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Tesla Giga Berlin property had WW2 bomb, will be detonated nearby

Credit: Tesla Manufacturing/Facebook

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Tesla’s factory in Germany, known as Giga Berlin, had a bomb from World War 2 near its property, which will be detonated nearby in a “controlled manner.”

Authorities found a 250-kilogram bomb in the forest next to Tesla’s factory, which was identified as an explosive from World War 2. German media outlet RBB first reported the story.

Safety is the ultimate concern for local authorities, not only because of the manufacturing plant and its employees but also because protestors have been living in the woods on property in protest of Tesla’s expansion of Giga Berlin, which was approved last month.

Plans are to transport and detonate the bomb on Saturday between 7 a.m. and 3 p.m. local time. Local authorities will close down two state roads, but the A10 motorway and the RE1 railway line will remain open and active.

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The report states the bomb is located where Tesla’s planned freight station tracks are expected to be laid.

“Work to investigate the contamination of the bomb began in mid-June,” a spokesperson for the Brandenburg Ministry of the Environment said on Thursday. She also stated that further examination of the grounds for more ammunition would be conducted to ensure the grounds were clear.

Although the explosive being found is surprising, it is not uncommon.

Tesla first started developing the land for Giga Berlin in late 2019 after announcing the plans for the factory earlier that year.

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In December 2019, surveying teams were tasked with examining the land plot, which was suspected to be filled with vintage bombs on the site that needed to be dealt with before construction could begin.

Tesla Gigafactory 4 clearing team may need to deal with World War II aerial bombs

By January, the crews had found nearly 190 pounds of bombs from World War 2, which were all detonated in the latter part of the month.

I’d love to hear from you! If you have any comments, concerns, or questions, please email me at joey@teslarati.com. You can also reach me on Twitter @KlenderJoey, or if you have news tips, you can email us at tips@teslarati.com.

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Joey has been a journalist covering electric mobility at TESLARATI since August 2019. In his spare time, Joey is playing golf, watching MMA, or cheering on any of his favorite sports teams, including the Baltimore Ravens and Orioles, Miami Heat, Washington Capitals, and Penn State Nittany Lions. You can get in touch with joey at joey@teslarati.com. He is also on X @KlenderJoey. If you're looking for great Tesla accessories, check out shop.teslarati.com

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SpaceX pursues 5G-level connectivity with Starlink Mobile V2 expansion

SpaceX noted that the upcoming Starlink V2 satellites will deliver up to 100 times the data density of the current first-generation system.

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Credit: SpaceX

SpaceX has previewed a major upgrade to Starlink Mobile, outlining next-generation satellites that aim to deliver significantly higher capacity and full 5G-level connectivity directly to mobile phones.

The update comes as Starlink rebrands its Direct-to-Cell service to Starlink Mobile, positioning the platform as a scalable satellite-to-mobile solution that’s integrated with global telecom partners.

SpaceX noted that the upcoming Starlink V2 satellites will deliver up to 100 times the data density of the current first-generation system. The company also noted that the new V2 satellites are designed to provide significantly higher throughput capability compared to its current iteration.

“The next generation of Starlink Mobile satellites – V2 – will deliver full cellular coverage to places never thought possible via the highest performing satellite-to-mobile network ever built. 

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“Driven by custom SpaceX-designed silicon and phased array antennas, the satellites will support thousands of spatial beams and higher bandwidth capability, enabling around 20x the throughput capability as compared to a first-generation satellite,” SpaceX wrote in its official Starlink Mobile page. 

Thanks to the higher bandwidth of Starlink Mobile, users should be able to stream, browse the internet, use high-speed apps, and enjoy voice services comparable to terrestrial cellular networks. 

In most environments, Starlink says the upgraded system will enable full 5G cellular connectivity with a user experience similar to existing ground-based networks.

The satellites function as “cell towers in space,” using advanced phased-array antennas and laser interlinks to integrate with terrestrial infrastructure in a roaming-like architecture. 

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“Starlink Mobile works with existing LTE phones wherever you can see the sky. The satellites have an antenna that acts like a cellphone tower in space, the most advanced phased array antennas in the world that connect seamlessly over lasers to any point in the globe, allowing network integration similar to a standard roaming partner,” SpaceX wrote.

