Lifestyle
Tesla Model 3 battles Chevy Camaro SS and classic Ford Mustang in drag race
When Elon Musk unveiled the Model 3, he remarked that Tesla doesn’t “make slow cars.” Looking at the specs of Tesla’s vehicles, Musk’s statement definitely rings true. Even the company’s most conservative car today — the Mid Range Model 3 RWD — after all, is still quick on its feet, with a 0-60 mph time of 5.6 seconds and a top speed of 125 mph. The Model 3’s non-Performance AWD variant is even faster, capable of hitting 60 mph in just 4.5 seconds and reaching a top speed of 145 mph.
Drag racing videos featuring the Model 3 usually feature the vehicle’s top-tier variant, the Model 3 Performance. Since its release, the electric car, just like the Model S P100D and the Model X P100D, has been developing a reputation for being a formidable competitor on the drag strip. Earlier this year, the Model 3 Performance even stood toe-to-toe with a Dodge Demon in a 1/8-mile race. That said, drag races featuring the non-performance Model 3 AWD have been a bit harder to come by.
That is, until recently. A recent drag racing video uploaded on YouTube by user FROGMAN524 features a rather rare instance of a non-Performance Model 3 AWD competing on the drag strip against some true-born American muscle cars. In the recent video, the electric sedan battled two vehicles — a sixth-generation Chevrolet Camaro SS and a car that appears to be a modified first-gen Ford Mustang — in a drag race.
On paper, the Chevrolet Camaro SS is a pretty formidable vehicle. Equipped with a 6.2-liter LT1 V8 engine that produces 455 hp, the Camaro SS is among GM’s most impressive performance cars, capable of going from 0-60 mph in 4.0 seconds and reaching a top speed of 165 mph. Fitted with a 6-speed manual transmission, the Camaro SS could be considered a true driver’s car, with Car and Driver Deputy Editor Daniel Pund describing the vehicle as a “berserker” and stating that the muscle car can “barely contain its rage.”
The Chevrolet Camaro SS’ race against the Model 3 AWD shows that it takes more than rage and raw specs to beat Tesla’s electric sedan. The Model 3’s instant torque from its dual motors immediately came into play, allowing the vehicle to establish a quick lead against the GM-made muscle car. The Model 3 maintained a slight edge until the end of the race, finishing the quarter mile in 12.72 seconds while traveling at 112.63 mph. The Camaro SS, on the other hand, ended up crossing the quarter-mile mark in 13.34 seconds at 110.40 mph.
A drag race-modified first-generation Ford Mustang attempted to topple the electric sedan in a following drag race. Just like the Chevrolet Camaro SS before it, though, the Mustang ended up staring at the tail lights of the non-performance Model 3 AWD for the entire duration of its run. Showing impressive consistency of performance, the Model 3 AWD completed its quarter-mile run in 12.79 seconds at 110.50 mph. The drag-race modified Ford Mustang, on the other hand, finished the run in 17.70 seconds at 76.18 mph.
The Tesla Model 3 AWD Dual Motor is arguably the most bang-for-your-buck variant of the electric sedan today. At $53,000 before any additions, like Autopilot, the vehicle offers capabilities close to the Model 3 Performance for $11,000 less.
Tesla continues to ramp the production of the Model 3. In a recent announcement on Twitter, Elon Musk noted that all vehicle orders placed by November 30 would be assured of delivery by December 31. Other variants of the vehicle, such as the $35,000 Standard range Model 3, are expected to be available sometime in the first half of 2019.
Watch the non-performance Model 3 AWD battle a Chevrolet Camaro SS and a modified Ford Mustang in the video below.
Cybertruck
Tesla Cybercab just rolled through Miami inside a glass box
Tesla paraded a Cybercab in a glass display at Miami’s F1 Grand Prix event this week.
Tesla set up an “Autonomy Pop-Up” at Lummus Park in Miami Beach from April 29 through May 3, 2026, embedded within the official F1 Miami Grand Prix Fan Fest. The centerpiece was a Cybertruck towing the Cybercab inside a glass display case marked “Future is Autonomous,” rolling through the beachfront crowd.
Miami is on Tesla’s confirmed list of cities for robotaxi expansion in the first half of 2026, making the promotion a strategic promotion that lays groundwork in a target market.
This was not Tesla’s first time using Miami as a showcase city. In December 2025, Tesla hosted “The Future of Autonomy Visualized” at its Miami Design District showroom, coinciding with Art Basel Miami Beach. That event featured the Cybercab prototype and Optimus robots interacting with attendees. The F1 pop-up this week marks Tesla’s return to Miami and follows a pattern Tesla has been running since early 2026. Just two weeks before Miami, Tesla stationed Optimus at the Tesla Boston Boylston Street showroom on April 19 and 20, directly on the final stretch of the Boston Marathon, letting tens of thousands of runners and spectators meet the robot for free, generating massive earned media at zero advertising cost.
