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Tesla, EV makers leave gas cars in the dust with new German stimulus bill
Tesla and other electric vehicle manufacturers who have a presence in Germany are poised to benefit from the country’s new stimulus bill that is worth €130 million. The bill offers specific incentives for sustainable vehicles, while no benefits are provided for cars equipped with the internal combustion engine.
The current EV incentive is €3,000, but German officials plan to double that figure to €6,000 if the car costs less than €40,000 brand new. Also, adjusted tax benefits for EVs are now available to any vehicle that costs €60,000. Previously, the limit was €40,000.
German state governments that host automotive manufacturers initially proposed incentives of €3,000 for internal combustion engine cars, and €4,000 for electric, hybrid, and fuel cell vehicles, E Auto Info reported. Another €1,000 would be given to anyone who scrapped a gas-powered car, with an additional €1,000 if an EV was purchased after getting rid of the petrol-powered vehicle.
This proposal was declined, and Germany favored an incentivized system that allowed electric vehicle owners to have more benefits. Meanwhile, gas-powered car owners would hold no financial benefit driving their vehicles. With this, the German government appears to be encouraging EV ownership by offering incentives for driving Earth-friendly automobiles.
The only incentive in the new stimulus bill that would benefit drivers of ICE vehicles is the lowering of Value Added Tax, or VAT. This has been decreased from 19% to 16%, but this incentive also applies to electric cars. To put this into perspective, a 3% drop in VAT and a €6,000 EV incentive would bring the cost of the Tesla Model 3 Standard Range+ from €40,990 to €36,881 after taxes.
Ultimately, Tesla stands to benefit significantly from the reformed stimulus package.
Tesla is currently in the process of building its Giga Berlin facility. As of June 3, construction crews on the site have laid the first layers of concrete, and the groundbreaking of the facility is underway.
Giga Berlin will produce 500,000 vehicles annually. With this number of cars rolling out of the facility, Europe will have a dedicated Tesla production plant in the region, alleviating the need for vehicles to be imported.
German citizens stand to benefit the most from Giga Berlin. Not only is the Gigafactory located in the country, but the government incentive plan will benefit consumers who choose to drive electric cars. Not only will this move stand to help drivers, but Tesla will likely see an increase in demand due to the tax breaks and government incentives.
The full list of the stimulus package’s benefits are listed below:
- Electric vehicle tax exemption prolonged from ending in 2025 to end 2030
- Increase of vehicle tax for CO2 heavy vehicles
- A decrease in electricity cost to consumers and business
- Support of the car industry (including suppliers) R&D of 2 billion in the next two years (this is general, includes ICE)
- Support of fleet electrification for social NGOs worth €200 million
- Support of EV R&D, charging infrastructure and battery manufacturing worth 2.5 billion euros (plan to require every gas station to have charging points)
- Program to electrify commercial and public bus and truck fleets worth 1.2 billion until the end of 2021, including a subsidy for electric buses and their charging infrastructure.
- Lowering of VAT from 19% to 16% for the second half of 2020
- Increase of EV subsidy from €3,000to €6,000 until the end of 2021
Elon Musk
Tesla’s Elon Musk: 10 billion miles needed for safe Unsupervised FSD
As per the CEO, roughly 10 billion miles of training data are required due to reality’s “super long tail of complexity.”
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has provided an updated estimate for the training data needed to achieve truly safe unsupervised Full Self-Driving (FSD).
As per the CEO, roughly 10 billion miles of training data are required due to reality’s “super long tail of complexity.”
10 billion miles of training data
Musk comment came as a reply to Apple and Rivian alum Paul Beisel, who posted an analysis on X about the gap between tech demonstrations and real-world products. In his post, Beisel highlighted Tesla’s data-driven lead in autonomy, and he also argued that it would not be easy for rivals to become a legitimate competitor to FSD quickly.
“The notion that someone can ‘catch up’ to this problem primarily through simulation and limited on-road exposure strikes me as deeply naive. This is not a demo problem. It is a scale, data, and iteration problem— and Tesla is already far, far down that road while others are just getting started,” Beisel wrote.
Musk responded to Beisel’s post, stating that “Roughly 10 billion miles of training data is needed to achieve safe unsupervised self-driving. Reality has a super long tail of complexity.” This is quite interesting considering that in his Master Plan Part Deux, Elon Musk estimated that worldwide regulatory approval for autonomous driving would require around 6 billion miles.
FSD’s total training miles
As 2025 came to a close, Tesla community members observed that FSD was already nearing 7 billion miles driven, with over 2.5 billion miles being from inner city roads. The 7-billion-mile mark was passed just a few days later. This suggests that Tesla is likely the company today with the most training data for its autonomous driving program.
