcement and execution is the reason to treat Sunday’s post as an opening bid rather than a project. A tunnel spanning roughly 80 miles between two metro areas, running at speeds Boring Company has not demonstrated over any real distance, would dwarf anything the company has built. For now, the Austin to San Antonio Hyperloop exists as a caption under an AI generated space video.
Elon Musk
Tesla eyes supply partners for Optimus mass production
Tesla certified three Chinese suppliers for Optimus mass production, signaling its robot timeline is accelerating.
Tesla’s robotics team traveled to Ningbo, in China’s Zhejiang province, on September 16 and spent the following day auditing component suppliers for Optimus, according to a Bloomberg report cited by RobotAIGeek. The visit moved three manufacturers from provisional status to certified mass production partners: Tuopu Group, which handles actuators and chassis components, Ningbo Joyson Electronic, a sensor supplier, and Zhejiang Sanhua Intelligent Controls, which builds thermal management systems. All three already supply parts to Tesla’s electric vehicles, and the audit reportedly came with fresh orders that supply chain reports put at an initial batch of roughly 5,000 units.
Tuopu, Joyson, and Sanhua built their manufacturing base serving the automotive industry, where tolerances and volume requirements are already close to what a mass produced humanoid robot demands. Sanhua in particular has history here. Teslarati reported last October that the company had received a roughly $685 million order for linear actuators tied to Optimus, a volume industry watchers estimated could cover around 180,000 robots once production ramped.
Supply chain reports tied to this week’s audit put Tesla’s near term production goal at about 1,000 Optimus units a week by late September, rising to 2,000 to 2,500 units a week by the end of the year. That pace would put real weight behind the timeline Tesla has been building toward since May, when it wound down Model S and Model X production at Fremont to convert that floor space into a dedicated Optimus line targeting one million units annually. JPMorgan analysts who toured the factory in August confirmed the conversion took roughly four months, a pace Musk has called unprecedented for a facility that size.
New drone video shows Tesla’s Optimus Factory reaching a turning point
Fremont is only the first phase. A second, larger Optimus plant is rising at Gigafactory Texas, where drone footage shared by Joe Tegtmeyer last week showed the structural steel nearing completion on the north end of the building. Tesla has said that facility is meant to eventually support production of up to 10 million units a year, though volume output there is not expected before 2027.
Commercial sales of Optimus are still targeted for the second half of 2027, but production is expected to start well before then. JPMorgan analyst Rajat Gupta has said Tesla’s “Optimus Academy” program, which uses early units to collect real world training data inside Tesla’s own facilities, is expected to be running later this year. Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Ian Ma described the Ningbo audits as “a positive commercialization signal for China’s humanoid supply chain,” noting that sentiment could improve further if the visit leads to confirmed supplier nominations and larger orders. The Solactive China Humanoid Robotics Index rose about 1.4% on the news, though it remains down roughly 30% for the year.



