Lifestyle
Tesla Model 3 goes head-to-head against BMW 330i in automatic parking battle
A Tesla Model 3 was recently pitted against a 2019 BMW 330i (G20) in a practical automatic parking test, with both vehicles being required to perform a parallel parking maneuver in a relatively tight spot. The results of the comparative test were very interesting, and they all but show that not all parking assist features are created equal.
The 2019 BMW 330i is quite literally brimming with tech, being equipped with a series of safety and convenience features such as Active Guard Plus, Lane Departure Warning, Collision and Pedestrian Warning with City Braking, and of course, Parking Assistant, which is capable of automatic perpendicular and parallel parking maneuvers. The 2019 BMW 330i even includes Reversing Assistant, a clever capability that the German automaker describes as “automated reversing in confined spaces or situations where the driver does not have a clear view, such as multi-story car parks or entrances to courtyards.”
Here’s BMW’s how-to video for Parking Assistant.
The Tesla Model 3, on the other hand, features Autopark, which utilizes the vehicles’ Autopilot cameras to enable one-touch automatic parking maneuvers. Tesla’s Autopark has been around since 2015 as part of Autopilot, though the feature has since been moved to the Full Self-Driving suite. Tesla’s Autopilot and Full Self-Driving features are constantly being improved and updated through the continued training of its neural network, which gathers real-world data from the company’s fleet.
Here’s Tesla’s video demonstration for Autopark.
The test of the two vehicles’ automatic parking systems was conducted by the hosts of YouTube’s Good Drive channel. First off was the 2019 BMW 330i and its Parking Assist, which promptly ignored the parallel parking slot selected by its driver. The BMW instead attempted to park in a larger space, though its driver eventually canceled the Parking Assist maneuver due to the 330i getting too close to the vehicle in front.
The YouTube hosts gave the 2019 BMW 330i’s Parking Assistant another chance, and this time, the German sedan detected the actual spot selected by its driver. Unfortunately, the 330i didn’t recognize the space as a slot for parallel parking, resulting in the vehicle performing a perpendicular parking maneuver instead. Thus, while the BMW successfully parked itself (technically), the end result was rather awkward, with the vehicle being perpendicularly parked in a parallel parking slot.
The Tesla Model 3’s Autopark test proved a lot smoother. As soon as the automatic parking sequence was activated, the electric sedan eased into the tight parking space, making adjustments as necessary. The channel’s host later noted that while he would have managed to parallel park the car faster if he was in control of the Model 3, the Tesla’s Autopark system moved in a manner very similar to a human driver nonetheless.
Tesla is currently in the process of developing and refining its Full Self-Driving features, which Elon Musk expects will be “feature complete” by the end of the year. FSD, and in extension, Autopark, is a key component of Elon Musk’s plan to launch the Tesla Network, an autonomous ride-sharing service expected to disrupt companies such as Uber and Lyft.
Watch the Tesla Model 3 and the 2019 BMW 330i (G20) go head-to-head in an automatic parking battle in the video below.
Elon Musk escalated his monthslong feud with Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey this week, pledging that his own AI video tool will produce a competing version before the year is out. Responding to a fan-made, AI-generated clip of the ancient epic, Musk wrote on X, “Before this year ends, Grok Imagine will make a full-length movie of The Odyssey that is historically accurate and true to the art of Homer.”
In June, Musk quoted an xAI-shared trailer built entirely with Grok Imagine Video 1.5, a two-minute-plus reimagining of The Odyssey styled after a 1970s classical Hollywood epic, and predicted “full movies by the end of the year,” as Teslarati reported at the time. That trailer, built from 36 consistent shots by a single creator, was Musk’s proof of concept. This week’s pledge turns that prediction into a specific commitment, tied directly to Homer’s text rather than a generic demo.
Before this year ends, Grok Imagine will make a full-length movie of The Odyssey that is historically accurate and true to the art of Homer https://t.co/bVHzUmY9WN
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 22, 2026
When a fan separately proposed that Musk fund a live-action alternative, to “give Mel Gibson $100 million to film an Odyssey adaptation with painstakingly historically accurate ships, armour, weapons, and casting, with all dialogue taken straight from the original poem and delivered in Homeric Greek,” Musk replied with two words: “I’m down.”
The Grok Imagine pledge lands as the tool’s underlying infrastructure has changed hands. Grok is no longer a standalone product, it folded into SpaceXAI after SpaceX’s acquisition of xAI closed in February, meaning the compute behind any Odyssey production traces back to the same Colossus supercomputers now bundled into SpaceX’s pitch to investors. Musk has separately said SpaceX’s own engineering data is being fed into the next major Grok training run, a two trillion parameter model he’s called the “2T run.”
