Lifestyle
Tesla Model 3: A change is coming and it will be huge
As I’ve mentioned before, I started fantasizing about attending this event long before we knew invites would come by way of a lottery system. I stashed my little fantasy football championship winnings to help soften the blow of last minute airfare in case of a miracle. That miracle happened and the significance of it all is really starting to sink in.
What it means to Tesla
Thursday’s event will be the start of Tesla’s next chapter; their most important one yet. That is, developing a compelling and affordable long range EV. Tesla’s secret master plan, which shows a publication date of nearly 10 years ago, boils down to:
- Build sports car
- Use that money to build an affordable car
- Use that money to build an even more affordable car
- While doing above, also provide zero emission electric power generation options
- Don’t tell anyone.
This is finally it. Their moment in the spotlight is finally coming. Their mass-market car will be shown to the world, live on the internet, to the joy of enthusiasts and pain of (I presume) auto and oil execs everywhere. Once unveiled, the clock starts ticking. Tesla has but one shot to get it right. That not only means building a compelling car, which I have no doubt they will, but producing it efficiently, with a high level of quality, on time and within their promised price point. They will have to ramp up production in a manner not yet seen in automotive history, communicate at a caliber far beyond their corporate age, and figure out how to do it all while still continuing their current miracles of pushing out two of the best vehicles money can buy while simultaneously building a charging infrastructure from scratch. That was a mouthful to say so imagine what it really means for Tesla to do.
What it means to the world
Never before have we seen such a frenzied environment surrounding the ability to pay $1,000 for a place in line to buy a car that won’t even exist for 18-24 months. I’ve known of people reserving vehicles or being put on a waiting list for a future offering, such as the Hummer H2. I’ve also known scores of people who know of and await the coming of a future car model, if only to admire it. But again, we’ve never seen anything like this. I can say that before even knowing the magnitude of “this” because I, like Steve Hanley, think we will see 100,000 reservations by the end of April 1st. We’ll know the number eventually, and thus start to truly appreciate the magnitude. Here’s the thing though, Tesla’s goal was never to rule the world or be the biggest or best or most profitable automaker in the world. In fact, their mission is quite simple:
To accelerate the advent of sustainable transport by bringing compelling mass market electric cars to market as soon as possible.
Without the Model 3 even being seen yet, Tesla is already well on their way to achieving that mission. Everyone and their mother is putting out an EV, compliance car or otherwise, and we all know this little “insignificant” start up from California is a primary reason. People are starting to get it. The P85D YouTube videos went viral immediately and even the most critical gear heads can’t deny the awesomeness of that kind of acceleration. Lawmakers are starting to get it, in some cases, and are enacting laws to protect charging spaces, give parking or tax incentives or access to HOV lanes. The press is starting to get it. Most of what I come across about Tesla these days is positive. A change is coming and it will be huge. An increase in the expectation of car quality, efficiency and dealership experience will force change in the industry. A decrease of the use of gasoline could lead to political, economic and environmental changes. The implications of electrification of cars are larger than we can even imagine at this point. How many current Tesla owners invested in home solar panels after getting the car that would not have otherwise thought of doing so? How many future owners will do the same? How many new jobs can come from an increased demand in green energy? The Tesla Model 3 means exponentially more to the world than just what it as a car can offer.
Component of a Ford Model T battery
What it means to the United States
A certain mogul turned reality star turned presidential candidate likes to claim that we don’t win anymore. When it comes to the auto industry, it’s sort of true. Credit where credit is due (Ford especially) but the past few decades have seen our dominance in the industry threatened, if not decimated. Tesla is a force to be reckoned with and people across the globe are clamoring for this American car. I’ll repeat that – there is world wide demand for a car designed and built right here in the United States. Apple, should they get in the game, is also an American company. Google is too. We could be on the verge of another major shift, in that America could become the country to beat in the car game. And the Gigafactory? Thousands of jobs. A second (or third or fourth) factory elsewhere in the states would mean thousands more. More competition in the world of autonomous driving could also shape the landscape of the way our cities and people move. Again, the implications are huge and almost certainly unknown at this point, and it all rests in the hands of a successful Model 3.
Displayed next to a football signed by Connor Barwin, Philadelphia Eagle, environmentalist and Tesla owner.
