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Tesla owner smashes glass roof in strange conversion project

Credit: YouTube | Danny Duncan

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Tesla owners everywhere probably have some things they wish they could change about their cars. Some may want a cloth interior, and some may want to have a more spacious center console. In the case of YouTuber Danny Duncan, he wanted a convertible, so much so, that he chopped the roof off of his Tesla Model 3 after a friend smashed the car’s glass roof.

Duncan is a prominent YouTuber with over 4.55 million subscribers to his satirical comedy channel that consists of stunts and pranks. However, one day in 2020, Duncan decided to take his spontaneity to an entirely new level by making a convertible out of his all-electric sedan.

Although he jokingly claims that he was forced to do it because a friend of his shattered the glass roof, Duncan seemed more than enthusiastic to take his Model 3 to a local fabrication and bodywork facility to make his vehicle unlike any other.

Credit: YouTube | Danny Duncan

“I always wanted a convertible. Tesla doesn’t make a convertible. So, I took it here. I said, ‘Make this Tesla into a convertible.’ Then, I’ll have everything I wanted,” Duncan said.

A controversial topic for many owners, damaging any of the company’s vehicles is somewhat of a taboo subject within the community. A recent video that surfaced of someone kicking out a Model 3 dash screen was popular for owners to view, but not for the right reasons.

Damaging a Tesla intentionally has always been a sensitive topic for many of the company’s loyal enthusiasts. But more than that, the vehicles are not inexpensive, and the act of intentionally ruining an electric car manufactured by the Silicon Valley company is sure to get some backlash.

Duncan’s convertible Model 3. (Credit: YouTube | Danny Duncan)

But Duncan’s controversial move was popular among some drivers on the road in Inglewood, California, where he took a drive after receiving his completely modified Model 3.

One pickup truck owner who was driving down the same street as the convertible Model 3 pulled up beside Duncan and complimented the chopped-down EV. “Frickin’ awesome pal,” the man said to the YouTube sensation.

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Of course, doing anything like this will void your vehicle’s warranty. Cosmetic damage is explicitly mentioned in the company’s “Parts, Body, & Paint Repair” limited warranty handbook. The document states that the company’s coverage does not include “any damage or malfunction directly or indirectly caused by, due to, or resulting from, normal wear or deterioration, abuse, misuse.” So, Duncan’s hopes of getting a new Tesla from Elon Musk are slim.

Although Tesla has not had a convertible model since its original 2008 Roadster, those who are thirsting to have the fresh air dawn on them from their all-electric vehicle will have to spend a cool $250,000 on the company’s next-gen Roadster. The remake of the company’s original automobile will likely be produced in Fremont at Tesla’s main production facility.

A testament to clickbait culture, Duncan’s modification on his Model 3 is sure to drive some people up a wall. Nobody enjoys seeing a correctly functioning sustainable vehicle go to waste, but Duncan certainly wanted his Model 3 convertible, and he was going to get it in any way he could.

Watch Danny Duncan’s Model 3 convertible video below. Please be advised: there is explicit language, so the video is Not Suitable for Work.

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Joey has been a journalist covering electric mobility at TESLARATI since August 2019. In his spare time, Joey is playing golf, watching MMA, or cheering on any of his favorite sports teams, including the Baltimore Ravens and Orioles, Miami Heat, Washington Capitals, and Penn State Nittany Lions. You can get in touch with joey at joey@teslarati.com. He is also on X @KlenderJoey. If you're looking for great Tesla accessories, check out shop.teslarati.com

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Elon Musk

How to use Grok Bot to block spam calls and texts

Musk told users to ask Grok Bot to scrub their phone numbers from spam lists.

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Elon Musk has a new use case for Grok Bot, and it is the spam call. On Thursday he replied to an X user named Arash with a short instruction: “Ask your @Grok @Bot to remove your phone number from spam call & text lists!” Arash had said he got tired of the calls, had an AI bot find his number on listing sites and file removal requests, and packaged the process as a free skill for others.

The skill is called Spam-Call Scrubber, which is described to find a phone number on people search sites and data brokers, submits the opt outs, completes the confirmation emails those sites send back, and rechecks on a schedule the user picks. Using it requires the Grok Bot app. The pitch is time saved, since most broker opt outs sit behind separate forms on separate sites.



Musk said Grok Bot now gives each bot its own email address, and that it can detect scam emails. On Thursday he also said SpaceX would make users whole if the bot botches a purchase or leaks a card, then told users to shop away from Amazon after the retailer blocked the agent, as Teslarati reported. The terms of service we reviewed at the time put responsibility for what an agent does on the user.

For Tesla owners, Grok Bot is not just a phone app. Tesla brought Grok Bot into its vehicles on September 22, and we argued earlier this week that the Cybercab’s real advantage may be the errands it runs during a ride. Every Cybercab and the rest of the Model Y Robotaxi fleet has it enabled. The more routine tasks like this one become, the more a rider has reason to hand over something personal in the back seat.

