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Tesla is building an empire with Model 3 drive units, custom chips, and loyal customers
When the Tesla Semi and the next-generation Roadster were unveiled last year, Elon Musk pointed out that the whole company was built on the original Roadster, an electric car which proved that EVs could be exciting, fun, and quick. Tesla is now at a point where it could become a threat to established premium automakers; and just like how Apple built a trillion-dollar empire on the back of the iPhone, Tesla seems poised to establish its own empire through its Model 3 drive units, its custom-made chips, and its passionate consumer base.
The brilliance of the Model 3’s drive unit was recognized by Detroit veteran Sandy Munro, whose company conducted a thorough teardown and analysis of the electric sedan. While Munro noted some points for improvement with regards to the vehicle’s chassis, he was incredibly impressed with the car’s suspension, batteries, and electric motor. Recently relating his findings to Bloomberg, Munro noted that the Model 3’s electric motor is a “game changer,” and that “everyone should be benchmarking (it).” The entire subframe where the drive unit is housed even detaches cleanly from the Model 3, seemingly allowing DIY enthusiasts in the future to resurrect drive units from damaged vehicles by using them for electric car conversions.
Tesla recently shared images of the Model 3’s drive system after being tested for over 1 million miles. Images of the drive system’s gears suggest that there was very little wear and tear despite extensive testing. With this in mind, Tesla’s idea of using the Model 3’s drive unit to power upcoming vehicles like the Semi and the Model Y, or possibly even the Tesla Truck and the upcoming compact car, could pay off in spades for the company. If teardowns of the Model 3 are any indication, after all, the electric car’s drive unit could very well be reliable, easy to manufacture, and even swappable if the need arises. It could, in a way, be a building block in Tesla’s emerging empire.
Beyond the Model 3’s drive units, Tesla is also starting to dip its feet into creating its custom chip. Such a strategy is very much in line with Tesla’s character, considering that the company already manufactures many of its vehicles’ components in-house. In an interview with Yahoo Finance last week, ARK Invest CEO and CIO Cathie Wood noted that the electric car maker’s initiatives towards the creation of its own hardware are a “replay of Apple.” Wood notes that in the same way Apple’s innovations with the iPhone pushed the tech giant to create its own silicon, Tesla’s progress with the intelligent tech in its vehicles are driving the electric car maker to design and build its own chips.
“This is a replay of Apple. Apple was moving so fast with the smartphone that it had to design its own chip to move that fast. This is what has happened to Tesla. Nvidia chips will be in mostly every other autonomous vehicle to hit the market. But Musk has a vision for this market that needs (a) faster, better, cheaper, sooner (solution) – and so he designed it himself,” Wood noted.
Elon Musk is optimistic about the potential of Tesla’s custom silicon. Designed by a team led by Pete Bannon, who used to work for Apple, Musk noted that Tesla’s custom hardware would be ” the world’s most advanced computer designed specifically for autonomous operation.” This custom chip, which would be included in Tesla’s Hardware 3, will be rolled out to all production cars in around six months; and if Tesla’s other in-house solutions are any indication, the introduction of its upcoming silicon would likely allow the company to establish a lead against rival automakers who are also dabbling in self-driving initiatives.
While Tesla’s vehicles and their components make the company a formidable player in the car industry, it is perhaps its dedicated consumer base that makes Tesla downright threatening to traditional auto. It is quite rare to see a car company command such a devoted following, though considering Tesla’s stance in the auto industry today, the strong brand loyalty displayed by Tesla owners is not very surprising at all. As Tesla grew over the years, after all, the company has practically transformed itself into an entity that is far more than a carmaker or a battery storage provider. Tesla has become a movement of sorts, populated by electric car owners who are willing to pay it forward when needed. This was shown in the final weeks of Q3, when owners mobilized to help the company deliver as many vehicles as it could before September ended.
The Tesla community’s dedication to the company’s mission and vision were in full force earlier this month as well, as 36 Tesla Owner’s Clubs from nine countries convened in Fremont, CA to meet and strategize initiatives that can help support the growing number of electric car owners across the globe. Denver Tesla Club President Sean M. Mitchell, who attended the meeting, believes that the source of enthusiasm among electric car owners is multifold. For one, the company was able to integrate technology in a way that made even something as ordinary as driving exciting once more. Sean also notes that the company’s grass-roots marketing approach, which relies primarily on word-of-mouth, fosters a very authentic and honest relationship among owners.