Starlink Mobile currently operates with approximately 650 satellites in low-Earth orbit and is active across more than 32 countries, representing over 1.7 billion people through partnerships with mobile network operators. Starlink Mobile’s current partnerships span North America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Oceania, allowing reciprocal access across participating nations.

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Tesla FSD (Supervised) fleet passes 8.4 billion cumulative miles

The figure appears on Tesla’s official safety page, which tracks performance data for FSD (Supervised) and other safety technologies.

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (Supervised) system has now surpassed 8.4 billion cumulative miles.

The figure appears on Tesla’s official safety page, which tracks performance data for FSD (Supervised) and other safety technologies.

Tesla has long emphasized that large-scale real-world data is central to improving its neural network-based approach to autonomy. Each mile driven with FSD (Supervised) engaged contributes additional edge cases and scenario training for the system.

Credit: Tesla

The milestone also brings Tesla closer to a benchmark previously outlined by CEO Elon Musk. Musk has stated that roughly 10 billion miles of training data may be needed to achieve safe unsupervised self-driving at scale, citing the “long tail” of rare but complex driving situations that must be learned through experience.

The growth curve of FSD Supervised’s cumulative miles over the past five years has been notable. 

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As noted in data shared by Tesla watcher Sawyer Merritt, annual FSD (Supervised) miles have increased from roughly 6 million in 2021 to 80 million in 2022, 670 million in 2023, 2.25 billion in 2024, and 4.25 billion in 2025. In just the first 50 days of 2026, Tesla owners logged another 1 billion miles.

At the current pace, the fleet is trending towards hitting about 10 billion FSD Supervised miles this year. The increase has been driven by Tesla’s growing vehicle fleet, periodic free trials, and expanding Robotaxi operations, among others.

With the fleet now past 8.4 billion cumulative miles, Tesla’s supervised system is approaching that threshold, even as regulatory approval for fully unsupervised deployment remains subject to further validation and oversight.

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Elon Musk fires back after Wikipedia co-founder claims neutrality and dubs Grokipedia “ridiculous”

Musk’s response to Wales’ comments, which were posted on social media platform X, was short and direct: “Famous last words.”

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UK Government, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Elon Musk fired back at Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales after the longtime online encyclopedia leader dismissed xAI’s new AI-powered alternative, Grokipedia, as a “ridiculous” idea that is bound to fail.

Musk’s response to Wales’ comments, which were posted on social media platform X, was short and direct: “Famous last words.”

Wales made the comments while answering questions about Wikipedia’s neutrality. According to Wales, Wikipedia prides itself on neutrality. 

“One of our core values at Wikipedia is neutrality. A neutral point of view is non-negotiable. It’s in the community, unquestioned… The idea that we’ve become somehow ‘Wokepidea’ is just not true,” Wales said.

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When asked about potential competition from Grokipedia, Wales downplayed the situation. “There is no competition. I don’t know if anyone uses Grokipedia. I think it is a ridiculous idea that will never work,” Wales wrote.

After Grokipedia went live, Larry Sanger, also a co-founder of Wikipedia, wrote on X that his initial impression of the AI-powered Wikipedia alternative was “very OK.”

“My initial impression, looking at my own article and poking around here and there, is that Grokipedia is very OK. The jury’s still out as to whether it’s actually better than Wikipedia. But at this point I would have to say ‘maybe!’” Sanger stated.

Musk responded to Sanger’s assessment by saying it was “accurate.” In a separate post, he added that even in its V0.1 form, Grokipedia was already better than Wikipedia.

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During a past appearance on the Tucker Carlson Show, Sanger argued that Wikipedia has drifted from its original vision, citing concerns about how its “Reliable sources/Perennial sources” framework categorizes publications by perceived credibility. As per Sanger, Wikipedia’s “Reliable sources/Perennial sources” list leans heavily left, with conservative publications getting effectively blacklisted in favor of their more liberal counterparts.

As of writing, Grokipedia has reportedly surpassed 80% of English Wikipedia’s article count.

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