News
Tesla terminates employee and FSD Beta tester who shared drives on YouTube
A Tesla employee and FSD Beta tester has been terminated over what the company states is a conflict of interest. The employee in question, Jon Bernal, is also the owner of the AI Addict YouTube channel, which features both casual and stress tests of Full Self-Driving Beta in real-world situations.
Over the past year, Bernal shared numerous videos of FSD Beta in action, and being one of the system’s users who typically pushes the advanced driver-assist system to its limits, some of his videos featured flaws and shortcomings in Full Self-Driving Beta’s capabilities. This included a rather dramatic video of FSD Beta 9 in downtown San Francisco, which featured several mistakes in the system’s maneuvers, as well as an actual accident involving FSD Beta 10.10 in downtown San Jose, which featured Bernal’s Model 3 hitting a traffic bollard.
Following his termination from the company, Tesla opted to cut off Bernal’s access to FSD Beta. This, according to the former employee, was despite the fact that he has not encountered any safety strikes while using the system. Bernal’s 2021 Tesla Model 3 is still equipped with the company’s Full Self-Driving suite, however, which was given to him as a free perk when he purchased the vehicle as an employee. Tesla’s FSD suite is currently offered as a $12,000 option, though it was priced at $8,000 when Bernal took delivery of his Model 3 in December 2020.
Bernal started his employment at Tesla in August 2020, working as a data annotation specialist in an office in San Mateo, California. As per records shared by the former employee to CNBC, he was later moved into the role of advanced driver assistance systems test operator. He was terminated from the company on the second week of February 2022. Prior to his dismissal, Bernal stated that managers verbally informed him that he “broke Tesla policy” and that his AI Addict YouTube channel was a “conflict of interest.”
While Bernal did previously admit in the comments section of one of his YouTube videos that he was a Tesla employee, the AI Addict channel does not prominently indicate or disclose that its host works for the EV maker. That being said, Bernal maintains that he has been transparent about his YouTube channel, even with his colleagues at Tesla. He also maintains that he has never disclosed anything in his videos that the company has not rolled out to the public.
“The FSD Beta releases I was demonstrating were end-user consumer products,” the former Tesla employee said.
While he cannot use his personal Model 3 for FSD Beta videos today, the former employee noted that he has attained access to other Teslas with FSD Beta. As such, Bernal noted that he should be able to continue his independent research and reviews. One such video has already been uploaded on the AI Addict YouTube channel, where Bernal briefly discussed his departure from Tesla before taking FSD Beta in his typical stress tests.
Despite his experiences with the EV maker, Bernal has noted that he still cares a lot about the company and what it is attempting to accomplish with products like Autopilot and FSD Beta. “I still care about Tesla, vehicle safety, and finding and fixing bugs,” he said.
Bernal’s latest video, which includes his thoughts on his departure from Tesla, could be viewed below.
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Elon Musk
Brazil Supreme Court orders Elon Musk and X investigation closed
The decision was issued by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes following a recommendation from Brazil’s Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet.
Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court has ordered the closure of an investigation involving Elon Musk and social media platform X. The inquiry had been pending for about two years and examined whether the platform was used to coordinate attacks against members of the judiciary.
The decision was issued by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes following a recommendation from Brazil’s Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet.
According to a report from Agencia Brasil, the investigation conducted by the Federal Police did not find evidence that X deliberately attempted to attack the judiciary or circumvent court orders.
Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet concluded that the irregularities identified during the probe did not indicate fraudulent intent.
Justice Moraes accepted the prosecutor’s recommendation and ruled that the investigation should be closed. Under the ruling, the case will remain closed unless new evidence emerges.
The inquiry stemmed from concerns that content on X may have enabled online attacks against Supreme Court justices or violated rulings requiring the suspension of certain accounts under investigation.
Justice Moraes had previously taken several enforcement actions related to the platform during the broader dispute involving social media regulation in Brazil.
