

News
Tesla co-founder shares warning about OEM’s EV focus: “They haven’t really done the math fully”
Former Tesla CTO and co-founder JB Straubel recently shared some insights about the electric vehicle revolution and the focus of OEMs on pure electric cars. While conversing with startup investor Jason Calacanis’ in an episode of YouTube’s This Week in Startups, Straubel covered several topics, including Tesla’s early days, the importance of battery recycling, and how some OEMs’ alleged complete dedication to electric vehicles may not be very well thought out at all.
As noted by Straubel, Tesla was actually quite surprised that the Model S did not cause a substantial shift among OEMs to commit fully to battery-electric cars. The Model S was designed to be the best car, period, and for all intents and purposes, it did not disappoint. However, despite the rave reviews of the Model S and the vehicle proving that electric cars could be at the pinnacle of the auto sector, legacy automakers did not make a serious shift to EVs.
“The Model S was such a different car. The Roadster was a technology validation. We proved that batteries could work, they could go on a car, they could be safe, they could do the range and acceleration. The S was a whole different thing. It was so good. We put so much effort into that. Elon was hell-bent on making it the best car on the road. And I think we really delivered on that at the time. It was phenomenal.
“I’m still amazed at the skepticism there was. Even after delivering those, we kinda imagined, I imagined, that people would see this and go ‘Clearly this is the future. This is all gonna work.’ All the car companies are gonna copy this immediately, and we’ll have to go really fast to figure out how we can carve out a niche. And it just didn’t happen. Customers loved it. It was a runaway hit with reviewers and magazines and customers, but the copying and market change didn’t happen,” Straubel said.
The automotive landscape today is different, however. With Tesla now the most valuable automaker by market cap and with Chinese car companies aggressively coming up with modern electric cars, OEMs have now adopted the narrative that they are going all-in on EVs. Straubel, however, noted that these announcements might not necessarily be realistic.
“So many different OEMs, countries, factories, customers are leaping into EVs. You know, making these huge announcements, you know, saying that they’ll be fully electric this decade or the next. They haven’t, I don’t think they’ve done the math fully. What that entails on the supply chain and tracing it all the way back, literally all the way back to the mines. You need to do that, or else, you know, you haven’t really solved it. It has the feeling to me of kind of like a giant overbooked flight.
“All these people like, ‘Oh, this is great. We’re all gonna go to that new place. We all wanna go there. It looks great. Sweet. Let’s all go on the plane and go.’ So everybody’s saying that we all wanna go there at the same time. Meanwhile, we have to sort of build the planes to get there; we have to figure out how to sequence everyone. The figurative runway is like the time to do all this, and it could all get sorted out over time. But obviously, we’re trying to do this fast as a society and as a species,” Straubel said.
Watch Straubel’s full interview with Jason Calacanis’ This Week in Startups in the video below.
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News
Tesla is improving this critical feature in older vehicles

Tesla is set to improve a critical feature that has not been present in older vehicles with a new update.
Tesla vehicles feature a comprehensive suite of driver assistance features, some of which aid in driving itself, while others support the vehicle’s surroundings.
One of those features is that of Driver Visualization, and with the rollout of a new update, owners of Intel-based Tesla vehicles are receiving an upgrade that will come with a simple software update.
Tesla plans to use Unreal Engine for driver visualization with crazy upgrade
The update will provide new visualizations while Intel-based vehicles are in reverse, a feature that was not previously available, but will be with Software Update 2025.32.2.
The improvement was spotted by Not a Tesla App via TheBeatYT_evil:
Noticed something new in 2025.32.2 on my Intel MCU + USS car with FSD.
When shifting into reverse, the full FSD visualization now stays on instead of switching to the old plain autopilot visuals.
Might be small, but it makes backing up feel more seamless. pic.twitter.com/o44levkdtM
— Beat (@TheBeatYT_evil) September 5, 2025
Previously, vehicles Tesla built were equipped with Intel-based processors, but newer cars feature the AMD chip, which is capable of rendering these visualizations as they happen. They were capable of visualizations when driving forward, but not in reverse, which is what this change resolves.
It is a good sign for those with Intel-based vehicles, as Tesla seems to be paying attention to what those cars are not capable of and improving them.
This was an undocumented improvement associated with this particular update, so you will not find any mention of it in the release notes that Tesla distributes with each update.
News
Tesla looks to make a big splash with Robotaxi in a new market
Tesla has been transparent that it is prioritizing safety, but it believes it can expand to basically any geographical location within the United States and find success with its Robotaxi suite. CEO Elon Musk said it could be available to half of the U.S. population by the end of the year.

