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Tesla’s inexperienced off-road test drivers are doing a disservice to the Cybertruck (Op-ed)

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Elon Musk has noted that the Cybertruck has the potential to become Tesla’s magnum opus. The Cybertruck is designed to dominate on the pavement and off-road. With this in mind, the electric vehicle maker should probably deploy test drivers who are very experienced in rough terrain. Otherwise, Tesla runs the risk of giving the Cybertruck a stigma — one which suggests that the vehicle is inadequate when it comes to “real truck” things. 

It is no secret that Tesla already gets a lot of negative attention, and this is particularly true for the Cybertruck. The truck’s appearance alone is enough to warrant anger from critics, so any videos featuring the all-electric pickup truck failing in doing “truck things” will undoubtedly be amplified. This could be seen in social media’s reactions to the Cybertruck’s previous outing at Hollister Hills in California. 

The Hollister Hills “Steps” Run

Videos of the Cybertruck back then featured the all-electric pickup truck seemingly struggling up Hollister Hills’ “steps.” Such reactions were amplified further when videos of the Rivian R1T and the Ford F-150 Lightning were shared online, showing both electric pickup trucks taking on the Hollister Hills “steps” without as much difficulty as the Cybertruck. 

At the time, Tesla watchers noted that the Cybertruck’s difficulties in the “steps” seemed to be due to the capabilities of its driver, who did not seem very experienced in off-road settings. The Rivian R1T and Ford F-150 Lightning’s drivers, on the other hand, seemed more familiar with such scenarios. The Cybertruck ultimately received quite a bit of flak from critics for being the “worst” among the three electric pickup trucks that took on the Hollister Hills “steps.” 

Cybertruck’s Embarrassing Snowy Mishap

More recently, an even more embarrassing video of the Cybertruck has started making the rounds online. This time around, the Cybertruck could be seen getting stuck on a snowy incline. The all-electric pickup truck, which seemed to be carrying a tree on its bed, was evidently stuck, as the driver could be seen pressing on the throttle to no avail. The Cybertruck was ultimately towed out of the incline by a Ford pickup truck.

Longtime electric vehicle owners, especially those who have experience off-roading, have noted on social media that the Cybertruck’s driver could have done a number of things that could have helped prevent the vehicle getting stuck. The all-electric pickup’s tires were evidently not fit for the terrain, and the driver’s actions with the Cybertruck’s throttle gave the impression that there was a lack of off-road experience at play. Some EV watchers even noted that the Cybertruck’s lousy performance on the snowy incline was so bad that it would not have been surprising if the vehicle was being intentionally sabotaged. 

Fostering a Negative Narrative

What’s quite unfortunate is that the group that pulled out the Cybertruck actually provided some context about the incident, noting that the vehicle also had a software issue that caused its rear brakes to not act like “lockers.” The Cybertruck in the video was also a release candidate, so it had no recovery or pickup points. These comments from the group that pulled out the Cybertruck provided a good explanation behind the incident, but they did little to shift the narrative. As far as social media was concerned, the Cybertruck had another epic fail off-road, and that was it. 

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When Tesla started deliveries of the Cybertruck, CEO Elon Musk made it a point to highlight how the all-electric pickup truck is a durable and tough vehicle that could survive whatever the world could throw at it. Unfortunately, the Cybertruck has so far not shocked skeptics with its off-road prowess yet. Instead, the evident lack of off-roading experience of its test drivers is simply giving more ammo to those who only wish to see the Cybertruck fail. Hopefully, Tesla could address such issues soon, especially considering the number of EV community members who are both well-experienced in off-road settings and more than willing to help out the EV maker test out the vehicle. 

Don’t hesitate to contact us with news tips. Just send a message to simon@teslarati.com to give us a heads-up.

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 CEO Elon Musk says flying cars are coming

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Credit: Grok Imagine

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that flying cars will be coming to the market, something that his own company has hinted at previously.

Musk said on X, in response to a post that read, “We were promised flying cars and all we got is infinite superintelligence for everyone,” “You will get flying cars.”

The post rang back to when Musk teased flying and hovering capabilities for the Tesla Roadster, the company’s supercar that has been delayed more times than anyone cares to count. It was set for an unveiling earlier this year, but it was then pushed back to August. There is still no sign of it coming.

However, that does not mean it won’t. But one of the biggest features of the Roadster that was teased was a SpaceX package that featured cold gas thrusters on the rear end that would help with white-knuckle acceleration. Another set would face the ground and would help the Roadster gain small bits of altitude, potentially helpful to jump over obstacles.

Elon Musk hints at Tesla Roadster’s “hovering” abilities in SpaceX package

But it is not a straightforward thing for Musk. As a serial entrepreneur, he tends to spend his time on major disruptors; currently, his largest projects are artificial intelligence and compute power, as well as SpaceX’s launches that will eventually make life multiplanetary.

In the past, he has been critical of flying cars and has been in favor of tunnels, one of the big reasons he started the Boring Company. In 2017 at a TED talk, he said:

“There is a challenge with flying cars in that they’ll be quite noisy. The wind force generated will be very high. Let’s just say that if something’s flying over your head, if there are a whole bunch of flying cars all over the place, that is not an anxiety-reducing situation…You’re thinking, ‘Did they service their hubcap? Or is it going to come off and guillotine me as they’re flying past?'”

