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Tesla Gigafactory 3 is what happens when Elon Musk’s vision is taken seriously
To say that the buildout of Tesla’s Gigafactory 3 in China is fast is a gross understatement. Within a few months, Tesla’s 864,885-square meter lot in Shanghai’s Lingang Industrial Area has been transformed from a large, muddy field into a site where a massive electric car factory is taking shape. Every update of Gigafactory 3 shows the facility making visible progress. This week alone, footage from the site revealed that workers have practically completed the roof of Tesla’s general assembly building, and walls are already being set built.
Back in March, Shanghai official Chen Mingbo stated that the initial buildout of the factory should be completed by May. Considering the speed of the facility’s construction, this insane timeframe seems to be on track. If this target is accomplished, Tesla could start Model 3 trial production as early as September. That’s significantly ahead of Elon Musk’s own estimates, which pointed to initial production starting near the end of 2019. Reports from China also indicate that Gigafactory 3 could set a record for fastest factory buildout in the country.
The original timeline for Gigafactory 3 was actually far more conservative, with Tesla noting that it expected vehicle manufacturing to start roughly two years after construction begins. The timeframe, which was classic Elon Musk in the way that it is optimistic and ambitious, faced relentless skepticism in the United States. Consumer Edge Research senior auto analyst James Albertine, in a segment of Bloomberg Markets, flat-out stated that Tesla’s targets for Gigafactory 3’s construction were simply “not feasible.”
The reaction to Gigafactory 3’s initial timetable is quite reflective of the amount of skepticism and criticism thrown at Tesla and Elon Musk on a rather consistent basis. In the United States, Musk pretty much faces opposition at every turn. It is not uncommon to see reports about Tesla having a negative slant. People betting on Tesla’s failure such as short-sellers consistently accuse Musk of being a fraud as well, while mocking him on social media platforms such as Twitter for his alleged shortcomings. One particularly passionate short-seller actually received a restraining order after allegedly trespassing, harassing, and causing harm to Tesla employees.
With the drama surrounding Tesla, it is no wonder that Elon Musk wanted to take the company private last year. When Musk pitched the idea to investors, he argued that it would be a lot easier for Tesla to pursue its goals if it could operate without the short-term pressures of Wall St and the constant barrage of noise from critics that stand to receive financial gain if the electric car maker were to fall. The take-private attempt ultimately fell through after Elon Musk backed out of a ~$30 billion deal from investors that included Volkswagen AG. In the Q1 2019 earnings call, the CEO noted that a non-public Tesla will not be happening anytime soon. “Unfortunately, that ship had sailed,” Musk said.
It could be said that the nearly unbelievable pace of Gigafactory 3’s construction is what happens when Elon Musk’s ambitious vision is embraced without noise or unnecessary drama. There were no controversies among China’s workforce when Elon Musk noted that he expects electric car production to begin by the end of the year. Instead, the company’s construction partner took the CEO’s ambitious timeframe seriously and did what was necessary to build Gigafactory 3 as quickly as possible, including adopting 24/7 work. Going a step further, the country even pursued a target completion date that exceeds Elon Musk’s already ambitious timeframe. Today, Model 3 trial production is expected to start as early as September.
If there is a lesson that can be learned from Gigafactory 3, it is that visionaries such as Elon Musk could accomplish great things if their targets are supported and taken seriously. This is something that China seems to be all too willing to give Elon Musk, as could be seen when he met with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang in Beijing last January. During his meeting with Li, Musk acted like his usual self, throwing out grand ideas about Gigafactory 3 and mentioning his vision of creating a facility that acts almost like a “living being.” Li proved quite open to Musk’s ideas, even offering the CEO a ‘Chinese Green Card’ so he could openly pursue his plans in the country.
Demonstrating this point, here’s the Gigafactory 3 site in early March.
And here’s a flyby of Gigafactory 3 on May 7, 2019, roughly two months later.
Elon Musk
Starlink passes 9 million active customers just weeks after hitting 8 million
The milestone highlights the accelerating growth of Starlink, which has now been adding over 20,000 new users per day.
SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet service has continued its rapid global expansion, surpassing 9 million active customers just weeks after crossing the 8 million mark.
The milestone highlights the accelerating growth of Starlink, which has now been adding over 20,000 new users per day.
9 million customers
In a post on X, SpaceX stated that Starlink now serves over 9 million active users across 155 countries, territories, and markets. The company reached 8 million customers in early November, meaning it added roughly 1 million subscribers in under seven weeks, or about 21,275 new users on average per day.
“Starlink is connecting more than 9M active customers with high-speed internet across 155 countries, territories, and many other markets,” Starlink wrote in a post on its official X account. SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell also celebrated the milestone on X. “A huge thank you to all of our customers and congrats to the Starlink team for such an incredible product,” she wrote.
That growth rate reflects both rising demand for broadband in underserved regions and Starlink’s expanding satellite constellation, which now includes more than 9,000 low-Earth-orbit satellites designed to deliver high-speed, low-latency internet worldwide.