These included ordering a nationwide block of the platform, freezing Starlink accounts, and imposing fines on X totaling about $5.2 million. Authorities also froze financial assets linked to X and SpaceX through Starlink to collect unpaid penalties and seized roughly $3.3 million from the companies’ accounts.
Moraes also imposed daily fines of up to R$5 million, about $920,000, for alleged evasion of the X ban and established penalties of R$50,000 per day for VPN users who attempted to bypass the restriction.
Brazil remains an important market for X, with roughly 17 million users, making it one of the platform’s larger user bases globally.
The country is also a major market for Starlink, SpaceX’s satellite internet service, which has surpassed one million subscribers in Brazil.
Elon Musk
FCC chair criticizes Amazon over opposition to SpaceX satellite plan
Carr made the remarks in a post on social media platform X.
U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr criticized Amazon after the company opposed SpaceX’s proposal to launch a large satellite constellation that could function as an orbital data center network.
Carr made the remarks in a post on social media platform X.
Amazon recently urged the FCC to reject SpaceX’s application to deploy a constellation of up to 1 million low Earth orbit satellites that could serve as artificial intelligence data centers in space.
The company described the proposal as a “lofty ambition rather than a real plan,” arguing that SpaceX had not provided sufficient details about how the system would operate.
Carr responded by pointing to Amazon’s own satellite deployment progress.
“Amazon should focus on the fact that it will fall roughly 1,000 satellites short of meeting its upcoming deployment milestone, rather than spending their time and resources filing petitions against companies that are putting thousands of satellites in orbit,” Carr wrote on X.
Amazon has declined to comment on the statement.
Amazon has been working to deploy its Project Kuiper satellite network, which is intended to compete with SpaceX’s Starlink service. The company has invested more than $10 billion in the program and has launched more than 200 satellites since April of last year.
Amazon has also asked the FCC for a 24-month extension, until July 2028, to meet a requirement to deploy roughly 1,600 satellites by July 2026, as noted in a CNBC report.
SpaceX’s Starlink network currently has nearly 10,000 satellites in orbit and serves roughly 10 million customers. The FCC has also authorized SpaceX to deploy 7,500 additional satellites as the company continues expanding its global satellite internet network.
Energy
Tesla Energy gains UK license to sell electricity to homes and businesses
The license was granted to Tesla Energy Ventures Ltd. by UK energy regulator Ofgem after a seven-month review process.
Tesla Energy has received a license to supply electricity in the United Kingdom, opening the door for the company to serve homes and businesses in the country.
The license was granted to Tesla Energy Ventures Ltd. by UK energy regulator Ofgem after a seven-month review process.
According to Ofgem, the license took effect at 6 p.m. local time on Wednesday and applies to Great Britain.
The approval allows Tesla’s energy business to sell electricity directly to customers in the region, as noted in a Bloomberg News report.
Tesla has already expanded similar services in the United States. In Texas, the company offers electricity plans that allow Tesla owners to charge their vehicles at a lower cost while also feeding excess electricity back into the grid.
Tesla already has a sizable presence in the UK market. According to price comparison website U-switch, there are more than 250,000 Tesla electric vehicles in the country and thousands of Tesla home energy storage systems.
Ofgem also noted that Tesla Motors Ltd., a separate entity incorporated in England and Wales, received an electricity generation license in June 2020.
The new UK license arrives as Tesla continues expanding its global energy business.
Last year, Tesla Energy retained the top position in the global battery energy storage system (BESS) integrator market for the second consecutive year. According to Wood Mackenzie’s latest rankings, Tesla held about 15% of global market share in 2024.
The company also maintained a dominant position in North America, where it captured roughly 39% market share in the region.
At the same time, competition in the energy storage sector is increasing. Chinese companies such as Sungrow have been expanding their presence globally, particularly in Europe.
Brazil Supreme Court orders Elon Musk and X investigation closed
FCC chair criticizes Amazon over opposition to SpaceX satellite plan