The new Spam-Call Scrubber skill can be downloaded for free and works on sites that honor removal requests, while noting that listings can reappear, and illegal robocallers do not check any registry. Whether Spam-Call Scrubber cuts anyone’s call volume is something the first wave of users will find out, and Musk’s endorsement guarantees that wave is coming.

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Tesla Cybercab and Robotaxi’s real advantage won’t be the ride service

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Concept art of a Tesla Cybercab in Las Vegas Strip as rendered via Grok

For a century, the car has asked the same thing of its owner, which is basically to pay attention. Even the best ride-hailing app like Uber or Lyft only moved the problem into someone else’s hands. You stopped driving, but you still sat in a stranger’s car, while half listening, and wondering whether to take a phone call in the car without being rude. The Cybercab has no wheel, no pedals and no driver. With Grok @bot now live inside it, it becomes something else entirely, and I think that matters more than the fleet count that everyone is tracking.

Grok @bot is an agent, not a voice assistant. A rider signs in once, and from then on can say what they need and watch it happen. Order dinner from a favorite restaurant. Fill the grocery cart. Move money, answer email, adjust a calendar, push a work project forward. Tesla engineer Yun-Ta Tsai confirmed it is enabled across every Cybercab and the rest of the Model Y fleet, and Tesla’s own pitch is that Full Self-Driving handles the commute while Grok handles the errands.

Think about what that does to a thirty minute ride. Uber sells you a trip, while Waymo sells you the same trip in a more private setting. Tesla is selling the thirty minutes themselves, returned to you with an assistant attached. Errands that used to eat a Saturday get done between pickup and drop off. The ride stops being dead time between two places and becomes a place of its own.

Tesla integrates Grok Bot into its vehicles for the ultimate personal assistant

Best of all, your Bots follow you into any Cybercab, and presumably your own Tesla, then logs you out automatically when you step out. Anyone can bolt a chatbot onto a screen, but much harder to own the vehicle, the autonomy stack and the assistant at once. It also quietly ties SpaceX’s Super Intelligence business to Tesla’s fleet, after Tesla converted its xAI stake into SpaceX equity. The relationship between those two companies is getting harder to describe as separate.

This is also where the hard questions start, because an agent that can spend your money in a vehicle other people also ride in needs some answers. How does it handle a voice it shouldn’t trust? What gets recorded, who can see it, and for how long? What happens when a rider leaves halfway through a task?

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If Tesla gets those answers right, the scoreboard changes. We have been counting Cybercabs and wait times. The more telling number may be what riders accomplish per trip. That is data almost no one else will ever have, and it is the real reason to watch Grok @bot.

What do you think? Leave me a comment.

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Tesla’s mirrorless Cybercab will give riders a visibility upgrade

Tesla engineer confirms Cybercab update letting riders pull up rear and repeater cameras on demand.

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Tesla Cybercab camera visibility for passengers (Credit: Dan Burkland via X)
Tesla Cybercab camera visibility for passengers (Credit: Dan Burkland via X)

Tesla is working on a Cybercab update that would let passengers pull up the vehicle’s rear and side cameras on demand, and the request came straight from a rider.

The exchange played out on X late Friday. Cybercab rider Dan Burkland shared photos of the two-seater’s cabin screen after an evening ride, praised the UI team’s work, and left one request: let riders open the rear and repeater cameras whenever they want, “especially for peace of mind.” Tesla UI software engineer Evan (@CarCoder) answered with two words: “In development.”

The idea fits a pattern Teslarati has tracked since public rides began. Days after paid Cybercab service opened in Austin, Tesla sent riders a survey that asked them to rate the touchscreen, the app and the cabin, and to pick the features they wanted most. We reported on that survey in September, and a camera view is the kind of small software change Tesla can push quickly if riders keep asking.

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It also speaks to something unique about the vehicle. With no steering wheel, no pedals and no driver, passengers have no mirror to check and no way to see behind them. The hardware is clearly built for camera awareness, from the repeater cameras to the rear camera. Letting a passenger look through those same cameras would give a nervous first time rider a way to confirm what is around the car.

The timing matters because the fleet is growing fast. Tesla’s Robotaxi account said on Saturday that more than 300 Cybercabs are now serving Austin, an eightfold increase in 30 days, and Tesla AI chief Ashok Elluswamy named Dallas as the next city. More cars and more cities mean more people riding in a driverless vehicle for the first time, which is exactly when small trust features carry weight.

For now, the feature is confirmed only as in development. If Tesla follows its usual pattern with Cybercab software, riders could see it appear in a point release without any announcement, and Teslarati will watch for it.

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