The difficulties of achieving autonomy were referenced by Elon Musk recently, when he commented on Nvidia’s Alpamayo program. As per Musk, “they will find that it’s easy to get to 99% and then super hard to solve the long tail of the distribution.” These sentiments were echoed by Tesla VP for AI software Ashok Elluswamy, who also noted on X that “the long tail is sooo long, that most people can’t grasp it.”
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Tesla earns top honors at MotorTrend’s SDV Innovator Awards
MotorTrend’s SDV Awards were presented during CES 2026 in Las Vegas.
Tesla emerged as one of the most recognized automakers at MotorTrend’s 2026 Software-Defined Vehicle (SDV) Innovator Awards.
As could be seen in a press release from the publication, two key Tesla employees were honored for their work on AI, autonomy, and vehicle software. MotorTrend’s SDV Awards were presented during CES 2026 in Las Vegas.
Tesla leaders and engineers recognized
The fourth annual SDV Innovator Awards celebrate pioneers and experts who are pushing the automotive industry deeper into software-driven development. Among the most notable honorees for this year was Ashok Elluswamy, Tesla’s Vice President of AI Software, who received a Pioneer Award for his role in advancing artificial intelligence and autonomy across the company’s vehicle lineup.
Tesla also secured recognition in the Expert category, with Lawson Fulton, a staff Autopilot machine learning engineer, honored for his contributions to Tesla’s driver-assistance and autonomous systems.
Tesla’s software-first strategy
While automakers like General Motors, Ford, and Rivian also received recognition, Tesla’s multiple awards stood out given the company’s outsized role in popularizing software-defined vehicles over the past decade. From frequent OTA updates to its data-driven approach to autonomy, Tesla has consistently treated vehicles as evolving software platforms rather than static products.
This has made Tesla’s vehicles very unique in their respective sectors, as they are arguably the only cars that objectively get better over time. This is especially true for vehicles that are loaded with the company’s Full Self-Driving system, which are getting progressively more intelligent and autonomous over time. The majority of Tesla’s updates to its vehicles are free as well, which is very much appreciated by customers worldwide.
Elon Musk
Judge clears path for Elon Musk’s OpenAI lawsuit to go before a jury
The decision maintains Musk’s claims that OpenAI’s shift toward a for-profit structure violated early assurances made to him as a co-founder.
A U.S. judge has ruled that Elon Musk’s lawsuit accusing OpenAI of abandoning its founding nonprofit mission can proceed to a jury trial.
The decision maintains Musk’s claims that OpenAI’s shift toward a for-profit structure violated early assurances made to him as a co-founder. These claims are directly opposed by OpenAI.
Judge says disputed facts warrant a trial
At a hearing in Oakland, U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers stated that there was “plenty of evidence” suggesting that OpenAI leaders had promised that the organization’s original nonprofit structure would be maintained. She ruled that those disputed facts should be evaluated by a jury at a trial in March rather than decided by the court at this stage, as noted in a Reuters report.
Musk helped co-found OpenAI in 2015 but left the organization in 2018. In his lawsuit, he argued that he contributed roughly $38 million, or about 60% of OpenAI’s early funding, based on assurances that the company would remain a nonprofit dedicated to the public benefit. He is seeking unspecified monetary damages tied to what he describes as “ill-gotten gains.”
OpenAI, however, has repeatedly rejected Musk’s allegations. The company has stated that Musk’s claims were baseless and part of a pattern of harassment.
Rivalries and Microsoft ties
The case unfolds against the backdrop of intensifying competition in generative artificial intelligence. Musk now runs xAI, whose Grok chatbot competes directly with OpenAI’s flagship ChatGPT. OpenAI has argued that Musk is a frustrated commercial rival who is simply attempting to slow down a market leader.
The lawsuit also names Microsoft as a defendant, citing its multibillion-dollar partnerships with OpenAI. Microsoft has urged the court to dismiss the claims against it, arguing there is no evidence it aided or abetted any alleged misconduct. Lawyers for OpenAI have also pushed for the case to be thrown out, claiming that Musk failed to show sufficient factual basis for claims such as fraud and breach of contract.
Judge Gonzalez Rogers, however, declined to end the case at this stage, noting that a jury would also need to consider whether Musk filed the lawsuit within the applicable statute of limitations. Still, the dispute between Elon Musk and OpenAI is now headed for a high-profile jury trial in the coming months.
Tesla’s Elon Musk: 10 billion miles needed for safe Unsupervised FSD
Tesla earns top honors at MotorTrend’s SDV Innovator Awards
