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Tesla Gigafactory 4 purchase contract could be completed by end of 2019

Tesla factory in Tilburg, Netherlands. (Credit: Tesla)

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6 years ago

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Recent reports have emerged suggesting that Tesla may complete its purchase contract for the site of Gigafactory 4, which is located near Berlin in Germany, before the end of 2019. A special meeting of the Finance Committee about the facility’s permit could be held as early as the week before Christmas, at around the 17th of 18th of December. The recent recent update was related by Brandenburg’s Finance Minister Katrin Lange (SPD) during a meeting on Thursday.

Elon Musk aims to start producing the Tesla Model Y crossover at the Germany-based site as early as 2021. This is an ambitious target, and one that would be challenging considering that the electric car maker would still need to wait for a lengthy test procedure from the country’s authorities before the upcoming facility could be built. 

That being said, the district of Oder-Spree, where Gigafactory 4 will be located, wants the project to move quickly. This was related by Landrat Rolf Lindemann in a previous statement to the German Press Agency. “We stand rifle by foot. When the first planning documents arrive tomorrow, we start immediately,” Lindemann said. 

Lindemann explained that the district will proceed with care when adhering to Gigafactory 4’s legal framework. The District Administrator further noted that he is optimistic about Tesla’s factory, considering that the area had already been planned for a BMW facility back in 2001. “This is already the development plan for this type of industrial use,” he said. 

It should be noted that the area Tesla is aiming to acquire for Gigafactory 4 requires approval from conservation groups. In comments to the German Press Agency, National Chairman of the Brandenburg Nature Conservation Union Friedhelm Schmitz-Jersch stated that the development plans for the site that were granted for BMW’s potential facility would need to be re-examined, particularly as the flora and fauna in the area may have changed since 2001. “One must now grasp which species worth protecting are there. Is what was then still valid today?” he said. 

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Tesla, for its part, has stated that it intends to plant three times as many trees that it would uproot for Gigafactory 4’s construction.

Tesla’s Gigafactory 4 came as a surprise announcement from CEO Elon Musk during a recent visit to Germany. Musk was in the country to accept the Golden Steering Wheel Award for the Model 3, and while speaking with the host of the ceremony, the Tesla CEO dropped the news that Gigafactory 4 will be constructed in the country. An engineering and design center will also be constructed in Berlin. 

“Everyone knows that German engineering is outstanding, for sure. That’s part of the reason why we are locating our Gigafactory Europe in Germany. We are also going to create an engineering and design center in Berlin, because Berlin has some of the best art in the world,” Musk said.

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Simon is an experienced automotive reporter with a passion for electric cars and clean energy. Fascinated by the world envisioned by Elon Musk, he hopes to make it to Mars (at least as a tourist) someday. For stories or tips--or even to just say a simple hello--send a message to his email, simon@teslarati.com or his handle on X, @ResidentSponge.

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Tesla adds new feature that will be great for crowded parking situations

This is the most recent iteration of the app and was priming owners for the slowly-released Holiday Update.

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3 hours ago

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December 10, 2025

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Credit: Grok

Tesla has added a new feature that will be great for crowded parking lots, congested parking garages, or other confusing times when you cannot seem to pinpoint where your car went.

Tesla has added a new Vehicle Locator feature to the Tesla App with App Update v4.51.5.

This is the most recent iteration of the app and was priming owners for the slowly-released Holiday Update.

While there are several new features, which we will reveal later in this article, perhaps one of the coolest is that of the Vehicle Locator, which will now point you in the direction of your car using a directional arrow on the home screen. This is similar to what Apple uses to find devices:

In real time, the arrow gives an accurate depiction of which direction you should walk in to find your car. This seems extremely helpful in large parking lots or unfamiliar shopping centers.

Getting to your car after a sporting event is an event all in itself; this feature will undoubtedly help with it:

Tesla’s previous app versions revealed the address at which you could locate your car, which was great if you parked on the street in a city setting. It was also possible to use the map within the app to locate your car.

However, this new feature gives a more definitive location for your car and helps with the navigation to it, instead of potentially walking randomly.

It also reveals the distance you are from your car, which is a big plus.

Along with this new addition, Tesla added Photobooth features, Dog Mode Live Activity, Custom Wraps and Tints for Colorizer, and Dashcam Clip details.

