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Tesla Top 5 Week in Review: Utah Bans Tesla Sales, Controversy Over Drivers Data, Model 3 Sensors, and More
What a week it was for Tesla! Reaching all-time trading highs was certainly an achievement to celebrate. So, too, was the 2017 Q1 earnings report, in which Tesla excelled in deliveries versus same month, previous year. Teslarati gets the first scoop a Model 3 release candidate in the wild, with reports of new sensors being spotted. Tesla’s company practice of divulging individual driver data became a contested topic, as did the Utah Supreme Court’s decision to prohibit Tesla direct sales to customers. Here are those stories and more on our Teslarati Top 5 Week in Review.
Tesla steamrolls US automakers to become #1 by market cap
Source: Courtesy Yahoo Finance
Tesla, Inc. (TSLA) stock, which had previously traded at $280 in February, achieved its all-time high this week, up from the March 31, 2017 close of market mark of $291.74. Tesla’s performance pushed the company’s market capitalization past that of Ford for the first time ever. Ford’s market capitalization at about $44.8 billion stood just about $3 billion under Tesla’s. Next in line for Tesla is GM’s $51.4 billion market cap. Tesla sold only a fraction of Ford’s 6.7 million cars and GM’s 10 million cars in 2016; both offer investors the comfort of healthy balance sheets and steady profits. However, Tesla investors seem willing to hold out for the company’s future potential for still higher growth ahead. Historical malaise over missed delivery targets may be dissipating.
Tesla delivers a record 25,000 Model S, X in Q1 2017, 69% increase over Q1 2016
With Model S deliveries at 3,450 and Model X deliveries at 11,550, Tesla achieved a new quarterly record to start 2017. Selling just over 25,000 vehicles in Q1 represented a 69% increase over the same month, Q1 2016. Tesla argues that vehicle deliveries symbolize only one measure of the company’s financial performance; quarterly financial results, they say, depend on a variety of factors, including the cost of sales, foreign exchange movements, and mix of directly leased vehicles.
New sensors spotted on Tesla Model 3: Autopilot 2.0 could have 10 cameras
Up until Tuesday, the Model 3 was assumed to have eight cameras: three facing forwards, two in the B-pillar between the front and rear doors, two in the front fenders, and one in the rear by the hatch latch. (Radar and ultrasonic sensors will also provide the computer with contextual data.) The recent sighting indicates that two additional sensors are located by the C-pillars between the rear door and back. This is significant because Tesla CEO Elon Musk has repeatedly stated that the Model 3 design is meant to include autonomous driving. With a dashboard that lacks a speedometer on the driver’s side and, instead, will fade in and out of opacity on the central control screen, the Model 3 technology evolution will be fascinating. Its sensors and cameras will provide crucial data about the vehicle’s surroundings, bringing the future to today.
Tesla defends its right to release individual driver data to disprove claims
Tesla’s company policies about owner privacy has been under scrutiny this week, with accusations that it divulges drivers’ performance information in order to protect its self-driving car technology. Unlike other research institutions, Tesla does not acquire permission from its drivers, who are supplying data about self-driving technology system responses. Moreover, while the company has disseminated specific driver information to the media following crashes, it has refused thus far to share that same data with the drivers. Some accidents involving Tesla all-electric vehicles have involved the Tesla Autopilot system, but in 2016 the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration cleared Tesla of any wrong-doing in a fatal crash in which Autopilot was engaged.
Tesla loses 5-0 battle in Utah over right to sell direct to consumers
The Utah Supreme Court this week has upheld a previous ruling which prohibits Tesla and other automakers from selling directly to customers. Tesla contested Utah’s claim of manufacturers and dealer owners being one and the same, saying its direct sales to customers distinguish it from independent dealerships. In essence, the Utah Supreme Court justices chose not to address when Utah law does or does not block an automaker from direct sales.
Tesla has reopened reservations for its long-delayed next-generation Roadster, asking buyers for a $50,000 deposit just days before an October 1 reveal event in Waco, Texas. The move revives a reservation process first launched in 2017 and later paused when Tesla pulled pricing from its website in 2021.
The reservation page requires an immediate $5,000 credit-card payment, described as fully refundable, followed by a $45,000 wire transfer due within 10 days, which is identical to what was expected previously. Reservations are not considered final until the wire clears.
The structure matches the 2017 terms Tesla used when it first collected deposits after unveiling a prototype. Tesla has not published a confirmed retail price or production start date on the order page.
Go buy a Roadster pic.twitter.com/n7rhouAmIS
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) September 21, 2026
The October 1 event is scheduled in Waco, about 90 minutes north of Tesla’s Austin headquarters and near SpaceX’s McGregor rocket test site. Tesla sent invitations to existing reservation holders and posted a “Go for launch” teaser on September 12.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) established a temporary flight restriction over the McGregor area from September 18 through October 2, consistent with plans for a demonstration involving SpaceX-designed cold-gas thrusters. Elon Musk has previously described the optional package as enabling extreme acceleration or brief hovering. Tesla has said the event will include pricing, specifications, and production targets.
