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Tesla Full Self-Driving changes your perception of travel — long or short
Tesla Full Self-Driving will ruin controlling your vehicle manually.
Tesla does not tell you what Full Self-Driving will do to your perception of travel. Whether your next trip is a two-minute ride up the street to the grocery store or a 1,500-mile trip across multiple states, you’ll never look at driving the same way.
This past weekend, I was lucky enough to have a new Tesla Model Y for the weekend. Equipped with the company’s Hardware 4 computer, the latest software version, and all of the new Model Y’s improvements from the legacy iteration, I knew much of my weekend would be spent testing FSD, as I have never had an extended experience with it.
By the time the weekend was over and it was time to pick up my non-Tesla car, I realized I was not ready to let go. Having the car drive me around from location to location all weekend was something I truly enjoyed, but it was more than just a convenience thing. I felt impressed, relaxed, and even, in some instances, safer.
🚨 The final leg of our trip here: FSD did a great job of navigating through this parking lot and getting us onto a highway with a very short on-ramp (a very typical part of living and driving in Pennsylvania).
Also, Autopark did a great job! I would like to see it improve by… pic.twitter.com/OBefKZKDCo
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) May 5, 2025
What Tesla Full Self-Driving Did Well
Now, before I truly begin, I do want to say that I don’t think I’ll ever feel safer than when I’m in ultimate control of the vehicle. However, a lot of things that give me stress during a drive were handled with relative ease by the car — and I was happy I didn’t have to deal with it.
One instance was merging onto a busy highway with a very short merge lane. Full Self-Driving took a no-holds-barred approach, taking the space it was given and grabbing a spot in the right lane quickly.
It was not willing to be passive, but it was also not willing to sacrifice safety. It will not wait for others to pull the trigger and go at intersections or four-way stops. If there are a few seconds of stagnation from the car and another driver in that instance, it will go, of course, proceeding safely.
It even did a handful of things I didn’t expect it to do. It would stay in the right lane if multiple on-ramps were approaching. I took it on a stretch of highway where three on-ramps are all within a mile of one another.
It passed a tractor-trailer just before we made it to the first of those three on-ramps. It stayed in that left lane after overtaking the 18-wheeler, as Driver Visualization showed more cars approaching to merge. It was one of those moments that, even though I have written about this topic for several years, was unbelievably impressive.
It not only drives people safely, but it is also considerate of other drivers, which is very impressive.
I was incredibly surprised to see my Fiancè have so much ease when it was operating.
🚨 Tesla Full Self-Driving takes my Fiancé and I to Target
Flawless drive! We’ll document the rest of our errands today! pic.twitter.com/TAx3mWmVgh
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) May 4, 2025
I figured, just because she is not as familiar with what Tesla does to make FSD better and how it works, that she would be very on edge during our rides. This was the opposite. She felt comfortable enough to look away from the road while in the passenger seat. Scrolling her phone or looking out at the blooming flowers was what she did in the car. It was no different from when I’m driving, and I think that was what was most impressive to me.
Driving after FSD
I found that picking up my car and driving manually back home truly brought me back to real life. Everyone with a Tesla and Full Self-Driving says that when you go back to another car, you feel like you’re stuck in the past.
I really did feel that way. Not only because of the aesthetic of the interior, but just because I was doing something that I just realized could be done for me with the right vehicle.
🚨 100% the truth!
Once you go FSD, you never go back! https://t.co/uq7qkgAbtA pic.twitter.com/lUN3rT2Kkl
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) May 8, 2025
While I love the car I own now, I’m still deciding whether I love it enough to keep it. To be completely honest, I have hopped around with the idea of trading in my car for the new Model Y. Whether I will or not truly depends on the next few weeks and how I feel, but I know that I will be considering it for the next few months easily.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk spotlights the Starlink rescue that got through where no cell tower could
Elon Musk spotlighted how Starlink helped rescuers reach five people stranded in Kazakhstan’s snowy mountains.
