As everyone at Tesla’s Cyber Rodeo settles down to listen to Elon Musk’s talk at Giga Texas, the anticipation builds in the air. The Tesla community is eager and excited to hear about any updates and details Elon Musk will announce to the world at Giga Texas Cyber Rodeo.
Welcoming Elon Musk to the stage are drones depicting an image of Nikola Tesla, the inventor the company is named after. The drones also depicted the Cyber Rodeo sign. Later, the drone show formed the image of a moving vehicle, which turned out to be the Model Y. Next the drones formed the Cybertruck’s outline in the sky, an image few at the Cyber Rodeo will forget.
And, of course, in true Elon fashion, Tesla did not forget to highlight the community’s love for The Doge with drones. The Tesla hedgehog also made an appearance during the spectacular drone show.
After the drone show, Tesla showed a short clip of a “herd” Tesla Model Y’s running through Giga Texas grounds alongside a horse and its rider.
The video was cut short with the arrival of Elon Musk, arriving in style in an original Tesla Roadster — the car that started it all.
The following are Elon Musk’s comments from his Giga Texas Cyber Rodeo address.
“We’re gonna talk about the past, present and future,” Elon Musk told the crowd, showcasing the first car Tesla ever made: the Roadster.
“When we first started out Tesla, I thought we had — optimistically — a 10% chance of succeeding,” he stated. He thanked the Tesla team for their hard work and contributed the company’s current success to them.
Musk lists all the products Tesla offers, including its solar products. He announced that two-thirds of America’s electric vehicles are Tesla cars.
Musk highlighted the accomplishments of the Tesla AI team. He announced that Tesla was aiming for the wide release of FSD beta in North America this year.
“California was running out of room,” Musk stated. “And we needed a place to grow big. And there’s no place like Texas,” he said, thanking the state and particularly Travis County.
Musk revealed that Tesla Giga Texas is taller than the Burj Khalifa if the factory were turned on its side. In classic Elon Musk, the CEO said that one could fit a total of 194 billion hamsters in Giga Texas.
“And this building is the most advanced car factory that Earth’s ever seen,” proclaimed Elon Musk, bringing up the idea that Tesla’s factories are product in and of themselves once again.
Musk noted that Tesla is building its own cells at Giga Texas, the long-awaited 4680 cells. He proudly stated that the Austin factory could be one of the biggest cell factories in the world.
“Raw materials in, a bunch of stuff happens, and car out,” Musk said, describing the simplified version of Tesla’s main operations. He added that Tesla plans to produce the Cybertruck in Austin next year.
“I can’t wait to have this baby around. [Cybertruck] is gonna be epic,” Musk commented about the electric pickup truck.
Musk also stated that Giga Texas will be the most “high-volume” factory in America. He stated that Tesla will aim to command 20% of the auto market in the long term.
“We’re gonna move at a truly massive scale,” Elon Musk teased. He also hinted at the company’s Robotaxi fleet, describing it as futuristic and significantly different than Tesla’s other offerings. Musk also talked about Optimus.
Tesla plans to produce V1 Optimus, the Cybertruck, the next-generation Roadster, and the Semi next year.
Tesla Chief Designer Franz von Holzhausen later showed up with the Cybertruck. Elon Musk pointed out that there are no handles on the Cybertruck. He apologized for the vehicle’s production delay, though both the CEO and the Design Chief assured the audience that the Cybertruck will be well worth the wait.
And with that, Elon Musk kicked off the Cyber Rodeo party! Several minutes’ worth of fireworks ensued.
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Tesla’s dedicated factory for building up to ten million Optimus units is officially under construction at Gigafactory Texas.
Drone footage released on May 27 by Giga Texas observer Joe Tegtmeyer captures the significant milestone of the first steel structure officially standing at Tesla’s new Optimus factory on the North Campus of the facility.
Phase two of land reclamation is advancing steadily, and the progress will let the new building extend nearly the full length of the main Giga Texas factory, potentially exceeding 4,000 feet, while measuring somewhere between 50 and 70 meters narrower. Extensive foundation work is proceeding as well.
Big news at the new Optimus 10m/y factory construction site today! The 1st steel structure has been erected & as expected the second phase of land reclamation is underway.
This will allow this new factory to grow to nearly the same length as the main Giga Texas factory,… pic.twitter.com/FidRLV6XpU
— Joe Tegtmeyer 🚀 🤠🛸😎 (@JoeTegtmeyer) May 27, 2026
This facility forms a central element of Tesla’s broader North Campus expansion at Giga Texas. The project will add more than 5.2 million square feet of new industrial space. It sits alongside other advanced developments, including a Terafab for next-gen AI chips. The scale reflects Tesla’s commitment to transforming humanoid robotics into a core pillar of the company’s future.
Musk has said that Optimus will be the biggest product in the world on several occasions. He believes it will be Tesla’s biggest valuation contributor.
Tesla prepares to expand Giga Texas with new Optimus production plant
Tesla plans to build about 10 million robots at the site annually once it is completed, which would be about 27,000 units each day.
The Optimus plant at Giga Texas is part of Tesla’s phased strategy for Optimus manufacturing. In an effort to start production of the robot well before the Giga Texas plant is complete, Tesla ended production of the Model S and Model X vehicles, which were built in Fremont, California, to make way for initial Optimus manufacturing efforts.
Production there will start in either July or August of this year, and early units will support internal factory tasks while the team gathers real-world data to refine processes. The Gigafactory Texas facility will house a second-gen production line. It targets high-volume output starting in Summer 2027.