The second-generation Roadster was first shown in November 2017 during Tesla’s Semi launch. Musk promised production in 2020, with claimed performance of 0-60 mph in 1.9 seconds, more than 250 mph top speed, and roughly 620 miles of range.
Those targets have slipped repeatedly.
Tesla later pointed to 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025-2026 before indicating production would not begin until 2027 or 2028 at Gigafactory Texas. Design work has continued, with reports of a sharper, Cybertruck-influenced look replacing the original curvy prototype.
Original reservation holders who paid $50,000 in 2017, or $250,000 for the Founders Series, have waited nearly nine years without a production car. Some high-profile customers canceled. Tesla’s decision to reopen orders now, after previously shutting them down, tests whether new buyers will commit substantial funds before seeing a finalized production vehicle. The October 1 event is intended to answer remaining questions about what those buyers will actually receive and when.
Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (Supervised) is heading to Czechia after the Czech Ministry of Transport recognised the Dutch RDW’s provisional type approval, making the country the seventh EU member state to clear the system for public roads. Tesla Europe announced on 21 September 2026 that “FSD Supervised is now approved in Czechia” and that rollout “will begin soon.”
The decision marks a notable reversal. Earlier in 2026, Prague had declined to automatically recognise the Netherlands’ April approval, citing concerns over speed-limit compliance, traffic-sign recognition and driver-attention monitoring, and arguing that a coordinated EU approach was preferable. Officials said months of expert review, talks with Tesla and other member states, and real-world data from countries already using the system resolved those issues.
🚨 Tesla FSD heading to Czechia 🇨🇿 pic.twitter.com/mkzlM9QjrB
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) September 21, 2026
“Safety remains the top priority,” the ministry stated.
FSD Supervised remains a Level 2 driver-assistance system: the driver must stay engaged and is legally responsible. Eligible vehicles need AI4, the company’s most up-to-date hardware version. Tesla is expected to push the feature over the air in the coming days, following the pattern seen after earlier national approvals.
Europe’s rollout began when Dutch regulator RDW issued a provisional EU type approval on 10 April 2026 after extensive testing. Mutual recognition then produced a rapid cascade: Lithuania (20 May), Estonia (29 May), Denmark (9 June), Belgium (10 June) and Slovenia (7 September). Czechia now completes that list of seven.
The approvals cover only a modest share of the EU population, but they add political weight ahead of a 6 October vote by the Technical Committee on Motor Vehicles. A qualified majority, at least 15 of 27 member states representing 65 percent of the EU population, could open the remaining markets, including large ones such as Germany, France, Italy and Spain that have so far preferred to wait for a bloc-wide decision.
For Czech Tesla owners, the immediate prize is access to the same supervised highway and city driving already available in the other six countries. For Tesla, each new market generates additional European driving data and strengthens the case that FSD Supervised can operate safely under the continent’s varied road rules. The Czech approval is therefore both a local milestone and another incremental step toward a wider European launch.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has established a Temporary Flight Restriction over SpaceX’s McGregor, Texas, rocket development and test facility, a move widely viewed as preparation for Tesla’s October 1 Roadster reveal. The restriction took effect September 18 and runs through October 2.
NOTAM FDC 6/3825 covers a 1.5-nautical-mile radius around the site near Waco and extends from the surface to 10,000 feet above ground level. The FAA cited hazards under 14 CFR 91.137(a)(3) and barred aircraft and drones from the zone. Tesla’s invitation to reservation holders already placed the event in Waco, about 20 minutes from McGregor, making the timing and location more than coincidental.
A TFR has appeared around SpaceX’s McGregor Testing Site up to 10,000ft and runs through until the 2nd of October 👀 pic.twitter.com/rcZ4p4JkLm
— Niall Anderson (@INiallAnderson) September 18, 2026
What stands out is the altitude. Typical recent TFRs at McGregor for engine static fires and component tests have used far lower ceilings, often around 2,000 feet. Raising the limit to 10,000 feet is unusually high even compared with some Starbase restrictions and signals operations that go beyond a standard ground-level engine test.
That extra airspace has fueled speculation about the long-promised SpaceX Package for the Roadster. Elon Musk has described cold-gas thrusters that could deliver sub-one-second 0-60 times and, more dramatically, brief lift-off. Reports earlier this year indicated Tesla planned a remote-controlled demonstration at McGregor in which the car would leave the ground with no one inside; spectators kept hundreds of yards away because of the noise.
The 10,000-foot envelope would give operators a large safety buffer even if the vehicle only hovers a short distance.
Tesla has not confirmed a flight demo. The company has only used the phrase “Go for launch” and posted a teaser image of the car on what looks like a launch pad. The TFR itself mentions only hazards. Still, closing airspace this high and this close to the reveal date strongly suggests the event will include more than a static display.
Whether the Roadster actually hovers on October 1 remains to be seen. What is certain is that the FAA has cleared a large vertical slice of Texas sky for whatever Tesla and SpaceX intend to show. Reservation holders heading to Waco will be among the first to find out if the car can do more than drive.
Tesla Roadster is available for order once again following brief hold
Tesla Full Self-Driving expands to another European country
