

News
Tesla set to launch a Full Self-Driving subscription service this year
Tesla is set to roll out a subscription service for its Full Self-Driving suite later this year, Elon Musk said.
During the company’s Q1 2020 Earnings Call, Musk and CFO Zachary Kirkhorn briefly confirmed the introduction of a subscription program for Full Self-Driving. The capability to acquire the company’s FSD suite in installments was mentioned as well, which could allow drivers to experience Tesla’s latest and greatest tech without having to pay the full $7,000 price tag at once.
It was recently discovered by Tesla hacker-enthusiast @greentheonly that the source code for the company’s vehicles actually contained references to a pay-as-you-go subscription model. Green stated that the pay-as-you-go plan sat within the source code for quite some time. Now it seems Tesla is planning to release the payment plan option by the end of 2020.
When asked about the possibility of a subscription service in the Q1 2020 earnings call, Musk replied, “I think we will offer Full Self-Driving as a subscription service, but it will be probably towards the end of this year.”
While this option could end up being more convenient for some owners who do not wish to pay $7,000 for FSD at once, Musk explained the advantages of purchasing the suite outright. The Tesla CEO described the act of buying FSD in one payment as an “investment in the future.”
“I should say, it will still make sense to buy FSD as an option as in our view, buying FSD is an investment in the future,” Musk said during the earnings call. “And we are confident that it is an investment that will pay off to the consumer – to the benefit of the consumer.”
CFO Zachary Kirkhorn agreed with Musk, stating that the economic benefits undoubtedly lie within a one time purchase, and not with spreading payments out over the life of the vehicle. He added, “financially, rolling the upfront purchase of the FSD option into a loan in the vehicle or a lease will be the least expensive plan on a monthly basis to own, plus you preserve the option value of increased value over time.”
While understanding the fact that it will be cheaper to purchase the FSD suite at once in the long run, some drivers may feel more comfortable with paying for the features over time as Tesla continues to develop its technologies. The company recently rolled out a Traffic Light and Stop Sign recognition feature, allowing for navigation through intersections with minimal driver interference. Other features such as inner-city driving and Reverse Summon are still yet to be released.
Tesla announced in early April that the FSD suite would be due for a price increase on July 1, 2020. It is currently unknown how much the price of the driving features will rise, but the last increase, which took place in November 2019 after Smart Summon was released, added $1,000 to the Full Self-Driving suite’s cost.
Elon Musk
A Tesla just delivered itself to a customer autonomously, Elon Musk confirms
Tesla CEO Elon Musk says the first self-delivery occurred today, one day ahead of schedule.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has confirmed that a vehicle has, for the first time ever, delivered itself to a customer autonomously, one day ahead of the company’s original schedule.
To date, this is the first car to ever roll off a production line at a factory and transport itself to a customer for delivery.
Late last month, Musk announced that the first-ever fully autonomous delivery of a Tesla would take place on June 28. The plan was to have the car roll off the production lines at Gigafactory Texas and drive to a local customer without the assistance of anyone on board or remotely controlling the car through teleoperation.
Teslas will self-deliver to customers, Elon Musk says: here’s when
Musk said on Friday that it has officially happened:
🚨 Elon Musk confirms the first Tesla to self-deliver to a customer has happened, one day ahead of schedule! https://t.co/Zvb9y4m0uu
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) June 27, 2025
The vehicle traveled as fast as 72 miles per hour, according to Ashok Elluswamy, Tesla’s Head of AI and Autopilot.
Musk continued on X:
“There were no people in the car at all and no remote operators in control at any point. FULLY autonomous! To the best of our knowledge, this is the first fully autonomous drive with no people in the car or remotely operating the car on a public highway.”
He said a video of the delivery would be uploaded soon.
We have seen cars autonomously transport themselves from production line to logistics lot at Gigafactory Texas, but this is a whole new level.
Tesla’s Giga Texas vehicles now drive themselves to outbound lot
Tesla just recently launched its Robotaxi for the first time in Austin on Sunday. Opened to a limited number of people, the company rolled out an Early Access Riders Program, but has been expanding it to more people in recent days. These cars featured a Safety Monitor in the passenger’s seat to ensure safety.
This seems to be something Tesla would like to perform more frequently in the coming months, especially locally. Eventually, it seems that Tesla will plan to have every vehicle it manufactures self-deliver, as a hauler would transport it to local delivery centers, then the car would drive itself to the customer’s house.
This is likely a few years off, but Tesla has already completed one self-delivery, which is an incredible accomplishment.
Yesterday, I wrote about Tesla’s two big milestones that are still planned for launch before the end of Q2. This was one of them. One to go: unveiling of the affordable models.
News
Tesla dispels reports that it hired ex-Cruise Autonomy head Henry Kuang
Tesla has denied reports that it hired former head of GM’s Cruise Henry Kuang.

