

News
Tesla Giga Shanghai takes pivotal step in construction of its Phase 2 building
It appears that Tesla China has achieved a notable milestone with the construction of its Giga Shanghai facility. As indicated in recent photos from the factory’s construction site, the first pillar of the Phase 2 building was successfully installed on Sunday. This hints that the construction of the Phase 2 zone could accelerate significantly in the months to come.
Interestingly enough, the installation of Phase 2’s first pillar comes just two days before the anniversary of Phase 1’s first pillar installation. Tesla enthusiasts who have been following the progress of Giga Shanghai since its initial ground-leveling activities back in late 2018 would remember that Giga Shanghai’s construction was expedited to a great degree following the installation of Phase 1’s first pillar, which happened on March 17, 2019.
Little is known about Giga Shanghai’s Phase 2 zone, but based on drone flyovers of the site, the area appears to be extremely large. Tesla enthusiast and drone operator Jason Yang, who has been chronicling the development of the Gigafactory 3 site since its groundbreaking event in January 2019, observed in a recent video that the Phase 2 area seems to be larger than Phase 1, which corresponds to the section of of the facility that assembles the Made-in-China Model 3.
Speculations among Tesla community members point to Giga Shanghai’s Phase 2 zone potentially being utilized for the production of the Model Y crossover, or perhaps the company’s residential energy products like the Solarglass Roof tiles. Both these speculations seem quite feasible considering that China’s Model Y program has been initiated by CEO Elon Musk last January. The executive has also mentioned on Twitter that Tesla is looking to bring its residential energy products like the Solarglass Roof tiles to the Chinese market.
Amidst these reports and speculations, it would not be surprising to see significant progress in Gigafactory 3’s Phase 2 area in the coming weeks and months. This is something that has been hinted at, as local reports have suggested that the piling and foundation work for the Phase 2 zone will be completed this month, despite the country still feeling the aftereffects of the COVID-19 outbreak. It has also been suggested that the factory shell for Phase 2 will likely be completed in June, and trial production of the Model Y (or solar products for that matter) will potentially begin around October.
Watch a recent flyover of the Tesla Gigafactory Shanghai Phase 2 site in the video below.
News
Tesla features used to flunk 16-year-old’s driver license test
A license examiner in New Jersey confused one standard feature of Teslas as a way a 16-year-old excelled through his driver’s test. He failed him because of it.

In what is becoming a more common occurrence, a few Tesla features were used to flunk a 16-year-old who took his driver’s license test in New Jersey.
It is not the first time this has happened, as we have reported on several instances of this in the past, both in the U.S. and other countries in the world.
It is evidence that some officials are not caught up in the technology and innovation occurring in the automotive market, some of which is not necessarily exclusive to Tesla, but is included in each of its models, unlike other companies.
Lochlan Keefer, a New Jersey resident, showed up to his driver’s test with his dad, James, in their 2022 Tesla Model Y. However, the test did not go according to plan, according to the examiner who rode along for the test with Lochlan. They accused him of using parking and “stopping assistance” to go through the test.
The examiner cited the following as the reason for failure:
“Had the parking and stopping assistance on never stepped on the brake to stop his self let the vehicle stop it self.”
James said to NJ.com that they do not subscribe to Tesla’s Full Self-Driving suite, which includes things like Autopark, Navigate on Autopilot, and Autosteer on City Streets. These are a few of the things that have been used as reasoning to fail drivers in tests. Lochlan’s was a case of regenerative braking, which is standard on all vehicles, and Autopark:
“The examiner accused my son of using driver assistance features simply because he parallel parked smoothly on the first try. He was specifically accused of using paid parking-assist and driving features, which we do not subscribe to.”
It sounds as if the examiner may have confused the braking mishap for Tesla’s regenerative braking, which slows the vehicle when the accelerator is not pressed. The energy is then stored back in the battery to help with range.
The examiner failed Lochlan, and James asked if he could take the test again if they disabled the regenerative braking for the exam. The examiner said Lochlan would have to wait two weeks. A supervisor came out and backed the examiner, but James said the policy the DMV claimed the Keefer’s violated was nowhere to be found:
“I asked them to show me the policy they claimed we were violating. They couldn’t find it and they couldn’t cite it. When I showed them the policy, they refused to read it.”
The report states that drivers in California and Arizona have also been subjected to failures on their driving tests due to confusion over Teslas and their driver assistance features.
News
Tesla Robotaxi just got a big benefit from the U.S. government
The NHTSA is looking to help streamline the application process for companies developing driverless vehicles.

