Lifestyle
Tesla Model 3 Performance tries out Porsche’s 0-90-0 mph aircraft carrier challenge
A few days before the Porsche Taycan official unveiling event, the German auto maker debuted a video demonstrating some impressive speed capabilities of the new all-electric sports car on a very special “track” for the occasion. The American aircraft carrier USS Hornet played host to a 0-90-0 mph acceleration and braking test, which clocked 10.7 seconds for the total Taycan run (although the video description says 10.17 seconds). As to be expected from the Tesla owner community, this feat was then challenged in a similar run using a Model 3 Performance, albeit with less impressive scenery.
The Model 3 Performance test run was undertaken and published by Tesla owner and enthusiast Erik from YouTube channel DÆrik, and the results were impressive despite coming in a bit slower than the Taycan test. For the 0-90 mph portion, the Model 3 clocked in at 6.87 seconds; however, braking didn’t begin until the car reached 96.9 mph at 7.90 seconds. From 90 mph to 0 mph, 4.01 seconds elapsed. The total run took 12.4 seconds, although the numbers aren’t ideal given the delay in braking. Removing the extra time from 90-96.9 mph, while acknowledging it’s an imperfect method for time testing, brings the Tesla’s total time for the 0-90-0 run to 10.88 seconds. A few more runs would have been useful for comparison’s sake, but these results alone – a $56,000 midsize sedan vs. a $150,000 sports car – bode very well for the Model 3 overall.
Aside from the lack of an aircraft carrier (and perhaps its surface), there was at least one notable difference between the two tests. Specifically, the Model 3 was a production version of the vehicle with minimal modifications such as ceramic brakes. The Taycan used on the USS Hornet was a prototype of the vehicle, and thus it’s unclear what differences were present compared to any of the other three variants of Porsche’s new electric sports car.
The Porsche Taycan was only recently unveiled, but comparisons between the brand’s entrance into the world of all-electric vehicles (EVs) and the existing Tesla production vehicles are already plentiful and ubiquitous. Thanks to Tesla’s dominance in battery range and impressive performance stats for every model offered, the Taycan’s hefty price tag seems to be one of the biggest factors driving negative reviews. After all, every Model 3 variant is in a much more affordable price range than any of the Taycan variants. As the positive reviews indicate, though, Porsche’s goals for their vehicles have always and will always be miles away from Tesla’s mission. Tesla aims to make electric cars accessible worldwide to nearly every type of consumer while Porsche is, well, Porsche.
Not one to back down from a challenge, CEO Elon Musk has recently indicated that Tesla will be taking on the Taycan soon in a more official capacity. A newly released video of the Taycan’s run at the Nürburgring track in Western Germany showed the performance EV achieving a record-setting 7 minutes, 42 seconds lap time, and now the Model S will challenge those numbers. “Model S on Nürburgring next week,” Musk teased on Twitter. A 2014 test by an independent Model S driver on the same track was hindered by power limitations and overheating; Tesla has since updated the power management software. Perhaps the record will be straightened out next week with both Musk’s and Tesla’s stamp of approval of the results.
Watch Erik Strait’s full 0-90-0 mph run in his Model 3 Performance below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WihvaYCMXxY
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.
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.
Ask your @Grok @Bot to remove your phone number from spam call & text lists!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 15, 2026
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.
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?
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.
Lifestyle
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.
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 Tesla UI team absolutely crushed it with the infotainment software. Nicely done @CarCoder!
One feature request: Allow folks to pull up the rear & repeater cameras on demand. This would be great especially for peace of mind. https://t.co/mNAOSLx6pE
— Dan Burkland (@DBurkland) October 10, 2026
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.
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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