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First look at Tesla Model 3 right-hand drive deliveries to UK customers
Tesla customers in the UK have begun taking delivery of their Model 3 right-hand drive (RHD) vehicles after a two year-long wait since the all-electric midsize sedan debuted in the US.
The Model 3 RHD variants were first spotted on delivery trucks outside of London earlier this week by a few eagle-eyed UK residents. CEO Elon Musk later acknowledged the cars being towed were intended for customers via Twitter after photos made the rounds on news outlets and social media. “Model 3 arriving in UK,” he confirmed, citing an article featuring the images.
Tesla’s online configurator was opened to UK residents on May 1, as originally promised by Musk, and it appears that the first RHD deliveries went out customers whose orders were placed in the days immediately following. Images shared of a newly-delivered Deep Blue Metallic Model 3 were posted by a UK customer who previously confirmed their order on May 2nd. The same early bird customers also appear to be those who received a text message from Tesla last week promising a June 20th delivery date.
https://twitter.com/MickPaul4/status/1141641356487667713
https://twitter.com/MickPaul4/status/1141710875268698114
As seen in photos posted by one of the newest UK Model 3 owners, the symmetry of the vehicle has resulted in a seamless, mirror-image production of the left-hand drive variant. Notably, the positioning of the car’s image on the touch screen is also mirrored for right-hand drive customers. Elon Musk previously touted elements of the Model 3 design which specifically enabled multiple driving configurations with only minimal retooling and engineering.
Another UK customer who purchased a Pearl White Multi-Coat Model 3 RHD noted that his vehicle was one of an initial batch of 50 RHD deliveries. Several more shipments are reportedly arriving in the UK soon, though, according to one reservation holder and Tesla Motors Club member who received a call from Tesla indicating the same. Specifically, out of 1,000 cars on the recently-arrived cargo ship Grand Mark, 150 of them are Model 3 RHD set for delivery at the end of June. Following that shipment are two other ships with 2,000 RHD cars each set for deliveries in July and August, per the call from Tesla.
Tesla’s UK customers are eligible for the country’s £3,500 plug-in grant, the deduction for which is included in the online configurator pricing, and are exempt from the daily £11.50 London Congestion Charge. This benefit is currently available for plug-in hybrids as well; however, beginning in October 2021, only all-electric vehicles will qualify. Tesla customers will also have access to the London Ultra Low Emission Zone without paying the noncompliance fee of £12.50. Altogether, UK Model 3, Model S, and Model X owners will benefit from significant savings via their Tesla ownership on top of no longer needing gasoline.
With thousands of Model 3 deliveries yet to come in the UK, Tesla customers in the country may be able to take advantage of a more streamlined manufacturing and order fulfillment process now that the company has a fair amount of logistics under its belt. The current on-time deliveries certainly seem to indicate this may be the case.
Elon Musk
Tesla’s Elon Musk: 10 billion miles needed for safe Unsupervised FSD
As per the CEO, roughly 10 billion miles of training data are required due to reality’s “super long tail of complexity.”
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has provided an updated estimate for the training data needed to achieve truly safe unsupervised Full Self-Driving (FSD).
As per the CEO, roughly 10 billion miles of training data are required due to reality’s “super long tail of complexity.”
10 billion miles of training data
Musk comment came as a reply to Apple and Rivian alum Paul Beisel, who posted an analysis on X about the gap between tech demonstrations and real-world products. In his post, Beisel highlighted Tesla’s data-driven lead in autonomy, and he also argued that it would not be easy for rivals to become a legitimate competitor to FSD quickly.
“The notion that someone can ‘catch up’ to this problem primarily through simulation and limited on-road exposure strikes me as deeply naive. This is not a demo problem. It is a scale, data, and iteration problem— and Tesla is already far, far down that road while others are just getting started,” Beisel wrote.
Musk responded to Beisel’s post, stating that “Roughly 10 billion miles of training data is needed to achieve safe unsupervised self-driving. Reality has a super long tail of complexity.” This is quite interesting considering that in his Master Plan Part Deux, Elon Musk estimated that worldwide regulatory approval for autonomous driving would require around 6 billion miles.
FSD’s total training miles
As 2025 came to a close, Tesla community members observed that FSD was already nearing 7 billion miles driven, with over 2.5 billion miles being from inner city roads. The 7-billion-mile mark was passed just a few days later. This suggests that Tesla is likely the company today with the most training data for its autonomous driving program.