Tesla Robotaxi just got a big benefit from the U.S. Government, as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is looking to ease some rules and streamline the application process that could hinder the development and licensing of autonomous vehicles.
Tesla is set to launch its Robotaxi platform in the coming days or weeks, but regulation on autonomous vehicles is incredibly slim, so automakers are left in a strange limbo as permissions to operate are usually up to local jurisdictions.
The NHTSA still has the ultimate say, but it is now adopting a new strategy that will see companies gain an exemption from federal safety standards and streamline the entire application process.
The agency is authorized to grant exemptions to permit manufacturers to produce vehicles over a two or three-year period that might not comply with certain Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS). Robotaxi, for example, will eventually not have a steering wheel or pedals, through the Cybercab that Tesla unveiled last October.
The exemption program the NHTSA announced today would be possible through Part 555 of the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act:
“NHTSA may grant a Part 555 exemption if at least one of four bases listed in the statute is met and NHTSA determines that the exemption is consistent with the public interest and the Safety Act. The statute also authorizes NHTSA to subject an exemption to terms the agency deems appropriate and requires that NHTSA publish notice of the application and provide an opportunity to comment.”
The rapid and non-stop innovation that is being performed is tough to keep up with from a legal standpoint. The NHTSA recognizes this and says current legislation is appropriate for traditional vehicles, but not for the self-driving cars companies are producing now:
“The current Part 555 process was designed for traditional vehicles. As currently applied, this process is not well suited for processing exemptions involving ADS-equipped vehicles in a timely manner or overseeing the unique complexities involving their operations. This has resulted in long processing times for applications for ADS-equipped vehicles. NHTSA must improve its Part 555 processing times substantially to keep pace with the rapid innovation of the ADS industry and to ensure that exemptions remain effective tools for nurturing groundbreaking safety technologies.”
Now, the NHTSA will be “enhancing application instructions” to help manufacturers understand the requirements involved in the application process. This will streamline the entire process by “reducing the need for NHTSA to request additional information from the manufacturer,” the agency says.
First Tesla driverless robotaxi spotted in the wild in Austin, TX
Next, the NHTSA is going to have a more flexible approach to evaluating exemptions for ADS-equipped vehicles:
“To build flexibility into the Part 555 process while also accounting for the unique aspects of those exemptions, NHTSA intends to develop terms that could be included in Part 555 exemption grants, when appropriate, to condition operations of exempted ADS-equipped vehicles on enhanced and continuing oversight from NHTSA. NHTSA would expect to administer this enhanced oversight through letters, which could be updated over time, mirroring real-world ADS development. This will enable NHTSA to focus its initial review during the application stage and align the Part 555 oversight approach more closely to exemptions administered under NHTSA’s Automated Vehicle Exemption Program (AVEP), which have proven effective for ADS.”
This will benefit any company making autonomous vehicles, but it will especially benefit Tesla in the short-term as it is readying for the launch of Robotaxi.
Tesla is trading up 1.89 percent at the time of publication.
Part 555 Letter June 2025 by Joey Klender on Scribd
News
SpaceX produces its 10 millionth Starlink kit
The first 5 million Starlink kits took nearly four years to build.

SpaceX has achieved a major milestone, producing its 10 millionth Starlink kit. The accomplishment was celebrated across the company’s Hawthorne, California, and Bastrop, Texas, facilities.
The milestone was shared in social media by Sujay Soman, Senior Facilities Engineer, in a LinkedIn post, which has since been deleted.
Starlink Production Ramp
Soman noted in his LinkedIn post that the first 5 million Starlink kits took nearly four years to build, but the next 5 million kits were completed in just 11 months. This underscores SpaceX’s intense efforts to ramp up the satellite internet system’s production, and it reflects the private space company’s manufacturing prowess.
The SpaceX Senior Facilities Engineer shared a couple of photos of the Machine Maintenance and Facilities team in Bastrop to commemorate the event.
“Today, Starlink Product teams across our Hawthorne and Bastrop sites produced the 10th Million Starlink Kit! It took almost 4 years to build our first 5 million kits, and we doubled that in about 11 months. Monumental accomplishment!” Soman wrote in his post.

World-Changing Technology
The Starlink kits, featuring dish hardware and supporting equipment, enable users to connect to the company’s growing constellation of low Earth orbit satellites. With over 6,000 satellites launched to date, Starlink now provides fast and reliable internet connectivity to over 6 million customers worldwide. This was a significant increase from the 5 million customers that the company reported in February 2025.
SpaceX has not detailed its next production targets, but the production of Starlink’s 10 millionth kit milestone signals the company’s readiness to scale further. Being an Elon Musk-led company, SpaceX is arguably the best in the business when it comes to efficient and cost-effective manufacturing. It would then be unsurprising if SpaceX announces another Starlink production milestone soon.
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