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Tesla FSD buyers in Europe request HW3 clarity after multiple retrofit delays
Austria-based Raffael Helmhart was one of the Tesla Model 3’s early adopters in his area. Placing his reservation for the all-electric sedan back in April 2016, Helmhart waited over three years before he could get behind the wheel of his Model 3. Such a wait was long, but it was somewhat expected considering Tesla’s challenges in producing and delivering the vehicle.
Helmhart ultimately took delivery of his 2019 Model 3 Long Range Dual Motor AWD in May 2019. His vehicle came loaded with the Full Self-Driving suite, which includes some features and the promise of more advanced automated capabilities over time. Perhaps due to his early reservation, Helmhart’s Model 3 came with Hardware 2.5, the iteration of the company’s Autopilot computer that preceded Hardware 3, a custom computer unveiled on Autonomy Day.
Similar to fellow Model 3 buyers in the United States who also purchased the Full Self-Driving suite, Helmhart and his fellow Tesla owners in Europe were promised a HW3 retrofit. Reports of initial Hardware 3 retrofits for Model S and Model X owners in the US were reported by members of the electric vehicle community in the third quarter of 2019. Model 3 owners with HW2.5 were provided the promised HW3 retrofit soon after.
For Model 3 owners in Europe, the story unfortunately turned out quite different. Initially, Tesla’s official website noted that HW2.5 to HW3 retrofits in Europe would be initiated in early March 2020. This date was eventually updated to the end of March 2020, before being moved once more to July 2020. Much to the chagrin of Tesla owners with HW2.5 Model 3s, the date on Tesla’s site for the promised retrofit was later updated to October 2020, and later, to the end of October 2020.
Recently, Tesla’s site was updated once more, and it noted that HW3 retrofits for Model 3 owners with HW2.5 in Europe were expected in Q2 2021.
Needless to say, Tesla Model 3 early adopters in the region who purchased the FSD suite are getting their patience tested. This became particularly notable in Autumn 2020, when Tesla owners in Norway, the Netherlands, and Switzerland received their HW3 upgrade. Model 3 owners in the rest of Europe only received an updated expected retrofit date.
https://twitter.com/tesla_adri/status/1370828412382760960?s=20
As for Helmhart, he eventually opted to sell his 2019 Model 3 to Denmark a few months ago. He opted to switch to a 2021 Model 3, which featured refresh elements like new headlights, a new center console, a heat pump, and of course, HW3. In a statement to Teslarati, the Tesla owner stated that while it is often claimed that the HW3 upgrade doesn’t really do anything in Europe considering the region’s regulations, his experience with his 2021 Model 3 suggests that this may not really be the case.
For one, there are already a number of key features requiring HW3 that are pertinent for Europe-based Tesla owners. One of these is traffic sign recognition, which works even with basic Autopilot. FSD-specific features such as Traffic Light and Stop Sign Control, a key Full Self-Driving feature and a pivotal part of Tesla’s inner-city driving system, is also allowed in Europe despite the region’s strict regulations. The FSD Preview visualizations are now accessible as well. Ultimately, it appears that the HW3 upgrade does provide a number of improvements to the Tesla ownership experience, and it is one that Tesla Model 3 owners with HW2.5 in Europe continue to wait for until today.
Hopefully, Tesla could straighten out its HW3 retrofit rollout strategy for the majority of Europe. Elon Musk, after all, has always maintained that Tesla’s success is in no small part due to the faith of early adopters who chose to take a chance on a company with little experience building cars. As Tesla grows into one of the world’s most formidable carmakers and the market’s dominating EV force, there is very little reason why perennial delays on after-sales programs such as the HW3 retrofit are still happening.
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SpaceX just got the green light Starship has waited years for
The FAA has cleared Starship Flight 14, setting up SpaceX’s first orbital attempt on Monday.
SpaceX has cleared the last regulatory hurdle standing between Starship and its first trip to orbit. The Federal Aviation Administration issued the launch license for Starship Flight 14 late Saturday, keeping the mission on track for liftoff Monday, September 28, from Pad 2 at Starbase, Texas.
The 75 minute launch window opens at 7:15 a.m. Central, and Boca Chica Beach closures are also scheduled for September 29 and 30 as backup dates. This will be Starship’s first revenue generating mission.
The license was the missing piece after SpaceX completed a full wet dress rehearsal with Booster 21 and Ship 41 on September 24. At the time, the company said the flight remained on track pending regulatory approval. Because Flight 14 flies an orbital profile, the FAA had to sign off on a modified license that met its safety, payload and financial responsibility requirements.
Observers combing through the new FAA paperwork also noticed that lightning no longer appears among Starship’s listed launch hazards. If that holds, it matters more for where Starship is headed than for Monday’s attempt. Florida and Louisiana, home to LC-39A and the planned Starbase Louisiana site, see some of the most frequent lightning in the United States.
SpaceX tells the FCC that Starship Flight 14 is going to orbit
Flight 14 is the mission SpaceX has been building toward for months. Ship 41 will carry 26 Starlink V3 satellites, the first operational V3 units to be deployed, and attempt roughly six orbits at about 275 kilometers over a flight lasting just under 10 hours. SpaceX says the ship will only perform its orbital insertion burn after flight controllers confirm enough hardware redundancy remains for the deorbit burn at the end of the mission. Ship 41 is targeting a splashdown in the Pacific west of Chile, while Super Heavy will return to the Gulf of Mexico.
The date carries some symbolism as well. A Monday launch would come 10 years and one day after Elon Musk first presented the Interplanetary Transport System, the design that became Starship, at the International Astronautical Congress in Guadalajara, Mexico.