The difficulties of achieving autonomy were referenced by Elon Musk recently, when he commented on Nvidia’s Alpamayo program. As per Musk, “they will find that it’s easy to get to 99% and then super hard to solve the long tail of the distribution.” These sentiments were echoed by Tesla VP for AI software Ashok Elluswamy, who also noted on X that “the long tail is sooo long, that most people can’t grasp it.”
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Tesla earns top honors at MotorTrend’s SDV Innovator Awards
MotorTrend’s SDV Awards were presented during CES 2026 in Las Vegas.
Tesla emerged as one of the most recognized automakers at MotorTrend’s 2026 Software-Defined Vehicle (SDV) Innovator Awards.
As could be seen in a press release from the publication, two key Tesla employees were honored for their work on AI, autonomy, and vehicle software. MotorTrend’s SDV Awards were presented during CES 2026 in Las Vegas.
Tesla leaders and engineers recognized
The fourth annual SDV Innovator Awards celebrate pioneers and experts who are pushing the automotive industry deeper into software-driven development. Among the most notable honorees for this year was Ashok Elluswamy, Tesla’s Vice President of AI Software, who received a Pioneer Award for his role in advancing artificial intelligence and autonomy across the company’s vehicle lineup.
Tesla also secured recognition in the Expert category, with Lawson Fulton, a staff Autopilot machine learning engineer, honored for his contributions to Tesla’s driver-assistance and autonomous systems.
Tesla’s software-first strategy
While automakers like General Motors, Ford, and Rivian also received recognition, Tesla’s multiple awards stood out given the company’s outsized role in popularizing software-defined vehicles over the past decade. From frequent OTA updates to its data-driven approach to autonomy, Tesla has consistently treated vehicles as evolving software platforms rather than static products.
This has made Tesla’s vehicles very unique in their respective sectors, as they are arguably the only cars that objectively get better over time. This is especially true for vehicles that are loaded with the company’s Full Self-Driving system, which are getting progressively more intelligent and autonomous over time. The majority of Tesla’s updates to its vehicles are free as well, which is very much appreciated by customers worldwide.
Elon Musk
Judge clears path for Elon Musk’s OpenAI lawsuit to go before a jury
The decision maintains Musk’s claims that OpenAI’s shift toward a for-profit structure violated early assurances made to him as a co-founder.
A U.S. judge has ruled that Elon Musk’s lawsuit accusing OpenAI of abandoning its founding nonprofit mission can proceed to a jury trial.
The decision maintains Musk’s claims that OpenAI’s shift toward a for-profit structure violated early assurances made to him as a co-founder. These claims are directly opposed by OpenAI.
Judge says disputed facts warrant a trial
At a hearing in Oakland, U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers stated that there was “plenty of evidence” suggesting that OpenAI leaders had promised that the organization’s original nonprofit structure would be maintained. She ruled that those disputed facts should be evaluated by a jury at a trial in March rather than decided by the court at this stage, as noted in a Reuters report.
Musk helped co-found OpenAI in 2015 but left the organization in 2018. In his lawsuit, he argued that he contributed roughly $38 million, or about 60% of OpenAI’s early funding, based on assurances that the company would remain a nonprofit dedicated to the public benefit. He is seeking unspecified monetary damages tied to what he describes as “ill-gotten gains.”
OpenAI, however, has repeatedly rejected Musk’s allegations. The company has stated that Musk’s claims were baseless and part of a pattern of harassment.
Rivalries and Microsoft ties
The case unfolds against the backdrop of intensifying competition in generative artificial intelligence. Musk now runs xAI, whose Grok chatbot competes directly with OpenAI’s flagship ChatGPT. OpenAI has argued that Musk is a frustrated commercial rival who is simply attempting to slow down a market leader.
The lawsuit also names Microsoft as a defendant, citing its multibillion-dollar partnerships with OpenAI. Microsoft has urged the court to dismiss the claims against it, arguing there is no evidence it aided or abetted any alleged misconduct. Lawyers for OpenAI have also pushed for the case to be thrown out, claiming that Musk failed to show sufficient factual basis for claims such as fraud and breach of contract.
Judge Gonzalez Rogers, however, declined to end the case at this stage, noting that a jury would also need to consider whether Musk filed the lawsuit within the applicable statute of limitations. Still, the dispute between Elon Musk and OpenAI is now headed for a high-profile jury trial in the coming months.
Tesla’s Elon Musk: 10 billion miles needed for safe Unsupervised FSD
Tesla earns top honors at MotorTrend’s SDV Innovator Awards