Elon Musk put a spotlight on a mountain rescue in eastern Kazakhstan on Sunday, writing “Starlink saves lives” in response to a post describing how SpaceX’s satellite internet helped five stranded people reach emergency crews.
The post from DogeDesigner, which had been viewed more than 500,000 times by Sunday afternoon, said the group’s SUV broke down about 15 kilometers from the village of Kystau Kurchum in an area with no usable mobile network. Starlink carried their call for help and kept them in contact with rescuers, who used the connection to locate them.
The rescue itself took place in October. Local outlet YK.kz reported on October 22 that Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Emergency Situations responded to the breakdown in the Kurchum district of East Kazakhstan region and noted that the group stayed in touch through Starlink. Rescuers covered roughly 100 kilometers in a Trekol, a low pressure tire vehicle built for snow and marshland, then escorted the disabled SUV back to Kystau Kurchum. Nobody needed medical attention.
Starlink saves lives
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 8, 2026
Conditions in the region were rough at the time. Kazakh broadcaster Channel 7 identified the five as hunters caught in a snow trap and said satellite communication allowed rescuers to pinpoint where they were. A spokesperson for the East Kazakhstan emergency department said a storm warning was in effect and urged residents not to leave populated areas unless necessary. The same weather stranded seven utility workers repairing power lines in the nearby Kuygan rural district, according to Tengrinews.
Kazakhstan has been one of Starlink’s more notable markets in Central Asia. Teslarati reported in 2024 that Starlink was serving 1,731 of the country’s 1,879 schools, with the country’s Education Minister saying it had set a new standard for internet service in schools.
Rescue stories like this one have followed Starlink for years, usually in places where ground networks fail or never existed in the first place. Then Florida CFO Jimmy Patronis called Starlink a “game changer” for search and rescue crews during Hurricane Milton, and SpaceX and T-Mobile switched on Starlink Direct to Cell in North Carolina to push emergency alerts to phones after Hurricane Helene.
The next target is dead zones for people who do not carry a dish at all. SpaceX is building out Starlink Mobile and earlier this week selected Qualcomm to supply core infrastructure for a planned terrestrial 5G network in the United States, which it intends to pair with its next generation satellite constellation.
Sunday’s post is at least the third time Musk has written “Starlink saves lives” on X this week, following identical posts on November 5 and November 7.
Elon Musk
SpaceX will perform Starship double catch attempt with Flight 15
SpaceX plans to attempt what will be a defining moment in rocket reusability on Starship Flight 15.
As Elon Musk announced in a recent X post, SpaceX will attempt to catch both the Super Heavy Booster and the Starship upper stage during the upcoming orbital flight. If successful, it will mark the first time that all parts of an orbital rocket return to Earth intact, a breakthrough Musk has called essential to making life multiplanetary.
SpaceX will attempt to catch both the Super Heavy booster and Starship on the upcoming flight.
If both are successful, it will mark the first time that all parts of an orbital rocket return to Earth intact.
This is the critical breakthrough needed to make life multiplanetary.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 6, 2026
Previous flights have demonstrated the tower-catch technique with Super Heavy. SpaceX has successfully caught V1 boosters three times (on Flights 5, 7, and 8), with some even reflown. The Ship upper stage has never been caught.
Returning from orbital velocity after deploying payload makes it a significantly harder challenge due to higher energy, heat loads, and the need for precise belly-flop reentry, a flip maneuver, and a final landing burn to settle between the Mechazilla tower’s chopstick arms.
Flight 15, using Booster 22 and Ship 42 (both Block 3 vehicles), is targeted for no earlier than Friday, November 13, 2026, from Orbital Launch Pad 2 at Starbase, Texas. The 75-minute window opens at 4:45 p.m. CT, pending regulatory approval. After hot staging and separation, the booster is planned to return for a catch roughly 6 minutes and 35 seconds after liftoff.
