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Watch Tesla’s FSD tackle water cup challenge, dirt roads in China
How does Tesla’s Full Self-Driving face off against competitors in China when it comes to smoothness and scalability?
Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) started going out for testing in China last month, representing the first market outside of North America to get the software. Amidst competition in the automated driving space from a number of other Chinese companies, Tesla’s FSD seems to be impressing in early reviews, with recent reviews highlighting both the software’s smoothness and its ability to adapt and perform well on non-traditional roads.
In a Saturday video originally posted by user 王船船 on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, a driver utilizes the Supervised FSD system while performing what’s called the “water challenge,” in which a cup of water is balanced on the driver’s side window ledge to see if driving is smooth enough to avoid spilling.
The drive spans a little more than four minutes, and the system manages to make it through without the water spilling in any substantial quantities. The driver mostly remains on city streets, but you can see a handful of quick, unexpected stops, turns, and other maneuvers that one might expect to make the cup tip completely.
The video was also reposted on X by Tesla’s main account, with the company highlighting the system’s “maximum smoothness” as demonstrated in the video. Tesla VP of AI Ashok Elluswamy also reposted the video, saying in a separate follow-up post that “FSD’s been prepared for this one.”
Maximum smoothness https://t.co/p4aM3StgRk
— Tesla (@Tesla) March 15, 2025
Although Tesla’s FSD system didn’t have access to real-world driving data from the company’s vehicles at the time of its launch in China, Elon Musk recently explained that the company used publicly available video from the internet to help pre-train FSD for Chinese streets and traffic laws.
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In addition to helping with city streets, Tesla has explained in the past that its camera- and video-based FSD neural network training makes the system easily scalable to multiple countries, fringe traffic cases, and even less traditional roads.
As another example of this in China, FSD testers also took to some dirt roads last week, showing just how well the software seems to handle some seemingly-deep and super-narrow back roads. You can see excerpts from this video below, or check out the full 25-minute version from user AE68 on Douyin.
Tesla FSD testers in China do seem to be built different. That’s some REALLY rural roads!
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) March 14, 2025
READ MORE ON TESLA CHINA: Cheaper Tesla Model Y may launch in China
Tesla’s FSD in China amidst local competition
Tesla officially launched a localized data privacy version of FSD Supervised in China last month, The launch came amidst a headstart from multiple competitors in the autonomous driving space, including from Chinese automakers Baidu, Huawei, and still others.
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The Avatr 11 electric vehicle (EV), a jointly created project from Changan New Energy, CATL, and Huawei, was recently seen being tested by Out of Spec’s Kyle Conner. The system uses Huawei’s latest automated driving system technology, Qiankun ADS 3.2, which Conner recently said was “the best driver assistance he’s ever experienced” in a recent review on his trip to China.
You can see this video and an additional video from Conner and Out of Spec discussing the emerging autonomous vehicle industry in China below. It’s also worth noting that both of these were released just a few weeks before Tesla’s first version of FSD launched in the country.
The Best FSD System In China! 1 Hour Drive Using Huawei Qiankun ADS 3.2 Installed In Avatr 11 (2/1/25)
The EV Industry Isn’t Ready For China’s FSD Breakthrough (2/2/25)
Elon Musk clarifies the holdup with Tesla Full Self-Driving launch in Europe
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SpaceX will report second quarter results after the market closes on Tuesday, August 4, marking the first time the company has opened its books to the public since its record IPO in June. Management will host a live audio only webcast at 4:30 p.m. ET, streamed on X, with no dial in option.
The debut carries more weight than a typical first quarter as a public company. Two trading days after the release, on August 6, the first tranche of SpaceX’s lockup expires, freeing roughly 911.5 million insider and employee shares, worth well over $100 billion at current prices and the largest such release in Wall Street history. A second, larger tranche tied to the stock trading 30 percent above its $135 IPO price never triggered, since shares have spent most of July trading below that price.
Wall Street’s models point to revenue near $6.9 billion for the quarter, up sharply from the $4.69 billion SpaceX reported in the first quarter, with a narrower per share loss than the $1.27 posted three months earlier, according to estimates compiled by Motley Fool. Those numbers will be the first look at how SpaceX’s three segments, Starlink, launch and AI, are performing independently.
SpaceX scores another massive Pentagon deal to support military satellites
Investors heading into the call have a specific list of questions. How many net new Starlink subscribers did SpaceX add after ending March with 10.3 million, and is average revenue per user holding up as the service expands into lower income markets. How much of the AI segment’s revenue reflects contract signings with Anthropic, Google and Reflection AI this year, deals that combined could annualize to nearly $28 billion if fully ramped. Whether capital expenditures, which nearly doubled in the AI segment alone between 2024 and 2025, are still accelerating or starting to plateau. And whether management offers any forward guidance at all, something SpaceX has never done publicly.
The report will also land days after Elon Musk publicly denied a Wall Street Journal report describing internal planning to separate Tesla’s China business ahead of a potential Tesla-SpaceX merger. Whether Musk or SpaceX executives address that speculation on the call, even indirectly, maybe something investors will be listening for on Tuesday.