All in all, this App update was pretty robust.

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Tesla CEO Elon Musk shades Waymo: ‘Never really had a chance’

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4 hours ago

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December 10, 2025

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla CEO Elon Musk shaded Waymo in a post on X on Wednesday, stating the company “never really had a chance” and that it “will be obvious in hindsight.”

Tesla and Waymo are the two primary contributors to the self-driving efforts in the United States, with both operating driverless ride-hailing services in the country. Tesla does have a Safety Monitor present in its vehicles in Austin, Texas, and someone in the driver’s seat in its Bay Area operation.

Musk says the Austin operation will be completely void of any Safety Monitors by the end of the year.

With the two companies being the main members of the driverless movement in the U.S., there is certainly a rivalry. The two have sparred back and forth with their geofences, or service areas, in both Austin and the Bay Area.

While that is a metric for comparison now, ultimately, it will not matter in the coming years, as the two companies will likely operate in a similar fashion.

Waymo has geared its business toward larger cities, and Tesla has said that its self-driving efforts will expand to every single one of its vehicles in any location globally. This is where the true difference between the two lies, along with the fact that Tesla uses its own vehicles, while Waymo has several models in its lineup from different manufacturers.

The two also have different ideas on how to solve self-driving, as Tesla uses a vision-only approach. Waymo relies on several things, including LiDAR, which Musk once called “a fool’s errand.”

This is where Tesla sets itself apart from the competition, and Musk highlighted the company’s position against Waymo.

Jeff Dean, the Chief Scientist for Google DeepMind, said on X:

“I don’t think Tesla has anywhere near the volume of rider-only autonomous miles that Waymo has (96M for Waymo, as of today). The safety data is quite compelling for Waymo, as well.”

Musk replied:

“Waymo never really had a chance against Tesla. This will be obvious in hindsight.”

Tesla stands to have a much larger fleet of vehicles in the coming years if it chooses to activate Robotaxi services with all passenger vehicles. A simple Over-the-Air update will activate this capability, while Waymo would likely be confined to the vehicles it commissions as Robotaxis.

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Tesla AI5 project begins to move forward

According to a new report from Sedaily, Samsung is accelerating its preparation for U.S. production of the AI5 chips by hiring veteran engineers for its Customer Engineering team.

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5 hours ago

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December 10, 2025

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla supplier Samsung is preparing to manufacture the AI5 chip, which will launch the company’s self-driving efforts even further, with its latest move.

According to a new report from Sedaily, Samsung is accelerating its preparation for U.S. production of the AI5 chips by hiring veteran engineers for its Customer Engineering team, which will help resolve complex foundry challenges, stabilize production and yields, and ensure manufacturing goes smoothly for the new project.

The hiring push signals that Tesla’s AI5 project is moving forward quickly at Samsung, which was one of two suppliers to win a contract order from the world’s leading EV maker.

TSMC is the other. TSMC is using its 3nm process, reportedly, while Samsung will do a 2nm as a litmus test for the process.

The different versions are due to the fact that “they translate designs to physical form differently,” CEO Elon Musk said recently. The goal is for the two to operate identically, obviously, which is a challenge.

Some might remember Apple’s A9 “Chipgate” saga, which found that the chips differed in performance because of different manufacturers.

The AI5 chip is Tesla’s next-generation hardware chip for its self-driving program, but it will also contribute to the Optimus program and other AI-driven features in both vehicles and other projects. Currently, Tesla utilizes AI4, formerly known as HW4 or Hardware 4, in its vehicles.

Tesla teases new AI5 chip that will revolutionize self-driving

AI5 is specialized for use by Tesla as it will work in conjunction with the company’s Neural Networks, focusing on real-time inference to make safe and logical decisions during operation.

Musk said it was an “amazing design” and an “immense jump” from Tesla’s current AI4 chip. It will be roughly 40 times faster, and have 8 times the raw compute, with 9 times the memory capacity. It is also expected to be three times as efficient per watt as AI4.

AI5 will make its way into “maybe a small number of units” next year, Musk confirmed. However, it will not make its way to high-volume production until 2027. AI5 is not the last step, either, as Musk has already confirmed AI6 would likely enter production in mid-2028.

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