Starlink’s momentum
Starlink’s momentum has been building up. SpaceX reported 4.6 million Starlink customers in December 2024, followed by 7 million by August 2025, and 8 million customers in November. Independent data also suggests Starlink usage is rising sharply, with Cloudflare reporting that global web traffic from Starlink users more than doubled in 2025, as noted in an Insider report.
Starlink’s momentum is increasingly tied to SpaceX’s broader financial outlook. Elon Musk has said the satellite network is “by far” the company’s largest revenue driver, and reports suggest SpaceX may be positioning itself for an initial public offering as soon as next year, with valuations estimated as high as $1.5 trillion. Musk has also suggested in the past that Starlink could have its own IPO in the future.
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NVIDIA Director of Robotics: Tesla FSD v14 is the first AI to pass the “Physical Turing Test”
After testing FSD v14, Fan stated that his experience with FSD felt magical at first, but it soon started to feel like a routine.
NVIDIA Director of Robotics Jim Fan has praised Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (Supervised) v14 as the first AI to pass what he described as a “Physical Turing Test.”
After testing FSD v14, Fan stated that his experience with FSD felt magical at first, but it soon started to feel like a routine. And just like smartphones today, removing it now would “actively hurt.”
Jim Fan’s hands-on FSD v14 impressions
Fan, a leading researcher in embodied AI who is currently solving Physical AI at NVIDIA and spearheading the company’s Project GR00T initiative, noted that he actually was late to the Tesla game. He was, however, one of the first to try out FSD v14.
“I was very late to own a Tesla but among the earliest to try out FSD v14. It’s perhaps the first time I experience an AI that passes the Physical Turing Test: after a long day at work, you press a button, lay back, and couldn’t tell if a neural net or a human drove you home,” Fan wrote in a post on X.
Fan added: “Despite knowing exactly how robot learning works, I still find it magical watching the steering wheel turn by itself. First it feels surreal, next it becomes routine. Then, like the smartphone, taking it away actively hurts. This is how humanity gets rewired and glued to god-like technologies.”
The Physical Turing Test
The original Turing Test was conceived by Alan Turing in 1950, and it was aimed at determining if a machine could exhibit behavior that is equivalent to or indistinguishable from a human. By focusing on text-based conversations, the original Turing Test set a high bar for natural language processing and machine learning.
This test has been passed by today’s large language models. However, the capability to converse in a humanlike manner is a completely different challenge from performing real-world problem-solving or physical interactions. Thus, Fan introduced the Physical Turing Test, which challenges AI systems to demonstrate intelligence through physical actions.
Based on Fan’s comments, Tesla has demonstrated these intelligent physical actions with FSD v14. Elon Musk agreed with the NVIDIA executive, stating in a post on X that with FSD v14, “you can sense the sentience maturing.” Musk also praised Tesla AI, calling it the best “real-world AI” today.
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Tesla AI team burns the Christmas midnight oil by releasing FSD v14.2.2.1
The update was released just a day after FSD v14.2.2 started rolling out to customers.
Tesla is burning the midnight oil this Christmas, with the Tesla AI team quietly rolling out Full Self-Driving (Supervised) v14.2.2.1 just a day after FSD v14.2.2 started rolling out to customers.
Tesla owner shares insights on FSD v14.2.2.1
Longtime Tesla owner and FSD tester @BLKMDL3 shared some insights following several drives with FSD v14.2.2.1 in rainy Los Angeles conditions with standing water and faded lane lines. He reported zero steering hesitation or stutter, confident lane changes, and maneuvers executed with precision that evoked the performance of Tesla’s driverless Robotaxis in Austin.
Parking performance impressed, with most spots nailed perfectly, including tight, sharp turns, in single attempts without shaky steering. One minor offset happened only due to another vehicle that was parked over the line, which FSD accommodated by a few extra inches. In rain that typically erases road markings, FSD visualized lanes and turn lines better than humans, positioning itself flawlessly when entering new streets as well.
“Took it up a dark, wet, and twisty canyon road up and down the hill tonight and it went very well as to be expected. Stayed centered in the lane, kept speed well and gives a confidence inspiring steering feel where it handles these curvy roads better than the majority of human drivers,” the Tesla owner wrote in a post on X.
Tesla’s FSD v14.2.2 update
Just a day before FSD v14.2.2.1’s release, Tesla rolled out FSD v14.2.2, which was focused on smoother real-world performance, better obstacle awareness, and precise end-of-trip routing. According to the update’s release notes, FSD v14.2.2 upgrades the vision encoder neural network with higher resolution features, enhancing detection of emergency vehicles, road obstacles, and human gestures.
New Arrival Options also allowed users to select preferred drop-off styles, such as Parking Lot, Street, Driveway, Parking Garage, or Curbside, with the navigation pin automatically adjusting to the ideal spot. Other refinements include pulling over for emergency vehicles, real-time vision-based detours for blocked roads, improved gate and debris handling, and Speed Profiles for customized driving styles.
Starlink passes 9 million active customers just weeks after hitting 8 million
NVIDIA Director of Robotics: Tesla FSD v14 is the first AI to pass the “Physical Turing Test”