What it means to me
I’ve loved cars my whole life. My first dream car was a mid 90s Dodge Intrepid. (“4.5 liter 32 valve engine”, I used to repeat to anyone who would listen.) Mine was going to be neon green with tinted windows that had rainbow sparkles. The first car I designed myself was named the Chinchilla and had a “computer” that would give you directions. The first Supercar I remember reading about in Car and Driver was the Vector Avtech, which until searching it just now, I remember as being named Antech. (Google also informed me I was 9 when it appeared at the Geneva Auto show.) A favorite memory of my late father was him taking my arm and walking me away when, at 22, my eyes widened upon the site of a t-tops Firebird at a used car lot. (I’ll admit that he was right. For my $2200 budget, that dinky 1998 Ford Escort ZX2 coupe was perfect.)
I am now fully submerged in the Tesla Kool-Aid in that I believe the Model 3 will be as significant to the history of automobiles as the Model T. Knowing that I will be there, in person to witness the unveiling, is a privilege that I will cherish for the rest of my life. In fact, it’s no accident that when someone gave me a wooden piece that belonged to a Model T’s battery system, I immediately found a prominent place to display it in my home. I’m a car nerd that has evolved into an EV nerd and can hardly put into words my excitement about being a part of history. Not just as an attendee on Thursday night but as an early Tesla owner. Yes, I realize my 2014 Model S is not considered early to this crowd, but in 30 years any Model S, Model X and even Model 3 owner will be considered an early adopter of EV technology. I will wear as a badge of honor the story of that time I got to witness history unfold before my eyes.
On a more personal level, this event also means a lot to me. I am now connected to, and greatly enriched by, every single person who has read my posts, commented, reached out to arrange to get together and even offered to pick me up from LAX. I’ve sipped tea with wonderful people, shared meals with owners’ families, spoken to curious school children and immensely enjoyed every single interaction – both online and in person – with fellow owners and enthusiasts. While Tesla in general and Model S ownership specifically has contributed to this more than the Model 3 event itself, this event is an extension of it all, a pathway to Tesla’s survival and thus the survival of this community that has taken me in and given me a voice.
Some of the features of my “Chinchilla” concept car.
Elon Musk
SpaceXAI just launched into your kitchen with their new app
SpaceXAI just powered its first consumer app and it predicts what you want to buy.
SpaceXAI just made its first move into consumer AI, and it involves your grocery cart. On June 3, 2026, Gopuff and SpaceXAI announced the launch of Go, a Grok-powered shopping assistant built directly into the Gopuff app that predicts what you need before you even start searching for it.
Gopuff is an instant delivery platform that operates more than 400 micro-fulfillment centers across the U.S., delivering everyday essentials, snacks, drinks, and household items in as little as 15 minutes. It is not a restaurant delivery app or a marketplace. It owns its inventory, controls its warehouses, and handles its own logistics, which means it has built one of the most detailed consumer behavior datasets in retail over its 13-year history.
Go combines SpaceXAI’s advanced reasoning, voice, and image generation models with Gopuff’s dataset of hundreds of millions of orders and real-time cultural signals from X to prepare a suggested cart the moment a customer opens the app. It learns each shopper’s habits and automatically builds a personalized cart based on time of day, location, order history, and real-time indicators. Returning customers can check out with a single tap.
Rather than searching for specific items, users can describe a situation like a game-day party or the desire for a healthy breakfast and Go will assemble a cart automatically. It can also predict when shoppers are running low on items like coffee or paper towels and have them packed and delivered in under 15 minutes. Grok voice integration lets users talk to the app in plain conversational language and check out completely hands-free.
Gopuff co-founder and co-CEO Yakir Gola said: “Today, we believe the greatest friction left in commerce is not delivery or instantaneous access to the essentials customers need. It’s the moment before: the thinking, the deciding, the remembering. We’re combining Gopuff’s demand intelligence with xAI’s frontier reasoning to create an everyday shopping experience that feels like a true extension of you.”
Why SpaceX just made a $60 billion bet on AI coding ahead of historic IPO
The timing carries context beyond the product launch. SpaceXAI was formed after SpaceX completed an all-stock merger with Elon Musk’s xAI earlier this year, folding one of the most advanced AI labs in the world into the same corporate structure as the company preparing what could be the largest IPO in history. SpaceXAI is dipping into consumer-focused AI just as it prepares for its public debut, and while Musk has openly discussed building an everything app, this launch uses Grok to power another company’s product rather than launching a standalone consumer platform. Every consumer-facing deployment of Grok ahead of the IPO roadshow adds tangible evidence that SpaceXAI is not just an infrastructure play but a direct competitor in the AI application layer where OpenAI and Google are already fighting for dominance.
Lifestyle
Tesla saves its passengers again – This time after a 300-foot cliff fall in Malibu
A Tesla Model 3 fell 300 feet off a Malibu cliff and both passengers survived.