It remains to be seen if Tesla would be succeed in its mission to accelerate the world’s transition to renewable energy. That said, the company’s strategy in its electric vehicle business seems to be working, as legacy carmakers such as Porsche and Jaguar are starting to fully embrace the idea of a zero-emissions fleet. Companies such as Audi and Mercedes-Benz have also begun offering premium electric vehicles of their own. In South Australia, Tesla’s big battery is also triggering a clean energy movement, with similar renewable projects now underway after the Powerpack farm proved to be effective. Ultimately, Tesla’s empire might not be as tangible or evident today, but the components that would make it are already there, steadily growing.
Tesla is being sued by the family of the woman who was killed in a Texas crash involving a Model 3. The driver, who is also being sued, claimed the vehicle was operating on Autopilot mode, but Tesla executives have come out challenging that claim, stating that the driver of the vehicle overrode the system.
The lawsuit was filed by 76-year-old Martha Avila’s daughter and her husband, who allege a “design defect” involving a Tesla and a failure to warn. The suit alleges negligence against Tesla and the driver, Michael Butler.
Butler “stated he was operating with an automated driving assistance system engaged at the time of the crash,” the Harris County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. He showed no signs of intoxication and was cooperative, the Sheriff’s Office said, according to NBC News.
Just after reports of the crash and numerous headlines that immediately blamed Tesla’s Autopilot suite, both Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Head of AI Ashok Elluswamy challenged that. Musk said the crash made “no sense” given that Tesla Autopilot and Full Self-Driving do not travel at the speeds the door cameras captured the car traveling at, which Tesla says was 73 MPH.
Tesla finally clarifies fatal Texas crash, confirms driver manually overrode acceleration
Elluswamy also revealed that Tesla data showed Butler overrode the system by pressing the accelerator to 100%, and that the pedal was compressed fully even after the car had crashed. Tesla has not released this data to the public, likely because it is communicating with agencies like the NHTSA on an investigation.
The suit uses a Washington Post analysis of government data that “identified at least 17 fatal incidents linked to Tesla Autopilot.”
This is far from the first time an accident has been blamed on Autopilot. A fatal crash in Texas was blamed on Autopilot several years ago, but when Tesla released data to the NTSB, which was investigating the crash, Autopilot was not available where the crash occurred, and Autosteer was never enabled, meaning the car was manually controlled at the time of the accident.
“Application of the accelerator pedal was found to be as high as 98.8 percent,” the NTSB said in their findings. The highest recorded speed in the five seconds leading up to the impact was 67 miles per hour. The area where the crash occurred is residential, and Texas State laws… pic.twitter.com/XGD97NHVZ2
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) March 18, 2026
More information on the accident will be released as Tesla works with agencies to find the cause of the crash. From personal experience, it is hard to imagine Tesla Autopilot or FSD operating in this manner. It drives sometimes too cautiously in residential areas in parking lots, at least in my experience. Speeding happens, but at this rate in this type of area, it is hard to believe.
We look forward to more details being released with time.
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has awarded the 2025-2026 Tesla Cybertruck crew cab pickup its highest honor: Top Safety Pick+. This marks the Cybertruck as the only full-size pickup to achieve this distinction in recent evaluations.
The award applies specifically to vehicles built after April 2025, following structural upgrades including front underbody reinforcements and footwell modifications.
These changes enabled strong performance in updated crash tests. The Cybertruck earned “Good” ratings in the small overlap front (driver and passenger sides), updated moderate overlap front, and updated side tests—core requirements for the Top Safety Pick+ designation.
It also secured acceptable or good headlights across trims and a “Good” rating for its standard front crash prevention system in pedestrian scenarios, along with acceptable or good performance in vehicle-to-vehicle testing.
The Cybertruck avoided every single pedestrian collision, including:
- Daytime child crossing
- Nightitime adult crossing
- Night parallel adult
In IIHS pedestrian front crash prevention tests, @Cybertruck avoided every single collision – daytime, nighttime & different angles
It was also the only pickup to earn Top Safety Pick+ (highest award) in 2026https://t.co/BNPqT9TbsW pic.twitter.com/M6nwDisBFK
— Tesla (@Tesla) June 24, 2026
In the large pickup category, competitors such as the Toyota Tundra received only a standard Top Safety Pick, while the Ford F-150 and Ram 1500 did not qualify for either award. This positions the Cybertruck as a standout in occupant protection and crash avoidance among its peers.