Tesla is looking to make a big splash with Robotaxi in a new market, as the company was spotted testing validation vehicles in one region where it has not yet launched its ride-hailing service.
After launching Robotaxi in Austin in late June, Tesla followed up with a relatively quick expansion to the Bay Area of California. Both service areas are operating with a geofence that is expansive: In Texas, it is 173 square miles, while in the Bay Area, it is roughly 400 square miles.
Tesla has been transparent that it is prioritizing safety, but it believes it can expand to basically any geographical location within the United States and find success with its Robotaxi suite. CEO Elon Musk said it could be available to half of the U.S. population by the end of the year.
There have been plenty of reports out there that have speculated as to where Tesla would land next to test Robotaxi, and Nevada, Florida, Arizona, and New York have all been in the realm of possibility. These regions will need to approve Tesla for regulatory purposes before Robotaxi can officially operate.
Tesla is still testing and performing validation in several regions, and in Tempe, Arizona, things are moving forward as a Model Y with a LiDAR rig was spotted performing ground truth for the platform:
🚨 BREAKING: Just caught Tesla Robotaxi test vehicles cruising in Tempe, AZ! Rollout coming soon! pic.twitter.com/Oanw0Zx5pP
— Adub08 (@adub0808) September 10, 2025
With the LiDAR unit, many followers of the self-driving and autonomy space might wonder why Tesla uses these apparatuses during validation, especially considering the company’s stance and vision-based approach.
LiDAR is used for “ground truth,” which is basically a solidification or confirmation of what the cameras on the car are seeing. It is a great way to essentially confirm the accuracy of the vision-based suite, and will not be used on Robotaxi units used within the ride-hailing suite.
The Robotaxi platform was made available to the public earlier this month, as Tesla launched its app for iOS users.
Tesla Robotaxi app download rate demolishes Uber, Waymo all-time highs
Downloading the app allows you to join a waitlist, giving you the opportunity to utilize and test the Robotaxi platform in either Austin or the Bay Area.
News
Tesla hacker finds lifesaving FSD suggestions in 2025.32.3
The feature could drastically reduce instances of drivers operating their vehicles while distracted or exhausted.

A Tesla hacker has shared references to what could very well be lifesaving FSD suggestions in software update 2025.32.3.
The feature could drastically reduce instances of drivers operating their vehicles while distracted or exhausted.
New FSD features
As per longtime Tesla hacker @greentheonly, the EV maker’s drowsiness and lane departure suggestions in 2025.32.3 reference FSD. The hacker shared two alerts that specifically suggest the use of FSD, such as “Lane drift detected. Let FSD assist so you can stay focused,” and “Drowsiness detected. Stay focused with FSD.”
The hacker noted that the updated messages in 2025.32.3 are quite interesting because Tesla still advises drivers to be fully alert when using FSD Supervised. Thus, it is quite interesting to see the company advising users to use FSD when they seem unfocused or tired. That being said, FSD is still a supervised solution for now, but the system itself is already very capable, so the company’s updated alerts are not surprising.
Steps to FSD Unsupervised
Such warning messages would definitely make more sense once Tesla actually rolls out FSD Unsupervised. The system seems to be just waiting for regulatory approval for now, considering that it is already being used in vehicles that are coming off the production line at the Fremont Factory and Giga Texas. Tesla is also now using a driverless system for its Robotaxi services in Austin, as well as its autonomous ride-hailing service in the Bay Area.
For now, Tesla is hard at work preparing for the impending rollout of FSD V14, which Elon Musk has stated will be a notable improvement from the already-impressive performance of FSD V13. As per Musk, Teslas running FSD V14 will feel “sentient.” He also noted that the system “feels alive.”
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