The Ship will insert into a roughly 275 km orbit, deploy 26 advanced Starlink V3 satellites, complete about 14 orbits over more than 22 hours, and—if systems check out—perform a deorbit burn, reentry, flip, and landing burn for a tower catch at approximately T+22 hours 32 minutes.
SpaceX confirms Starship 15 launch window with massive ambitions
A simulation shown during SpaceX’s October earnings call depicted the Ship descending in a belly-flop attitude, flipping upright with a short engine burn, and being captured by the arms:
From simulation to reality
SpaceX is just ONE WEEK away from attempting its most ambitious Starship catch yet https://t.co/nHrxSX6DSz
— X Freeze (@XFreeze) November 6, 2026
Contingency splashdown zones exist in the Gulf of Mexico (booster) and Pacific (Ship) if a catch is not viable. SpaceX has stressed rigorous health checks before committing the Ship to a return-to-launch-site trajectory.
Musk has described the odds of success on this first dual-catch attempt as “more likely than not,” noting a steady stream of additional flights is already scheduled if needed. Full recovery would enable rapid inspection, refurbishment, and reflight—slashing costs and supporting the high launch cadence required for Starlink expansion, lunar missions, and eventual Mars settlement.
As Musk put it, this is “the critical breakthrough needed to make life multiplanetary.”
Elon Musk
Tesla Cybercab is set to get some massive improvements
Tesla Cybercab is going to get some pretty substantial updates, including improvements to efficiency and a new color.
CEO Elon Musk said in a post on X on Saturday that Tesla would be working to refine the Cybercab even more, following the announcement during the week that the company would eliminate the Cybertruck lines within Giga Texas for more Cybercab manufacturing capacity.
“There are efficiency improvements coming that will allow for a 40kWh Cybercab pack,” Musk posted on X. “We will make this in liquid silver, so the colors are not too monotonous.”
There are efficiency improvements coming that will allow for a 40kWh Cybercab pack. We will make this in liquid silver, so the colors are not too monotonous.
The biggest thing most people fail to understand is that there are a very limited number of smart, dedicated people! They can only do so many things.
If we have to maintain a complex production line, supply chain and allocate engineering for Cybertruck, we can’t use those people or factory space and machinery for scaling Cybercab, which is the vehicle that will PROFOUNDLY transform the world of terrestrial transport!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 7, 2026
A new, more efficient model of the Cybercab will be engineered, which will only help Tesla’s profitability and margins, and it also boosts the argument for why the Cybertruck should be discontinued, at least from a business perspective.
The current Cybercab that operates in the Robotaxi platform in Austin, Texas, has a 48 kWh pack, and it sounds like Musk believes Tesla is on its way to introducing a version that has fewer cells but can manage the same workload thanks to engineering efficiencies.

Credit: Tesla
Musk also doubled down on the decision to prioritize Cybercab production over Cybertruck, which is a decision that has been extremely polarizing within the community, and many fans have made it abundantly clear that they are not particularly pleased with the plans.
“If we have to maintain a complex production line, supply chain, and allocate engineering for Cybertruck, we can’t use those people or factory space and machinery for scaling Cybercab, which is the vehicle that will PROFOUNDLY transform the world of terrestrial transport,” Musk said.
A good look at Tesla’s new Liquid Silver Cybercab, planned with a 40 kWh battery pack following new improvements
😍 https://t.co/IUYsUcCBMs
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) November 8, 2026
Cybercab is obviously Tesla’s path forward in an automotive sense. It seems that Tesla is less concerned about catering to the passenger vehicle market and is more prone to focus on transforming passenger transportation in a way that prioritizes autonomy. However, this requires some sacrifice on Tesla’s end, and the Cybertruck is unfortunately a victim of this.
Cybercab holds an extremely crucial part of Tesla’s future. With the company already revolutionizing passenger transportation once, this is the next phase, and Cybercab is the path forward.