News
Elon Musk teases Tesla Model S updates: ‘Plaid Powertrain,’ triple motors, 7-seat option, and higher price
Sightings of a Tesla Model S P100D+ unit near the Nürburgring have caught the electric car community by storm, particularly due to the vehicle’s unique characteristics. In a series of tweets, CEO Elon Musk shared some details about the vehicle, providing a glimpse at what is to come for Tesla’s flagship sedan.
Immediately noticeable in the Model S spotted near the Nürburgring is the vehicle’s design, which differs from the current offerings of the company. Apart from the vehicle’s large, wide, Michelin Cup 2 R tires, the Model S near the German track is equipped with a proper spoiler and wider fender flares. The sedan’s lower grille also looks noticeably larger than those found in the current-generation Model S.
These design elements make the Model S at the Nürburgring look very aggressive and worthy of the P100D+ badge that was spotted at its rear. Posting about the sighting, senior road tester Paul Maric of CarAdvice.com added that former Formula One champion Nico Rosberg, who has volunteered his driving services to Tesla for its Nürburgring run, recently stated that he and the electric car maker are “still in discussions.”
Overall, the Model S that Tesla seems to be preparing for its run at the nearly 13-mile German track provides a clear hint at some upgrades that are coming to the company’s flagship sedan. The Model S is Tesla’s first vehicle that was designed from a clean sheet, and it stands as the electric car that pretty much proved that EVs could be superior compared to gas-powered cars. Unfortunately, the Model S has been overshadowed for the most part by the Model 3 as of late, considering that the more affordable vehicle comprises the vast majority of Tesla’s sales today.
If Elon Musk’s tweets are any indication, the Model S will soon be improved with several upcoming upgrades that will make it worthy of its flagship status, and more. Following Tesla’s release of the vehicle’s record-setting lap at the Laguna Seca Raceway, for example, Musk mentioned a “Plaid Powertrain” update for the sedan, which appears to address the throttling issues that were prevalent in older Model S units. Musk also confirmed that the new Model S will have a three-motor configuration, a setup that was initially announced for the next-generation Roadster.
These upgrades will not only make the Model S track-capable, but they will likely improve the flagship sedan’s already-ludicrous 0-60 mph time of 2.4 seconds. Of course, such improvements will likely come at a price. This was mentioned by Elon Musk on Twitter, when he said that the Model S with Plaid Powertrain and triple motors will cost more than the company’s current offerings but less than competitors. Considering that the Porsche Taycan Turbo and Turbo S are pretty much the Model S’ only legitimate competitor in the market today, Musk appears to be hinting at a price below $150,000.
As a final detail, Musk added that the Model S with Plaid Powertrain that is currently in Germany is equipped with seven seats. This would be a welcome return for the option, considering that the vehicle’s rear-facing jump seats at the rear made the Model S a champion of utility in the past. All things considered, it is difficult to deny that the idea of a triple-motor, track-capable electric sedan that can seat seven people is beyond ludicrous — it’s downright plaid.
Tesla revealed a major new Cybercab detail in a guide it released for First Responders, showing new territory in its beliefs and intentions for the ride-hailing-focused vehicle that entered production in April.
The First Responders Guide is released to give fire departments, paramedics, and other emergency personnel the proper guidance on what to do in the event of an accident, entrapment, or other situation that would require immediate attention.
On one of the pages of the First Responders Guide, Tesla revealed a stark detail about the Cybercab, which could help personnel enter the vehicle more easily in case of an emergency.
Tesla Cybercab has one important piece that AI4 cars might need for FSD
It shows Tesla has no intention of releasing any Cybercab units that were initially proposed for ride-hailing services for the general public with any manual controls, meaning a steering wheel or pedals:
“A Cybercab equipped with steering wheel, brake pedal, and an acceleration pedal is typically an engineering or test vehicle, and operates at SAE Level 2 autonomy. Cybercab is not typically equipped with a steering wheel or acceleration and brake pedals.”
New official Cybercab documentation from Tesla:
“A Cybercab equipped with steering wheel, brake pedal, and an acceleration pedal is typically an engineering or test vehicle, and operates at SAE Level 2 autonomy. Cybercab is not typically equipped with a steering wheel or… https://t.co/P6ut1mZyzr pic.twitter.com/yq6skl9s2J
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) June 27, 2026
This is a major development for those who continue to believe Tesla planned to release the Cybercab with any sort of manual controls so that passengers could take over if needed. However, when Tesla started manufacturing production versions of the Cybercab in Giga Texas earlier this year, they were spotted without a steering wheel or pedals.