A Tesla Model 3 plunged roughly 300 feet off a cliff on Mulholland Highway in Malibu on Friday morning, May 29, 2026, and both occupants survived. The crash was reported at approximately 7:30 a.m. near the 2500 block of Mulholland Highway, triggering a multi-agency rescue operation involving Malibu Search and Rescue, the Los Angeles County Fire Department, the California Highway Patrol, and McCormick Ambulance.
When first responders arrived, the male driver was outside the vehicle shouting for help while the female passenger remained pinned inside the Tesla. Rescue crews rappelled down the cliffside on ropes to reach the wreckage. A flight medic was lowered by helicopter to begin treating both victims, and the driver was hoisted up to the roadway before crews used the Jaws of Life to free the trapped passenger. Both were airlifted to a local trauma center with moderate injuries despite a remarkable result for a fall that steep.
The outcome is not surprising, considering Model 3 earned an overall 5-star rating from NHTSA in every category and sub-category, and recorded the lowest probability of injury of any car ever evaluated by the U.S. New Car Assessment Program. The absence of a traditional engine in the front of the vehicle creates a longer crumple zone that absorbs impact energy before it reaches occupants, and the battery pack running along the floor gives the car an unusually low center of gravity that reinforces structural rigidity.
This is not the first time a Tesla has kept passengers alive after going off a cliff. A Tesla Model Y carrying a family of four survived a plunge off a cliff at Devil’s Slide near San Francisco in January 2023, with two adults and two children walking away from a 250-foot fall. That incident drew widespread attention to how the structural integrity of Tesla’s electric platform performs in extreme crash scenarios that most vehicles would not survive.
Tesla Model Y driver who drove off cliff with family attempts to avoid criminal conviction
Elon Musk
NASA’s first human outpost on the Moon starts now – SpaceX on deck
NASA named the rovers, landers, and vendors that will build America’s first Moon Base.
NASA has laid out its most detailed Moon Base plan to date, describing a permanent outpost near the Moon’s south pole that the agency intends to build over the coming decade as a direct stepping stone to Mars. “The Moon Base will be America’s and humanity’s first outpost on another celestial world,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said, adding that every mission crewed and uncrewed “will be a learning opportunity as we return to the lunar surface, build the infrastructure to stay, and master the skills required to live and operate in one of the most demanding and dangerous environments imaginable.”
The plan is structured in three phases involving both uncrewed and crewed missions to deliver equipment, vehicles, and infrastructure to the surface, with the first three moon base missions targeted to launch before the end of 2026.
Moon Base I, targeting fall 2026, will use Blue Origin’s Blue Moon Mark 1 lander to deliver scientific instruments to the Shackleton Connecting Ridge, the same region where Artemis astronauts will land. Moon Base II will send Astrobotic’s Griffin lander carrying more than 1,100 pounds of cargo including Astrolab’s FLIP rover to begin developing mobility systems on the surface. Moon Base III will carry the Lunar Vertex science mission on Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C Trinity lander to study lunar swirls near the south pole, with ESA and Korean science payloads aboard.
On the rover side, NASA awarded Astrolab $219 million and Lunar Outpost $220 million to build the first phase of Lunar Terrain Vehicles, with both rovers targeted for deployment to the lunar surface by 2028. Astrolab’s crewed rover weighs roughly 2,000 pounds and can reach over 6 mph. Lunar Outpost’s Pegasus rover can operate autonomously or via remote control at over 9 mph. Blue Origin separately received $188 million with an option worth $280.4 million to deliver cargo landers for rover transport.
NASA also confirmed that MoonFall, a mission deploying four survey drones to scout Artemis landing sites, has selected Firefly Aerospace to build the transport spacecraft, with a 2028 launch target.
SpaceX sits at the center of that commercial layer. SpaceX holds the NASA Human Landing System contract for the Starship-derived lander that will put astronauts on the surface under Artemis IV, currently targeting 2028. Before that can happen, SpaceX must demonstrate in-orbit propellant transfer at scale, a process requiring multiple Starship tanker launches to fuel a single mission. Water ice at the lunar south pole is central to the base’s long-term viability, as it can be converted into drinking water, breathable oxygen, and rocket fuel, directly reducing dependence on Earth resupply. That resource loop becomes far more practical if Starship can land and be refueled on or near the Moon itself.
Elon Musk has publicly stated that Starship V3, which recently completed its first flight, should be capable enough for initial Mars missions. The Moon Base plan announced Tuesday is the infrastructure layer that connects everything between those two ambitions, and SpaceX is the only American company currently contracted to build the rocket that gets humans to either destination.
SpaceXAI just launched into your kitchen with their new app
Tesla piggybacks recent Supercharger feature with update that takes it further