However, he’s never been against them. He has also said he’s in favor of both tunnels and flying cars.

Most recently, Musk said that anyone who wants a flying car should be able to get one. This was stated last October on the Joe Rogan Experience:

“My friend Peter Thiel once reflected that the future was supposed to have flying cars, but we don’t have flying cars… I think if Peter wants a flying car, we should be able to buy one.”

Whether the Roadster will be Tesla’s flying car or potentially another one remains in the mind of Musk. Of course, the Roadster will have to make its way to production lines before we find out.

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Elon Musk

SpaceX’s next trillion dollar bet has nothing to do with rockets, Musk tells staff

Elon Musk told SpaceX staff AI revenue will soon dwarf rockets and Starlink combined entirely.

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Elon Musk told SpaceX employees this week that artificial intelligence, not rockets, will soon carry the company’s revenue. In a roughly 29 minute internal address posted on SpaceX’s X account on Tuesday, Musk said AI revenue will pass every other line of business at SpaceX “probably in September” and pull further ahead by the fourth quarter.

The numbers he gave are specific. SpaceX currently runs 1.4 gigawatts of AI compute capacity. Musk wants that at 10 gigawatts by the end of 2027, a jump he tied directly to revenue: “if we bring 10GW of AI online by the end of next year, it will be $300 billion to $500 billion a year in revenue.” He called those “big numbers,” which undersells a projection larger than what most countries produce in a year.

Musk went further on where AI fits into SpaceX’s future. “Probably in four or five years, AI will be 99% of the value of SpaceX,” he told staff, adding that digital intelligence would eventually run “a trillion times” ahead of biological intelligence as computing scales. He tied that growth to the company’s founding mission, telling employees “we must win on AI, because the future is overwhelmingly AI and robots,” with the payoff meant to help fund Starship and a Mars program that increasingly runs through Terafab, the joint Tesla, SpaceX and xAI chip plant.

Elon Musk launches TERAFAB: The $25B Tesla-SpaceXAI chip factory that will rewire the AI industry

None of this is entirely new territory. SpaceX told investors much the same story during its first earnings call as a public company on August 4, where Musk moved the company’s $1 trillion revenue target up a year to 2030 and said Starlink could someday carry a majority of the world’s internet. What the all hands video adds is a hard deadline and a specific power figure Musk had not given publicly before, along with a franker pitch to his own workforce that AI, not launch cadence, is now the thing SpaceX is betting its future on.

The AI revenue itself is not coming from SpaceX training its own models. It is largely Starlink acting as the network layer for xAI’s workloads, plus SpaceX renting out compute capacity directly, the same approach behind the roughly $16 billion the company spent on AI infrastructure in a single quarter.

Musk closed the video with a pitch aimed at recruiting and retention rather than investors, telling employees that anyone who helps SpaceX win the AI race will eventually get the chance to go to the moon or Mars themselves. Whether SpaceX can turn 1.4 gigawatts into 10 in seventeen months is the more immediate question, and one that will show up in quarterly numbers well before anyone leaves Earth.

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Investor's Corner

Tesla has one big financial question to answer for investors: Morgan Stanley

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Credit: Tesla

In a new note to investors on Tuesday, Morgan Stanley analyst Andrew Percoco said that Tesla has one big financial question to answer for investors regarding its Robotaxi rollout, Full Self-Driving software, and Optimus.

Percoco said in the note that, for the most part, investors are still very positive about the direction the company is headed. However, there are some things the firm would like to see, and they have to do with financials.

Tesla (TSLA) Q2 2026 earnings results: miss on EPS, beat on revenue

Tesla bulls are more than convinced that the company’s Full Self-Driving software is proof it can develop physical AI. Financially, however, there are still some questions, especially on elevated spending, which CEO Elon Musk said would occur as the company works to roll out Robotaxi faster and continue developing its Optimus robot.

The latter two are where Tesla will have to prove progress to investors, as Percoco writes that both projects “will require clearer evidence that Robotaxi is scaling and more tangible Optimus proof points to support the ROI on elevated capex.”

Percoco said the second quarter earnings call did not change his long-term thesis of where Tesla is positioned in the AI race, which is out in front. However, there are concerns that weaker gross margins and higher R&D spend will stress financials, and that has “sharpened our (and investors’) focus on measurable progress across Robotaxi and Optimus.”

Additionally, Robotaxi still needs to be proven with more operation in existing cities while maintaining safety but improving how many rides it gives in any given time, he said. For Optimus, Percoco wrote that he is “still looking for evidence beyond commentary around SOP.”

Morgan Stanley put Percoco in charge of covering Tesla after long-time analyst Adam Jonas transitioned to the automotive side.

Currently, Morgan Stanley has a $415 price target on Tesla and a ‘Hold’ rating on the stock. It is trading at around $330 at the time of publication, which was 2:30 P.M. on the East Coast.

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