SpaceX has not announced what comes next, but air traffic planning slides reported this week, list Flight 15 no earlier than October 19 and a first Starship launch from LC-39A in Florida no earlier than October 30. Both dates depend on how Monday goes.
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SpaceX completes another secret Pentagon launch, adding to suspected Starshield buildout
SpaceX launched the classified USSF-385 mission from Vandenberg, landing its booster on a tenth flight.
SpaceX launched another classified mission for the U.S. Space Force from California early Saturday morning, and the Falcon 9 booster that carried it landed on a drone ship in the Pacific for the tenth time. The USSF-385 mission lifted off from Space Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base at 7:00 a.m. PT.
Booster B1100 touched down on Of Course I Still Love You roughly eight and a half minutes after liftoff. It was the booster’s tenth flight and tenth successful landing, following the NROL-95 national security mission and eight Starlink launches. Its previous flight, a Starlink Group 15 mission on August 22, came just 35 days earlier. SpaceX ended its livestream shortly after the landing, which is standard for classified payloads, and neither the company nor the Space Force has said what the rocket carried.
Watch Falcon 9 launch the USSF-385 mission from pad 4E in California https://t.co/CAdbx85Ydy
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) September 26, 2026
USSF-385 is the fourth Space Force launch from the same Vandenberg pad in roughly six weeks, following USSF-366 on August 15, USSF-153 on September 10, and USSF-259 on September 17. When SpaceX flew USSF-366 in August, independent trackers noted that the rocket’s stage drop zones matched SpaceX’s Starlink Group 15 missions, pointing to Starshield, the government version of the Starlink satellite bus. The Space Force later cataloged 23 satellites after both USSF-366 and USSF-153, while USSF-259 placed 17 satellites into a different orbital plane, per KeepTrack. Launch databases describe USSF-385 the same way, though the payload remains officially unidentified.
The cadence lines up with the contracts, because in July, the Space Force awarded SpaceX $1.6 billion in task orders for 18 Falcon 9 missions from Vandenberg through the end of 2027. SpaceX also holds contracts to build pieces of that same network, which pushed its Pentagon contract total for 2026 past $8 billion.
Saturday’s flight was also the sixth and final Falcon 9 launch from Vandenberg in September, according to Spaceflight Now, while only one Falcon 9 flew from the East Coast this month as SpaceX shifts its Florida infrastructure toward Starship. Launch trackers list it as SpaceX’s 112th mission of 2026 and the 108th Falcon 9 flight of the year, with SLC-4E turned around about six and a half days after its previous launch.
The West Coast pad will not stay quiet for long, considering SpaceX has another Starlink mission scheduled from SLC-4E on September 30. Meanwhile, in Texas, the company is two days away from Starship Flight 14, which is targeting Monday at 7:15 a.m. CT for the vehicle’s first attempt to reach orbit.
News
Tesla hints at new Roadster design in surprise clip
Tesla ended its Semi event with a Roadster teaser revealing a new front light bar.
Tesla closed out its Semi event in Nevada on Thursday night with a nod to its own history, dropping a short Roadster teaser that suggests the production car will look noticeably different from the prototype first shown in 2017.
“We can’t have a Semi event without the Roadster,” Tesla engineering executive Lars Moravy told the crowd before the clip played. The line was a deliberate callback. Tesla first revealed the next generation Roadster in November 2017 by driving it out of the back of a Semi trailer at the truck’s original unveiling in Hawthorne, California.
The new video opens on trailer doors swinging apart in the dark. A thin white light bar glows across what appears to be the nose of the car, Tesla and SpaceX logos flash over the frame, and the Roadster name appears before the clip ends on “See you next week.” Tesla posted the nine second clip on X after the livestream wrapped.
See you next week pic.twitter.com/BT52bGVxFu
— Tesla (@Tesla) September 25, 2026
The light bar is the most concrete design detail so far. The 2017 prototype used two separate curved headlamp pods, while a connected front light strip would bring the Roadster in line with the Cybertruck, Cybercab, Semi, and refreshed Model Y. Sawyer Merritt was among the first to point out what looked like part of a SpaceX logo in the video, something Tesla has not addressed.
That logo fits the buildup around the optional SpaceX Package, which Elon Musk has long said would use cold gas thrusters to improve acceleration and possibly allow the car to briefly leave the ground. Tesla’s “Go for launch” post on September 12 set the October 1 date, and invitations sent to reservation holders place the event in Waco, Texas, at 8:30 p.m. Eastern. Waco sits roughly 20 minutes from SpaceX’s McGregor rocket test site, where the FAA has put a temporary flight restriction in place from September 18 through October 2, covering a 1.5 nautical mile radius from the surface up to 10,000 feet.
Tesla is also taking money ahead of the reveal. The company reopened Roadster reservations earlier this week with a $5,000 refundable card payment, followed by a $45,000 wire transfer due within 10 days. That puts buyers at $50,000 committed before Tesla has published a price.
The original pitch set a high bar: 0 to 60 mph in 1.9 seconds before any upgrades, 620 miles of range, a top speed above 250 mph, and production in 2020. That timeline has slipped repeatedly, and Tesla has since pointed to production at Gigafactory Texas no earlier than 2027. The company has said next Thursday’s event will include pricing, specifications, and production targets, the three details original reservation holders have been waiting on for nearly nine years.
SpaceX just got the green light Starship has waited years for
SpaceX completes another secret Pentagon launch, adding to suspected Starshield buildout