Tesla has dispelled reports that it has hired ex-Cruise Head of Autonomy Henry Kuang.
This morning, several media outlets reported that Tesla had filled the position of Director of AI and Deep Learning for Autonomous Driving with Kuang, who was the Head of Autonomy at General Motors’ failed autonomous vehicle company, Cruise.
The rumor then circulated to X, but Tesla has now denied that those reports are true.
Tesla’s Head of Autopilot and AI, Ashok Elluswamy, revealed that the reports are false:
fake news
— Ashok Elluswamy (@aelluswamy) June 27, 2025
It would be easy to see how the hire might have been construed as real. Someone appears to have created a fake LinkedIn profile for Kuang, listing the new role at Tesla as their latest career move. The account appeared legitimate and bore all the hallmarks of a genuine page for Kuang, but it has since been removed from the site.
Additionally, there has been some rather high-level turnover at Tesla in recent days. The company recently let go of Omead Afshar, who was widely recognized as CEO Elon Musk’s right-hand man. Afshar assumed the role of North American sales head and European operations head late last year. He has been relieved of his duties, according to a Bloomberg report.
Tesla’s Omead Afshar, known as Elon Musk’s right-hand man, leaves company: reports
Alongside the loss of Afshar, Tesla’s Human Resources Head in Austin, Jenna Ferrua, also left the company this week.
This past week, Tesla launched its Robotaxi platform to a handful of people, marking the first time the company has given driverless rides to members of the public.
News
JB Straubel’s Redwood launches energy business focused on second-life EV batteries
Redwood stated that many EV battery packs retain more than 50% of their capacity after being retired from vehicles.

Redwood Materials, the battery recycling firm founded by Tesla co-founder JB Straubel, has launched a new venture called Redwood Energy. The business aims to repurpose used electric vehicle batteries into large-scale, low-cost energy storage systems.
In a post on X, Redwood revealed that it has already deployed a 12 MW, 63 MWh microgrid powered entirely by second-life EV batteries. The system is currently powering a modular data center for Crusoe AI, and it already operates at a lower cost than conventional solutions.
Repurposed batteries for scalable storage
Redwood Energy is designed to bridge the gap between battery recovery and recycling by extracting value from discarded EV packs that still hold usable charge. In a blog post, Redwood stated that many EV battery packs retain more than 50% of their capacity after being retired from vehicles. That remaining energy is well suited for stationary storage applications even without recycling.
The process begins with Redwood’s collection and diagnostics system, which identifies battery packs that are still suitable for reuse. Those packs are then integrated into modular energy systems that can store energy from solar, wind, or the grid. Once the batteries reach true end-of-life, they are recycled through Redwood’s closed-loop system to recover critical minerals.
Meeting the demands of an AI-driven grid
Redwood estimates that more than 100,000 EVs will be retired this year in the United States, with millions more currently on the road. These vehicles represent hundreds of gigawatt-hours of storage potential. These resources are coming in at the right time, as electricity demand is rising rapidly amid the rise of artificial intelligence, which tends to be power-hungry.
Redwood Energy already has more than 1 GWh of second-life batteries in its deployment pipeline. That figure is expected to grow to 5 GWh in the coming year. Larger 100 MW projects are also in development.
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