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Tesla’s Elon Musk hailed as ‘Disruptor of the Year’ in Detroit, but Model 3 misses awards
Tesla might not be a participant in the North American International Auto Show on Monday, but Elon Musk’s presence could still be felt in the event. During the CNET Roadshow Shift Awards, Musk was named as “Disruptor of the Year,” beating out the CEOs of other companies such as McLaren Automotive and Bird, an electric scooter-share startup.
Chris Paukert, executive editor of the auto publication, noted that the Disruptor of the Year award is based on the person who caused the most ripples in the auto industry during the past year. In this sense, there is very little doubt that Musk was the definite choice, considering his well-publicized challenges and successes with the Model 3 ramp, as well as his daring, out-of-the-box strategies that ultimately brought Tesla into the green in Q3.
“This award is all about pushing the industry forward and leaving a lasting impact on the future of the automotive industry. Elon Musk fits that bill to a T. After smoothing out its production process, Tesla once again proved profitable. The Model 3 quickly launched itself to prominence in an already busy segment, and buyers themselves could feel the effects of those launches thanks to its wild Performance variant. Hell, he even made tunnels interesting,” CNET‘s Tim Stevens wrote.
While the auto publication granted Elon Musk an award, though, Tesla’s latest and most disruptive vehicle to date — the Model 3 — was strangely absent from the auto publication’s rankings. CNET Roadshow, for one, awarded the Genesis G70, a car that has received acclaim from critics and consumers alike, as Vehicle of the Year. Finalists for the award were the Jaguar I-Pace and Volvo S60/V60. The award for Cabin Tech of the Year was also granted to Audi’s MMI touch response system, with the finalists being Mercedes-Benz’ MBUX infotainment system and Ram’s Uconnect 12 technology.
That said, Tesla’s technology did make an appearance in the Roadshow Shift Awards’ other categories. Roadshow‘s Driveline Tech of the Year award, for one, was given to Nissan and Infiniti’s variable compression turbo, though finalists included Hyundai’s Kona electric powertrain and Tesla’s all-wheel-drive performance powertrain. Together with GM’s advance trailering system with apps, Tesla’s Navigate on Autopilot update was listed as a finalist in Safest Tech of the Year award as well. Audi’s drive-assistance package, though, ultimately bagged the award for Safety Tech of the Year.
The absence of the Model 3 in the CNET Roadshow Shift Awards is quite notable, considering that the electric sedan has received wide acclaim from professional reviewers, auto veterans like Sandy Munro, and owners alike. Tesla’s UI for its vehicles, which the company develops in-house, is also among the best in the market, with the system at times being compared to Apple’s iOS. As such, it is quite interesting to see Tesla be beaten by legacy auto in areas where it otherwise excels, such as cabin tech.
That said, it’s not like the Tesla Model 3 is being ignored by legacy auto either. Late last month, for example, 30-year auto news veteran and longtime car enthusiast Henry Payne dubbed the Tesla Model 3 as The Detroit News‘ 2018 Car of the Year. This was despite Payne only experiencing the capabilities of a Long Range RWD Model 3, a tamer version of the electric car compared to the range-topping, track-optimized Model 3 Performance. Following the Tesla Model 3 were the Ford Ranger and the Chevy Corvette ZR1, which were listed as the 2nd and 1st runner up for The Detroit News‘ 2018 Car of the Year award.
The past year has been notably impressive for the Model 3. Over 2018, 145,846 Model 3 were sold, despite Tesla being challenged with the electric sedan’s production during Q1 and Q2. With these sales figures, the Model 3 became the United States’ best-selling luxury vehicle, far overtaking its closest rival — the Lexus RX, which sold 111,641 in 2018. Tesla is not done, either, as the company intends to continue the electric sedan’s ramp all the way to 10,000 units per week.
It should be noted that the Model 3 has been showing these impressive numbers despite the vehicle only being available in the United States and Canada. This year, Tesla intends to bring the car to the international stage, starting with Europe and China, both of which represent a potentially lucrative market for the electric sedan. Tesla for one, is reportedly shipping 3,000 Model 3 per week to the European region starting in February. In China, Model 3 reservation holders who have configured their vehicles are expecting deliveries on March or April. By the end of the year, Tesla is set to roll out more affordable versions of the electric sedan to the local Chinese market, thanks to the vehicle production capabilities of Gigafactory 3.