Musk has repeatedly described Optimus as potentially more valuable than Tesla’s entire vehicle business. Current versions are already completing minor tasks around various facilities, while Tesla continues to refine its abilities and add new features.
Tesla’s total investment could reach several billion dollars. Significant challenges lie ahead, including the creation of an entirely new manufacturing ecosystem, the refinement of AI systems for dependable autonomy, and the development of reliable supply chains for actuators, sensors, and other components.
Nevertheless, the visible progress at Giga Texas highlights Tesla’s capacity to translate ambitious concepts into physical reality.
Tesla’s Optimus factory stands as much more than a simple expansion project, as it is quite literally the second phase of what could potentially be the biggest product ever. With construction beginning, 2027 is poised to become a transformative year for Tesla, as it evolves even further from an electric vehicle leader into a pioneer of intelligent, general-purpose machines.
Tesla Vice President of Vehicle Engineering, Lars Moravy, recently revealed the company has thought about introducing a Plaid powertrain on the Model 3, but there could be some challenges involved.
On the Ride the Lightning podcast, Moravy revealed that he thinks about a Plaid Model 3 “all the time,” and it certainly has a place in Tesla’s potential lineup of future vehicles.
Now that the Plaid powertrain is technically defunct due to the newfound absence of the Model S and Model X, Tesla could find a way to reintroduce the lightning-quick trim level to its mass-market vehicles.
But there are going to be some challenges with it. Moravy said that the Model 3 Plaid would likely adopt the carbon-sleeved motors that the Model S Plaid had. However, packaging would be a major challenge, as Moravy said on the podcast, it would be a “tight engineering squeeze.”
It’s important to note that there are no active production plans for the Model 3 Plaid at this point, but it’s also worth noting that with the Model S and Model X Plaid no longer available, Tesla would likely be willing to introduce something that is even more white-knuckle than the Model 3 Performance, which already boasts a 2.9-second 0-60 MPH acceleration rate and a top speed of 163 MPH.
Of course, there is the Roadster, but we don’t know when that will exactly make it to market, and we know that, for sure, it will not be accessible to many.
Tesla unveils juicy new detail on the Roadster and hints at new unveil timeline
Tesla has prided itself in building some of the best cars out there, but they’re also interested in building cars that are simply fun to be in.
A Plaid Model 3 could truly push the limits and could end up being one of the best cars Tesla will ever build, especially if it can shave off at least half of a second from its 0-60 MPH time and increase its top speed slightly.
More than anything, the real changes will be in the ride and aerodynamics. Tesla improving things like the suspension, handling, and downforce will be the true trademarks of its Plaid powertrain; putting it in the Model 3 could be a great move for the company and for customers interested in high-end performance.
Elon Musk
NASA’s first human outpost on the Moon starts now – SpaceX on deck
NASA named the rovers, landers, and vendors that will build America’s first Moon Base.
NASA has laid out its most detailed Moon Base plan to date, describing a permanent outpost near the Moon’s south pole that the agency intends to build over the coming decade as a direct stepping stone to Mars. “The Moon Base will be America’s and humanity’s first outpost on another celestial world,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said, adding that every mission crewed and uncrewed “will be a learning opportunity as we return to the lunar surface, build the infrastructure to stay, and master the skills required to live and operate in one of the most demanding and dangerous environments imaginable.”
The plan is structured in three phases involving both uncrewed and crewed missions to deliver equipment, vehicles, and infrastructure to the surface, with the first three moon base missions targeted to launch before the end of 2026.
Moon Base I, targeting fall 2026, will use Blue Origin’s Blue Moon Mark 1 lander to deliver scientific instruments to the Shackleton Connecting Ridge, the same region where Artemis astronauts will land. Moon Base II will send Astrobotic’s Griffin lander carrying more than 1,100 pounds of cargo including Astrolab’s FLIP rover to begin developing mobility systems on the surface. Moon Base III will carry the Lunar Vertex science mission on Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C Trinity lander to study lunar swirls near the south pole, with ESA and Korean science payloads aboard.
On the rover side, NASA awarded Astrolab $219 million and Lunar Outpost $220 million to build the first phase of Lunar Terrain Vehicles, with both rovers targeted for deployment to the lunar surface by 2028. Astrolab’s crewed rover weighs roughly 2,000 pounds and can reach over 6 mph. Lunar Outpost’s Pegasus rover can operate autonomously or via remote control at over 9 mph. Blue Origin separately received $188 million with an option worth $280.4 million to deliver cargo landers for rover transport.
NASA also confirmed that MoonFall, a mission deploying four survey drones to scout Artemis landing sites, has selected Firefly Aerospace to build the transport spacecraft, with a 2028 launch target.
SpaceX sits at the center of that commercial layer. SpaceX holds the NASA Human Landing System contract for the Starship-derived lander that will put astronauts on the surface under Artemis IV, currently targeting 2028. Before that can happen, SpaceX must demonstrate in-orbit propellant transfer at scale, a process requiring multiple Starship tanker launches to fuel a single mission. Water ice at the lunar south pole is central to the base’s long-term viability, as it can be converted into drinking water, breathable oxygen, and rocket fuel, directly reducing dependence on Earth resupply. That resource loop becomes far more practical if Starship can land and be refueled on or near the Moon itself.
Elon Musk has publicly stated that Starship V3, which recently completed its first flight, should be capable enough for initial Mars missions. The Moon Base plan announced Tuesday is the infrastructure layer that connects everything between those two ambitions, and SpaceX is the only American company currently contracted to build the rocket that gets humans to either destination.
Tesla’s dedicated Optimus factory construction officially underway at Giga Texas
Tesla teases going Plaid Mode with the Model 3
