Tesla is planning to expand its Model Y production lines at the Fremont facility located in Silicon Valley, California.
According to two applications that were spotted on Fremont’s Public Access website, there are several planned advancements of “General Assembly 4.5,” which has been designated for Model Y production at the production facility.
In the past, GA 4.5 was also responsible for the production of the Model 3 sedan in late 2018. GA 4.5 is effectively an outdoor tent that Tesla placed outside of the main building. It currently holds five production lines, with the most recent being installed in September 2019. Tesla planned to expand GA 4.5 in April 2020 but had to find solutions to handle stormwater drainage.
The applications are named “4.5 Expansion Rev 1” and “F20-0048-F DCM2 Arch & MEP.” DCM2 could refer to a second die-cast machine in GA 4.5 that will allow the Model Y to be manufactured with a single-piece casting design.
“The current version of Model Y has basically two big high-pressure die-cast [HPDC] aluminum castings that are joined, and there’s still a bunch of other bits that are attached. Later this year. We’ll transition to the rear underbody being a single-piece casting that also integrates the rear crash rails,” CEO Elon Musk said earlier this year.
The IDRA OL6100 CS, dubbed as the “Giga Press.” (Credit: IDRA)
It was reported in early June that Tesla was planning to purchase the massive “Giga Press” for Model Y production. But now, the name of the application seems to infer that Tesla is planning to install a second die-cast machine for the Model Y to increase production volume.
Additionally, the F20-0048-F DCM2 Arch & MEP application shows Tesla’s planned expansion of a new “canopy structure” that will connect to the main assembly building.
The expansion is broken down into Mechanical, Process, and Controls.
Mechanical
“Process cooling water & natural gas piping distribution design from existing ab utility mains to new casting area outside. Industrial water to serve process equipment. New cooling tower & distribution pump added to existing ab cooling tower yard.”
Process
“Installation of soft water system with distribution piping & accessories. Installation of new compressed air header with filters, distribution & accessories. Installation of new argon and nitrogen distribution with accessories. Installation of new trade waste piping from the tie point inside the building to dcm2 area with pipes, pumps & accessories.”
Controls
“Installation of new sensors on chilled water lines to monitor & control process Installation & networking of new VFD’s to provide control of cooling tower.”
Tesla is preparing for a massive push of the Model Y crossover as demand for the company’s vehicles continues to increase. After delivering 90,650 cars in Q2 2020, the next step is to begin increasing production and delivery figures to sustain growth and increase the consecutive streak of profitable quarters for the electric automaker.
In early June, Musk indicated via email to Fremont employees that the company needed to continue to increase the production of the Model Y by stating that rectifications were to be minimized and that everyone’s effort was appreciated. “I want you to know that it really makes a difference to Tesla right now,” the Tesla frontman said in the email.
After ditching the plans to produce the Standard Range Model Y due to range deficiencies, Tesla can focus on the Long Range and Performance configurations of the vehicle, which have been widely popular within the community thus far.
Tesla’s Long Range and Performance Model Y variants are available for $49,990 and $59,990 respectively.
Elon Musk
Starlink passes 9 million active customers just weeks after hitting 8 million
The milestone highlights the accelerating growth of Starlink, which has now been adding over 20,000 new users per day.
SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet service has continued its rapid global expansion, surpassing 9 million active customers just weeks after crossing the 8 million mark.
The milestone highlights the accelerating growth of Starlink, which has now been adding over 20,000 new users per day.
9 million customers
In a post on X, SpaceX stated that Starlink now serves over 9 million active users across 155 countries, territories, and markets. The company reached 8 million customers in early November, meaning it added roughly 1 million subscribers in under seven weeks, or about 21,275 new users on average per day.
“Starlink is connecting more than 9M active customers with high-speed internet across 155 countries, territories, and many other markets,” Starlink wrote in a post on its official X account. SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell also celebrated the milestone on X. “A huge thank you to all of our customers and congrats to the Starlink team for such an incredible product,” she wrote.
That growth rate reflects both rising demand for broadband in underserved regions and Starlink’s expanding satellite constellation, which now includes more than 9,000 low-Earth-orbit satellites designed to deliver high-speed, low-latency internet worldwide.
Starlink’s momentum
Starlink’s momentum has been building up. SpaceX reported 4.6 million Starlink customers in December 2024, followed by 7 million by August 2025, and 8 million customers in November. Independent data also suggests Starlink usage is rising sharply, with Cloudflare reporting that global web traffic from Starlink users more than doubled in 2025, as noted in an Insider report.