Investor's Corner
Tesla has a Cybercab problem nobody saw coming
Tesla’s Cybercab line now builds robotaxis faster than Tesla can deploy them, Lars Moravy says.
Tesla’s Cybercab line in Texas can now build the two seat robotaxi faster than the company can put it into service, according to Lars Moravy, Tesla’s Vice President of Vehicle Engineering. “We don’t run every day because the line can run so fast. It’s currently outpacing our deployments,” Moravy said in a new Cybercab deep dive from Munro Live. “So, it’s a bit of a race right now. Who’s going to go faster? Right now the manufacturing line’s ahead.”
Tesla’s official Robotaxi account shared a Cybercab analysis video on X on Monday, calling it a “Cybercab engineering deep dive.” Moravy’s comments go further than what he told analysts on the Q3 earnings call last week, when he said the Cybercab line’s listed capacity of more than 125,000 units a year undersells what it can actually run.
The tour shows where that speed comes from. Tesla’s unboxed process splits the Cybercab into front, rear, side and center modules that are built and tested on their own before they meet on a short final line. That final line has just 25 fully automated stations, which Tesla’s team estimated is a fifth to a tenth of what a Model Y needs. The full line is about 78% automated, the framing line is already at 100%, and the layout uses roughly 50% less floor space per vehicle. The stated goal is “100% automation in 10 second cycle time,” or one finished Cybercab every 10 seconds.
Tesla also deleted the paint shop. Only the side modules are coated, and the exterior panels get their color inside the molding machine. Engineers said the car is designed to run at least 500,000 miles, which matters for a vehicle that will spend most of its day carrying riders.
The battery got the same treatment. The Cybercab uses an 88S6P pack of 4680 cells in a steel enclosure, a first for Tesla, with each module potted separately so a single failed module can be swapped instead of the whole pack. Wireless battery management boards replace a wiring harness, and new contactors are fast enough to drop the pyro fuse entirely. Tesla’s battery director graded the pack an A minus, compared with a D for the Model Y structural pack and a B minus for Cybertruck. Up front, the drive unit runs an 11:1 gear ratio versus roughly 9:1 on most Teslas, since the Cybercab does not need a high top speed.
Cybercab engineering deep dive — Robotaxi (@robotaxi) October 26, 2026
The deployment side is now the bottleneck Moravy described. Tesla had more than 50 Cybercabs working the Formula 1 weekend in Austin, and Texas records show 463 Cybercabs registered. Tesla said on its earnings call that Cybercab service will launch in Dallas next month, and Moravy said the company is aiming to get Cybercabs to customers by the end of 2026. Every unit built so far has gone into Tesla’s own fleet since the line moved into volume production in April.
Munro Live also asked when it could get a Cybercab to tear down. Tesla’s answer: “Not yet.”
SpaceX’s Raptor engine family has steadily increased sea-level thrust while simultaneously reducing mass, turning iterative engineering gains into substantially higher performance for the Super Heavy booster. CEO Elon Musk shed more light on how powerful Raptor 4 will be, and it’s pretty crazy.
Raptor 1 delivered 185 metric tons of thrust at roughly 2,080 kilograms, while Raptor 2 raised that to 230 tons while cutting mass to about 1,630 kilograms. SpaceX data for Raptor 3 lists a target of 280 tons at 1,525 kilograms (with further reductions in associated vehicle hardware), while operational flight ratings have been cited near 250 tons.
This morning, Elon Musk stated that Raptor 4 is expected to reach 300 tons of sea-level thrust at roughly the same mass as Raptor 3. Across these versions, thrust has risen by more than 60 percent from the first engines while engine mass has fallen, producing a sharp improvement in thrust-to-weight ratio. This is a true testament to how great SpaceX engineering has been:
🚀 Elon says Raptor 4 will make 300 tons of thrust at sea level at roughly the same mass as Raptor 3.
How far Raptor has come:
Raptor 1: 185 tf, 2,080 kg
Raptor 2: 230 tf, 1,630 kg
Raptor 3: 250 tf, 1,525 kg
Raptor 4: 300 tf33 on Super Heavy = ~9,900 tf, nearly 3x Saturn V https://t.co/HQDswZhyvL
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) October 26, 2026
With 33 engines on SuperHeavy, the jump from earlier versions to a 300-ton Raptor 4 would produce roughly 9,900 metric tons of total liftoff thrust, nearly three times the Saturn V’s approximately 3,400 metric tons from its five F-1 engines.