Whether Grok Imagine can sustain a feature length narrative, rather than a series of impressive individual shots, remains the open question.
Cybertruck
Tesla Mobile App gets a new feature that wrap fans are going to love
Tesla’s Summer Update removes the USB drive step from customizing your car’s digital wrap design.
Tesla’s latest 2026 Summer Update quietly closes out one of the more tedious steps in personalizing a Tesla’s digital appearance. Uploading a custom wrap design used to require a USB drive. Now it doesn’t.
The feature is listed in Tesla’s release notes as “Send Custom Wraps from Mobile App.” The company described it plainly: “Skip the USB drive and upload a custom wrap of your car from the mobile app. Instructions for creating a custom wrap here: github.com/teslamotors/custom-wraps.”
The digital wrap tool has been around since Tesla’s 2024 Holiday Update, when it launched for Cybertruck owners first, as Teslarati reported at the time. Getting a design onto the car meant formatting a USB drive, creating a folder named exactly “Wraps,” dropping in PNG files sized between 512×512 and 1024×1024 pixels and under 1 MB each, then plugging the drive in and applying the wrap through Toybox. Tesla expanded the tool to other models and renamed it from “Colorizer” to “Paint Shop” with the 2025 Holiday Update, while also adding license plate and window tint customization alongside the wraps.
Custom wraps via mobile app https://t.co/5OydZ26g9p pic.twitter.com/uexU0ZePxu
— Tesla (@Tesla) July 22, 2026
The latest Summer Update removes the USB step from that process. Owners will be able to pull a design from wherever they saved it, whether that’s a download from social media or something built from Tesla’s own GitHub templates, and push it to the car directly through the app.
Tesla reveals 2026 Summer Update with crazy fixes to Nav and more
It’s a small fix relative to the rest of this latest release, which also included expanded Grok voice commands, automatic navigation that learns regular routes, and self-driving stats inside the mobile app, all detailed in our rundown of the full Summer Update. The USB requirement was one of the more common complaints about Paint Shop since it launched. Tesla did not say when the wrap upload change would reach individual vehicles, only that the broader update is rolling out now in waves.
Elon Musk
Tesla Diner is throwing a birthday party with a Franz-signed special treat
Tesla Diner turns one on July 21 with Optimus, roller skates, and a Franz-signed hat.
Tesla is throwing its Hollywood Diner a first birthday party on July 21 and the celebration comes with a guest list of unique items, including a limited run of Tesla Diner birthday hats personally signed by Tesla Chief Designer Franz von Holzhausen for the first 50 customers who place an in-car order at midnight.
One year after lines wrapped around the block on Santa Monica Boulevard for a diner that most of the restaurant industry did not take seriously, Tesla is making the case that the concept was worth the years it took to build. The concept had been in Musk’s head since at least 2018, when he floated the idea of “an old school drive-in, roller skates and rock restaurant” on X, describing it years later as “‘Grease’ meets ‘The Jetsons’ with Supercharging.”
Tesla Optimus Gen 3 is coming to the Tesla Diner with new ambitions
What made the diner genuinely different from any restaurant that came before it was not the menu or the nostalgia. It was the ordering model. Tesla owners could place food orders directly from their vehicle’s touchscreen before arriving, a small feature that hints at something much larger on the horizon. As the Cybercab and unsupervised FSD expand across major cities, the diner model becomes a template for an entirely new kind of commerce. A robotaxi pulling in to charge does not need a human to walk up to a counter. The vehicle places the order, the food is ready on arrival, and the passenger never interrupts the experience of being driven somewhere else. It is the first glimpse of what drive-through commerce looks like when the car is doing the driving.
As Teslarati has reported, Musk signaled immediately after opening that the Hollywood location was only the beginning, posting that Tesla would expand the concept to major cities worldwide and along Supercharger corridors on long-distance routes if the first location proved successful. One year in, the birthday celebration on July 21 makes a strong case that it has. Tesla announced a full day of events including a Cybercab on display, a birthday menu, Optimus in attendance, face painting, a photo booth, roller skating servers, a light show, a Skypad DJ, and complimentary collectibles.
If Musk’s ambition holds, the Hollywood diner is year one of something much bigger. The birthday party is the proof of concept. The robotaxi fleet is the business model waiting behind it.
Tesla Diner is turning 1 on July 21st, so we’re throwing a party
Come swing by for a day full of fun:
– Cybercab on display
– Birthday menu
– @Tesla_Optimus
– Face painting for kids & adults
– Photo booth
– Servers on roller skates delivering your order
– Light show
– Skypad DJ… pic.twitter.com/TD8pOjihYs— Tesla North America (@tesla_na) July 18, 2026
SpaceX Starship just nailed something it’s never done before
Tesla’s Supercharger Diner probably just secured more locations