Starlink’s momentum is increasingly tied to SpaceX’s broader financial outlook. Elon Musk has said the satellite network is “by far” the company’s largest revenue driver, and reports suggest SpaceX may be positioning itself for an initial public offering as soon as next year, with valuations estimated as high as $1.5 trillion. Musk has also suggested in the past that Starlink could have its own IPO in the future.
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NVIDIA Director of Robotics: Tesla FSD v14 is the first AI to pass the “Physical Turing Test”
After testing FSD v14, Fan stated that his experience with FSD felt magical at first, but it soon started to feel like a routine.
NVIDIA Director of Robotics Jim Fan has praised Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (Supervised) v14 as the first AI to pass what he described as a “Physical Turing Test.”
After testing FSD v14, Fan stated that his experience with FSD felt magical at first, but it soon started to feel like a routine. And just like smartphones today, removing it now would “actively hurt.”
Jim Fan’s hands-on FSD v14 impressions
Fan, a leading researcher in embodied AI who is currently solving Physical AI at NVIDIA and spearheading the company’s Project GR00T initiative, noted that he actually was late to the Tesla game. He was, however, one of the first to try out FSD v14.
“I was very late to own a Tesla but among the earliest to try out FSD v14. It’s perhaps the first time I experience an AI that passes the Physical Turing Test: after a long day at work, you press a button, lay back, and couldn’t tell if a neural net or a human drove you home,” Fan wrote in a post on X.
Fan added: “Despite knowing exactly how robot learning works, I still find it magical watching the steering wheel turn by itself. First it feels surreal, next it becomes routine. Then, like the smartphone, taking it away actively hurts. This is how humanity gets rewired and glued to god-like technologies.”
The Physical Turing Test
The original Turing Test was conceived by Alan Turing in 1950, and it was aimed at determining if a machine could exhibit behavior that is equivalent to or indistinguishable from a human. By focusing on text-based conversations, the original Turing Test set a high bar for natural language processing and machine learning.
This test has been passed by today’s large language models. However, the capability to converse in a humanlike manner is a completely different challenge from performing real-world problem-solving or physical interactions. Thus, Fan introduced the Physical Turing Test, which challenges AI systems to demonstrate intelligence through physical actions.
Based on Fan’s comments, Tesla has demonstrated these intelligent physical actions with FSD v14. Elon Musk agreed with the NVIDIA executive, stating in a post on X that with FSD v14, “you can sense the sentience maturing.” Musk also praised Tesla AI, calling it the best “real-world AI” today.
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Tesla AI team burns the Christmas midnight oil by releasing FSD v14.2.2.1
The update was released just a day after FSD v14.2.2 started rolling out to customers.
Tesla is burning the midnight oil this Christmas, with the Tesla AI team quietly rolling out Full Self-Driving (Supervised) v14.2.2.1 just a day after FSD v14.2.2 started rolling out to customers.
Tesla owner shares insights on FSD v14.2.2.1
Longtime Tesla owner and FSD tester @BLKMDL3 shared some insights following several drives with FSD v14.2.2.1 in rainy Los Angeles conditions with standing water and faded lane lines. He reported zero steering hesitation or stutter, confident lane changes, and maneuvers executed with precision that evoked the performance of Tesla’s driverless Robotaxis in Austin.
Parking performance impressed, with most spots nailed perfectly, including tight, sharp turns, in single attempts without shaky steering. One minor offset happened only due to another vehicle that was parked over the line, which FSD accommodated by a few extra inches. In rain that typically erases road markings, FSD visualized lanes and turn lines better than humans, positioning itself flawlessly when entering new streets as well.
“Took it up a dark, wet, and twisty canyon road up and down the hill tonight and it went very well as to be expected. Stayed centered in the lane, kept speed well and gives a confidence inspiring steering feel where it handles these curvy roads better than the majority of human drivers,” the Tesla owner wrote in a post on X.
Tesla’s FSD v14.2.2 update
Just a day before FSD v14.2.2.1’s release, Tesla rolled out FSD v14.2.2, which was focused on smoother real-world performance, better obstacle awareness, and precise end-of-trip routing. According to the update’s release notes, FSD v14.2.2 upgrades the vision encoder neural network with higher resolution features, enhancing detection of emergency vehicles, road obstacles, and human gestures.
New Arrival Options also allowed users to select preferred drop-off styles, such as Parking Lot, Street, Driveway, Parking Garage, or Curbside, with the navigation pin automatically adjusting to the ideal spot. Other refinements include pulling over for emergency vehicles, real-time vision-based detours for blocked roads, improved gate and debris handling, and Speed Profiles for customized driving styles.
Starlink passes 9 million active customers just weeks after hitting 8 million
NVIDIA Director of Robotics: Tesla FSD v14 is the first AI to pass the “Physical Turing Test”