Credit: IIHS
Ironically, the same vehicle celebrated for superior U.S. safety performance remains banned from public roads in the United Kingdom and much of Europe. Regulators there cite the Cybertruck’s sharp external edges and highly rigid stainless-steel construction as failing pedestrian-protection standards. European and UK rules require rounded surfaces on protruding parts to minimize injury risk in collisions with vulnerable road users.
Critics also point to the truck’s substantial weight and unyielding body structure, which some argue could transfer more force to other vehicles or pedestrians rather than absorbing it.
Tesla’s engineering philosophy underpins the Cybertruck’s strong IIHS results. The vehicle features a distinctive stainless-steel exoskeleton made from ultra-hard 30X cold-rolled stainless steel. This provides exceptional structural rigidity and a robust safety cage that resists deformation in side impacts and rollovers.
Engineers designed integrated load paths to channel crash forces away from the occupant compartment while allowing controlled energy absorption in key zones. Post-April 2025 refinements to the front underbody further optimized performance in overlap crashes.
Complementing the passive structure is Tesla’s advanced active safety suite, including the standard Collision Avoidance Assist system with automatic emergency braking. This contributed directly to the vehicle’s strong front crash prevention scores. The skateboard platform and low center of gravity also enhance stability and handling, reducing the likelihood of certain crashes.
The IIHS recognition highlights how Tesla’s combination of high-strength materials, structural innovation, and software-driven safety systems can deliver top-tier protection in rigorous testing. While global regulatory differences on design and pedestrian interaction continue to limit the Cybertruck’s availability outside North America, its U.S. safety credentials set a new benchmark for full-size pickups.
Elon Musk
SpaceX’s newest Starmind will make earth data centers obsolete
Elon Musk confirmed Starmind as SpaceX’s AI satellite constellation name, targeting one million orbital compute nodes.
Elon Musk confirmed that Starmind will be the official name of SpaceX’s planned AI satellite constellation, following a trademark filing by xAI that surfaced earlier this week. Starmind is what’s being described to the FCC as a constellation of up to one million AI satellites
It’s worth noting that SpaceX’s Starlink communication satellite and Starmind are built on the same orbital infrastructure concept but serve entirely different purposes. Starlink is a connectivity network, with satellites receiving and relaying data between points on Earth, and functioning as a high-speed internet backbone in space. The satellites themselves do not process or think, and move information from one place to another, the same function a fiber cable performs underground.
SpaceX just forced Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile to team up for the first time in history
Starmind, on the other hand, is something completely different, and tather than moving data, its satellites would compute data through artificial intelligence and directly in orbit using onboard processors powered by large solar arrays. Where a Starlink satellite is essentially a very fast pipe, a Starmind satellite is a server. The practical implication is that Starmind would allow AI models to run inference, process queries, and generate outputs from space, then beam results down to users anywhere on Earth within milliseconds, and without the data ever needing to travel to a terrestrial data center.
Starship will be able to carry 30 to 50 AI1 satellites per launch, delivering the equivalent of dozens of server racks per flight, with no land acquisition, no power grid approval, and no cooling infrastructure required on the ground.
SpaceX is pursuing this new technology as terrestrial data centers are running into hard limits such as lack of physical space, community opposition, and power and water consumption at a scale that is increasingly difficult to permit. Space has unlimited solar power, natural vacuum cooling, and no zoning boards. Musk said in a June 8 video presentation that he expects space to become the lowest-cost location to deploy AI compute within two to three years. Two AI1 prototypes are scheduled to launch in early 2027, with volume production targeted for the end of that year at a new facility called Gigasat.
The real world applications Starmind enables extend well beyond powering Grok. A constellation of orbiting AI processors could run inference workloads for any paying customer, anywhere on Earth, with latency measured in milliseconds rather than the seconds associated with ground-based cloud routing across continents. Starmind, if it scales as described, would make SpaceX the landlord of AI compute the same way Starlink made it the landlord of satellite internet.
Tesla and driver sued by family of woman killed in Texas crash: what we know
Tesla Cybertruck is officially the safest pickup, IIHS says