This is not just a larger number on a data sheet, either, as sea-level thrust is the force available the moment the vehicle leaves the pad. This is when it is heaviest and still deep in Earth’s gravity well and dense atmosphere.
Higher levels of sea-level thrust directly improves the initial thrust-to-weight ratio of the full stack. A higher ratio produces faster acceleration off the pad, which shortens the time the rocket has to spend fighting gravity, and gravity losses during the first minute or two of the flight are a major drain on total available delta-v. Every second shaved off of that early climb preserves more propellant energy for reaching orbital velocity or for carrying extra payload.
Because Super Heavy’s engine count is constrained by vehicle diameter and packing density, increasing thrust per engine is the most straightforward way to raise total liftoff performance without redesigning the booster structure or design.
The same-mass target for Raptor 4 is equally important. Holding engine mass roughly constant while raising thrust improves the engine’s own thrust-to-weight ratio and reduces the structural and propellant mass fraction that must be carried solely to support the engines.
Earlier Raptor iterations also simplified or eliminated extensive vehicle-side hardware such as heat shields. These gains compound: more force for less installed mass leaves additional capacity for propellant, payload, or operational margins such as engine-out capability.
For Starship’s architecture, the practical effects are large. Greater liftoff thrust supports heavier vehicles, larger propellant loads, and higher payloads to low Earth orbit, figures SpaceX has targeted in the 100-plus-ton reusable range. That capacity underpins orbital refueling, lunar missions, and eventual Mars cargo and crew flights.
Continued growth in sea-level thrust therefore tightens the gap between theoretical rocket performance and the high flight rates and reusability needed to make large-scale space transport practical.
Tesla has expanded its Tesla Assisted Driving (TAD) suite to its tenth European country, as Latvia joined a growing list of European Union member states authorizing the company’s advanced driver assistance technology.
Tesla Europe announced this morning that the system is now approved in Latvia, with a software rollout to begin soon.
The approval and rollout follow recognition of a provisional European type approval originally granted by the Netherlands’ RDW authority on April 10.
🚨 Latvia has just received approval for Tesla Full Self-Driving (Supervised)
This is the 10th country in the EU to gain approval:
1. Netherlands — 10 April 2026 (original RDW approval)
2. Lithuania — 20 May 2026
3. Estonia — 29 May 2026
4. Denmark — 9 June 2026
5. Belgium — 10 June 2026
6. Slovenia — 7 September 2026
7. Czechia — 21 September 2026
8. Croatia — 29 September 2026
9. Slovakia — 16 October 2026— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) October 26, 2026
Latvia’s Road Traffic Safety Directorate (CSDD) evaluated the Dutch documentation, coordinated with the other national authorities, and reviewed updates from Tesla. These included tightened limits on speed offsets, automatic resets of any manual speed adjustments after each trip, and stronger driver monitoring.
In Europe, the feature is marketed as Tesla Assisted Driving after a recent rule change that labeled the name “Full Self-Driving” as misleading.
The system remains an SAE Level 2 driver assistance tool, not unsupervised autonomy. It can control speed, steering, braking, lane changes, and intersections while following a navigation route. Drivers need not keep their hands on the wheel at all times, yet they must continuously monitor the road and be prepared to intervene immediately.
The sequence of EU recognitions began with the Netherlands in April and continued through Lithuania, Estonia, Denmark, Belgium, Slovenia, Czechia, Croatia, and Slovakia. Most have relied on mutual recognition of the single Dutch provisional approval rather than independent national testing.
These national clearances do not yet constitute bloc-wide authorization. An EU-wide decision requires a qualified majority in the Technical Committee on Motor Vehicles: at least 15 of 27 member states representing 65 percent of the EU population. Larger markets, like Germany, France, and Italy, remain under review, and a vote is expected this December.
However, for Latvian Tesla owners with compatible vehicles and software, the imminent rollout expands access to the supervised system while underscoring that attentive human oversight remains essential.
Tesla has a Cybercab problem nobody saw coming
How SpaceX Is raising Raptor’s sea-level thrust while holding engine mass steady