Tesla is sending its humanoid Optimus robot to the Boston Marathon
Tesla has confirmed plans to expand its robotaxi service to seven cities in the first half of 2026, including Dallas, Houston, Phoenix, Miami, Orlando, Tampa, and Las Vegas, building on the unsupervised service already running in Austin. Musk has said he expects robotaxis to cover between a quarter and half of the United States by end of year. On the production side, Musk told shareholders that the Cybercab manufacturing process could eventually produce up to 5 million vehicles per year, targeting a cycle time of one unit every ten seconds. Scaling robotaxis to 10 million operational units over the next ten years is a key condition of his compensation package, alongside selling 20 million passenger vehicles.
As for the Cybercab’s price, Musk has said buyers will be able to purchase one for under $30,000, with an average operating cost around $0.20 per mile. Whether those numbers hold through full production remains to be seen.
Cybercab at F1 Fan Fest in Miami
by
u/Joshalander in
teslamotors
Lifestyle
California hits Tesla Cybercab and Robotaxi driverless cars with new law
California just gave police power to ticket driverless cars, including Tesla’s Cybercab fleet.
California DMV formally adopted new rules on April 29, 2026 that allow law enforcement to issue “notices of noncompliance”, or in other words ticket autonomous vehicle companies when their cars commit moving violations. The rules take effect July 1, 2026 and officially closes a regulatory gap that previously let driverless cars operate on public roads with nearly no traffic enforcement consequences.
Until now, state traffic laws only applied to human “drivers,” which meant that when no person was behind the wheel, police had no mechanism to issue a ticket. Officers were limited to citing driverless vehicles for parking violations only. A well-known example came in September 2025, when a San Bruno officer watched a Waymo robotaxi execute an illegal U-turn and could do nothing but notify the company.
Under the new framework, when an officer observes a violation, the autonomous vehicle company is effectively treated as the driver. Companies must report each incident to the DMV within 72 hours, or 24 hours if a collision is involved. Repeated violations can result in fleet size restrictions, operational suspensions, or full permit revocation. Local officials also gained new authority to geofence driverless vehicles out of active emergency zones within two minutes and require a live emergency response line answered within 30 seconds.
Tesla Cybercab ramps Robotaxi public street testing as vehicle enters mass production queue
California’s new enforcement rules arrive at a pivotal moment for Tesla. The company is ramping Cybercab production at Giga Texas toward hundreds of units per week, targeting at least 2 million units annually at full capacity, while simultaneously pushing to expand its Robotaxi service to dozens of U.S. cities by end of 2026. Unsupervised FSD for consumer vehicles is currently targeted for Q4 2026, and when it arrives, Tesla’s fleet may not have a human to absorb legal accountability, under the July 1 rules.
Tesla has confirmed plans to expand its Robotaxi service to seven new cities in the first half of 2026, including Dallas, Houston, Phoenix, Miami, Orlando, Tampa, and Las Vegas, with the service already running without safety drivers in Austin. Musk has said he expects robotaxis to cover between a quarter and half of the United States by end of year.
Elon Musk
The FCC just said ‘No’ to SpaceX for now
SpaceX is fighting the FCC for spectrum that could put satellites inside every smartphone.
SpaceX was dealt a new setback on April 23, 2006 by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) after the U.S. government agency dismissed the company’s petition to access a Mobile Satellite Service spectrum that would allow direct-to-device (D2D) capabilities.
The FCC regulates communications by radio, television, wire, and cable, which also includes regulating D2D technology that lets your existing smartphone connect directly to a satellite orbiting Earth, the same way it would connect to a cell tower.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been building toward this through its Starlink Mobile service, formerly called Direct-to-Cell, in partnership with T-Mobile. The service officially launched on July 23, 2025, starting with messaging and expanding to broadband data in October of that year.
T-Mobile Starlink Pricing Announced – Early Adopters Get Exclusive Discount
It’s worth noting that SpaceX is not alone in this race. AT&T and Verizon have their own satellite texting deals with AST SpaceMobile, while Verizon separately offers free satellite texting through Skylo on newer phones.
The regulatory foundation for all of this dates to March 14, 2024, when the FCC adopted the world’s first framework for what it called Supplemental Coverage from Space, allowing satellite operators to lease spectrum from terrestrial carriers and fill gaps in their coverage. On November 26, 2024, the FCC granted SpaceX the first-ever authorization under that framework, approving its partnership with T-Mobile to provide service in specific frequency bands. SpaceX then went further, completing a roughly $17 billion acquisition of wireless spectrum from EchoStar, which gave it the ability to negotiate with global carriers more independently.
Starlink’s EchoStar spectrum deal could bring 5G coverage anywhere
This recent ruling by the FCC blocked SpaceX from going further, protecting incumbent spectrum holders like Globalstar and Iridium. But the market momentum is already in motion. As Teslarati reported, SpaceX is targeting peak speeds of 150 Mbps per user for its next generation Direct-to-Cell service, compared to roughly 4 Mbps today, which would bring satellite connectivity close to standard carrier performance.
With a reported IPO targeting a $1.75 trillion valuation on the horizon, each spectrum fight, carrier deal, and regulatory win or loss now carries weight beyond just connectivity. SpaceX is quietly becoming the infrastructure layer underneath the phones of millions of people, and the FCC’s next move will help determine how much further that reach extends.
FCC Satellite Rule Makings can be found here.
Tesla Robotaxi service in Austin achieves monumental new accomplishment
Tesla Cybercab just rolled through Miami inside a glass box