It essentially confirms the company has no intentions of bringing manual controls to the car’s production versions. Some have argued that the likelihood of Tesla having something
There still are some Cybercab units out there with a steering wheel and pedals, and as Tesla said, these cars are engineering or test vehicles, which have Safety Monitors on board to help the car out of a precarious situation or emergency.
Tesla released the Full Self-Driving v14 ‘Lite’ suite to owners of Hardware 3 or AI3 vehicles today, adding several new features to the vehicles that were once believed to be capable of unsupervised self-driving.
Now, Tesla has released this modified suite to older Tesla vehicles, adding plenty of new features and capabilities.
Here are the full release notes for the suite:
- Distilled the intelligence from HW4 V14 into HW3. This allows HW3 to directly learn how to handle scenarios using HW4 V14 as a guide. This process unlocks the improvements that have been made to HW4 including Reinforcement Learning (RL) and offline models for HW3.
- Improved both proactive and reactive responsiveness across a wide variety of categories including navigation handling, merges and forks, pedestrian interactions, traffic lights, and vehicle cut-in scenarios.
- Improved general comfort in nominal scenarios through fewer false slowdowns, smoother steering and more consistent lane centering.
- Introduced parking, unparking, and reversing capabilities.
- Added Arrival Options for you to select where FSD should park: in a Parking Lot, on the Street, in a Driveway, or at the Curbside.
- Speed Profiles are now available at all times, to further customize driving style preference.
These improvements, according to Tesla’s Head of AI, Ashok Elluswamy, help distill the driving behavior from AI4’s v14 series into both the camera and compute configurations of AI3.
Tesla Full Self-Driving v14 ‘Lite’ for older cars finally gets released
He added:
“It includes destination options and speed profiles on city roads, but more importantly significantly improved safety. We hope you’ll enjoy it, once the build ships wide.”
FSD v14 Lite is now rolling out to AI3 early-access customers. Based on the feedback, will rollout to more customers over the next few weeks.
This build distills the driving behavior from AI4’s v14 series into both the camera and compute config of AI3. It includes destination…
— Ashok Elluswamy (@aelluswamy) June 29, 2026
Tesla will continue to roll out the v14 Lite suite more widely in the coming weeks, the company said.
Tesla has finally released its Full Self-Driving v14 ‘Lite’ suite for older cars that equip the Hardware 3 or AI 3 chip, which have not been able to handle the newest versions of the company’s driver assistance software.
Tesla officially started releasing the v14 Lite suite to owners in the Early Access Program last night. The company’s Head of AI, Ashok Elluswamy, said that the rollout will continue over the next few weeks. The build distills the driving behavior from AI4’s v14 series into both the camera and compute configurations of an AI3 car.
🚨 Tesla is releasing v14 Lite for AI3 owners who are in early-access
This will give AI3 cars the ability to experience new FSD features like parking preferences. https://t.co/pp6Q5FOKoz pic.twitter.com/tqexMB8SVy
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) June 29, 2026
It also includes a variety of new features that were available to AI4 cars running v14, including:
- Start Self-Driving from Park
- Arrival and Parking Options
- Speed Profiles
The release is highly anticipated because those owners with AI3 vehicles were early adopters into the FSD platform and were promised that their cars would be capable of achieving Full Self-Driving.
However, Tesla CEO Elon Musk admitted during the company’s recent Q1 Earnings Call that these vehicles would not be capable of achieving unsupervised Full Self-Driving, which is what Tesla had originally said.
Owners were not pleased with this answer, or the idea that their commitment to buying the suite outright for thousands of dollars would not yield the ability to drive without operating the car. Tesla gave some solutions for this, including a discount on a new car, or an upgrade to an AI4 or AI5 self-driving computer and new, upgraded cameras.
Tesla owners do not seem pleased with these options, as they require giving the company more money.
Nevertheless, it is important to note that Tesla came through for owners here by releasing v14 Lite before the end of Q2, something it had promised owners during the previous Earnings Call. Tesla has had trouble keeping up with timelines, but this is a big achievement for the team.
Tesla reveals huge Cybercab detail in new guide for First Responders
Tesla Full Self-Driving v14 ‘Lite’ Release Notes: new capabilities and features