As Teslarati reported after Musk’s own warning to short sellers last week, the CEO has made clear he expects skeptics to be proven wrong over time. Tuesday will be the first chance for the numbers themselves to make that case.
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Elon Musk
SpaceX’s Starship just got filmed by its own cargo
SpaceX released new footage of Starship in space captured by the Starlink satellites it deployed.
SpaceX released a new video Friday evening showing Starship from an angle showcased by its own Starlink satellites, watching the rocket drift away in orbit.
The 65 second clip, posted on X, stitches together footage from four cameras mounted on a single Starlink V3 satellite. It opens with a close view of Starship’s 171 foot upper stage, still catching sunlight, then pulls back as the two spacecraft separate.
The footage comes from Starship’s 13th flight test, which launched July 24 from Starbase after a scrubbed attempt and an abort caused by an engine issue the week before. When Flight 13 finally flew, it carried the first batch of functional Starlink V3 satellites Starship has ever deployed, twenty of them, with six equipped with cameras meant to scan the ship’s heat shield during reentry.
View of Starship in space from a Starlink V3 satellite on Flight 13.
This composite is made of imagery from four separate cameras on a single satellite. Six of the satellites were equipped with cameras to scan Starship’s heat shield and transmit imagery down to operators to… pic.twitter.com/sNTHHz5vLr
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) July 31, 2026
Flight 13 checked most of its boxes. Starship deployed all 20 satellites, relit a Raptor engine in space, and splashed down softly in the Indian Ocean off Western Australia. Musk’s longer term plan calls for a Starlink V3 constellation of 100,000 satellites, according to a recent FCC filing, with Starship as the only vehicle capable of launching them at the volume that requires. Each Starship flight is designed to carry up to 60 V3 satellites once the vehicle reaches routine service, well beyond what Falcon 9 can carry in a single mission.
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Starship is next expected to fly with an attempt at catching the ship itself with the launch tower’s mechanical arms, a maneuver SpaceX has so far reserved for the Super Heavy booster.
Tesla flexed the new features of the Model Y L with a dedicated media event at the company’s Diner on Santa Monica Boulevard in Los Angeles.
The Model Y L is the extended-wheelbase version of the all-electric crossover, which has been voted the best-selling car in the world on three occasions. The vehicle is already rolling off production lines at Gigafactory Texas, and first deliveries are slated to take place later this year.
Tesla brings Model Y L ‘Launch Series’ to the U.S. at $61,990
Teslarati was invited to the event, but due to some scheduling conflicts, we could not make it to Los Angeles. Instead, we will have our hands on a media unit sometime in August, so we’ll be able to spend some more extended time with the Model Y L.
However, plenty of those who made it to LA shared some cool features that set the Model Y L apart from the Model Y.
Multi-Row Climate Control
Tesla fitted the Model Y L with full climate control on all three rows on the front screen. It can be adjusted by selecting which row you’d like to modify on the right-hand side of the touch screen:
The Model Y L has a little row of icons on the right side of the climate screen so the front passenger can more quickly jump to whatever row they want to control. pic.twitter.com/uJS44mgCvk
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) July 30, 2026
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Better Rear Window Visibility
One of the strangest things about the Model Y, especially the Juniper iteration, is the rear window has extremely limited visibility when looking into the rearview mirror.
Tesla has improved upon this with the Model Y L:
This is a drastic difference. https://t.co/wTdhitD5aA pic.twitter.com/z6hFs0Jkss
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) July 30, 2026
PowerShare will be included
Model Y L will come with PowerShare in North America, with an 11.5kW output to your home. Tesla said it would require Powerwall 3 for operation.
Wireless Charging Pad
There has been some speculation that Tesla would upgrade the wireless charging pads in the United States, but this is not the case.
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Tesla owner fixes common feature complaint with crafty DIY retrofit
Tesla confirmed that it does not come with the cooled pads as the Y L in China does. This is because North America has not adopted Qi charging yet.
Thermal Management Improvements
These improvements in the Model Y L were seen with thermal management:
- Up to 15% faster cabin cooling
- +23% thermal efficiency gained in hot weather, 7 miles of real-world range gained
- 8x more solar energy reflection off of glass roof
- 30% reduction in solar energy entering the cabin
Some of the thermal management improvements in the new Model Y L Premium:
• Up to 15% faster cabin cooling
• Up to 15 min faster cabin cooling in sunny conditions
• +23% thermal efficiency gained in hot weather +7 miles of real-world range gained
• +10 miles recovered after… pic.twitter.com/jZirFWFdtO— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) July 31, 2026
Demand
Tesla said the Model Y L is almost sold out in the U.S. It comes with
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- 1 year of FSD Supervised
- 1 year of Supercharging
- 1 year of Premium Connectivity
- Free exterior paint color, interior, and wheel option at no additional cost
SpaceX’s biggest test yet arrives this week and it’s not a rocket launch
SpaceX’s Starship just got filmed by its own cargo
