News
Tesla owners unite in Austria for epic Black Mountain meetup
Tesla owners from eight countries took electric vehicles to new heights as they drove to the top of the highest mountain in Austria. The Großglockner or ‘black mountain’ towers 3,798 meters above the surrounding mountains. According to legends, a black crystal concentrates the energy of the mountain and is hidden somewhere inside the Glockner.
Today with @TeslaClubAT we climbed the highest mountain in Austria with 60 Teslas from 8 countries 🇺🇸🇸🇪🇫🇮🇳🇴🇨🇭🇩🇪🇦🇹 and 🇺🇦
Supporting Peace, Love & Tesla @elonmusk #silencerallye @Tesla pic.twitter.com/DlnPgtxFR4— Tesla Owners Silicon Valley (@teslaownersSV) July 3, 2022
The Tesla Owners Club of Austria brought together 60 Tesla vehicles with owners from eight nations to share a powerful message. “Let’s work hard to preserve this and all other treasures on this planet,” they shared on Twitter.
The message is a symbol of peace. The club president of Tesla Owners of Silicon Valley represented the United States which had just celebrated its 246th Independence Day. The Tesla owners came together to support peace, love, and Tesla.
-->Austria is such an amazing, beautiful and S3XY country. It was a great honor to show it to 60 tesla drivers from 8 nations. Let’s work hard to preserve this and all other treasures on this planet 💪✌️🇦🇹😍 @elonmusk @teslaclubfin @OwnersWest @TeslaClubNorway @teslaownersSV pic.twitter.com/QjDtwmaWnH
— Tesla Club Austria (@TeslaClubAT) July 4, 2022
I reached out to the Tesla Owners Club of Austria and asked them to share how the experience was for them. They told me,
“I almost cried because in this time of crisis everywhere it felt so good to experience so much fun and love together with the Tesla community. We had 60 Teslas from 8 nations (including one team from Ukraine and club presidents from Sweden, Finland, Norway, and Silicon Valley), perfect weather, and great fun.”
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“The Großglockner is the highest mountain in Austria and there are 300.000 cars every year driving the world-famous road. We wanted to show that you can do that without emissions, sexy and silent. You get so much energy back during regenerative braking while driving down so that was no problem at all charging all the 60 cars. And you get so many good feelings back when you participate in such events.”
Why They Chose The Peace Sign
It’s about building something new at events. The Tesla Owners Club of Austria participated in the Silence Rallye and chose the peace sign for a reason. The Rallye, they told me, is the club’s largest annual event.
“It is our biggest event and we organize it every year in a different region in Austria. There are fun competitions, amazing road trips, and good food for three days. This year we tried to bring some Sound of Music Style into it with a special VIP tour through Salzburg city and the Vintage Party. Großglockner is also in the Salzburg area so it was a Must that we had to climb this mountain.”
“We always try to build something new at our bigger events. After a Tesla Logo and a heart shape, it just felt right to do this sign. The theme of this Silence Rallye was Sound of Music because we visited Salzburg. We organized a vintage disco with Dresscode. Some people came as hippies so setting up the peace sign on one of the highest mountains in the Alps was a perfect way, to sum up, our Rallye.”
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Supporting Ukraine
There was one team from Ukraine and the club wanted to show support. They also raised donations and helped Tesla drivers from Ukraine that were traveling to safer locations. The majority of the teams were from Austria, Switzerland, and Germany. Several club presidents from West Sweden, Finland, Norway, and Silicon Valley were also there.
John Stringer, the president of the Tesla Owners of Silicon Valley told me that the Austria club spent an extensive amount of time mapping out each car to get it perfect. He added,
“It was super cool to meet the owners of Austria and be able to take a Sound of Music tour and take 60 Teslas to the highest peak in Austria.”
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News
Tesla Model 3 named New Zealand’s best passenger car of 2025
Tesla flipped the switch on Full Self-Driving (Supervised) in September, turning every Model 3 and Model Y into New Zealand’s most advanced production car overnight.
The refreshed Tesla Model 3 has won the DRIVEN Car Guide AA Insurance NZ Car of the Year 2025 award in the Passenger Car category, beating all traditional and electric rivals.
Judges praised the all-electric sedan’s driving dynamics, value-packed EV tech, and the game-changing addition of Full Self-Driving (Supervised) that went live in New Zealand this September.
Why the Model 3 clinched the crown
DRIVEN admitted they were late to the “Highland” party because the updated sedan arrived in New Zealand as a 2024 model, just before the new Model Y stole the headlines. Yet two things forced a re-evaluation this year.
First, experiencing the new Model Y reminded testers how many big upgrades originated in the Model 3, such as the smoother ride, quieter cabin, ventilated seats, rear touchscreen, and stalk-less minimalist interior. Second, and far more importantly, Tesla flipped the switch on Full Self-Driving (Supervised) in September, turning every Model 3 and Model Y into New Zealand’s most advanced production car overnight.
FSD changes everything for Kiwi buyers
The publication called the entry-level rear-wheel-drive version “good to drive and represents a lot of EV technology for the money,” but highlighted that FSD elevates it into another league. “Make no mistake, despite the ‘Supervised’ bit in the name that requires you to remain ready to take control, it’s autonomous and very capable in some surprisingly tricky scenarios,” the review stated.
-->At NZ$11,400, FSD is far from cheap, but Tesla also offers FSD (Supervised) on a $159 monthly subscription, making the tech accessible without the full upfront investment. That’s a game-changer, as it allows users to access the company’s most advanced system without forking over a huge amount of money.
News
Tesla starts rolling out FSD V14.2.1 to AI4 vehicles including Cybertruck
FSD V14.2.1 was released just about a week after the initial FSD V14.2 update was rolled out.
It appears that the Tesla AI team burned the midnight oil, allowing them to release FSD V14.2.1 on Thanksgiving. The update has been reported by Tesla owners with AI4 vehicles, as well as Cybertruck owners.
For the Tesla AI team, at least, it appears that work really does not stop.
FSD V14.2.1
Initial posts about FSD V14.2.1 were shared by Tesla owners on social media platform X. As per the Tesla owners, V14.2.1 appears to be a point update that’s designed to polish the features and capacities that have been available in FSD V14. A look at the release notes for FSD V14.2.1, however, shows that an extra line has been added.
“Camera visibility can lead to increased attention monitoring sensitivity.”
Whether this could lead to more drivers being alerted to pay attention to the roads more remains to be seen. This would likely become evident as soon as the first batch of videos from Tesla owners who received V14.21 start sharing their first drive impressions of the update. Despite the update being released on Thanksgiving, it would not be surprising if first impressions videos of FSD V14.2.1 are shared today, just the same.
-->Rapid FSD releases
What is rather interesting and impressive is the fact that FSD V14.2.1 was released just about a week after the initial FSD V14.2 update was rolled out. This bodes well for Tesla’s FSD users, especially since CEO Elon Musk has stated in the past that the V14.2 series will be for “widespread use.”
FSD V14 has so far received numerous positive reviews from Tesla owners, with numerous drivers noting that the system now drives better than most human drivers because it is cautious, confident, and considerate at the same time. The only question now, really, is if the V14.2 series does make it to the company’s wide FSD fleet, which is still populated by numerous HW3 vehicles.
News
Waymo rider data hints that Tesla’s Cybercab strategy might be the smartest, after all
These observations all but validate Tesla’s controversial two-seat Cybercab strategy, which has caught a lot of criticism since it was unveiled last year.
Toyota Connected Europe designer Karim Dia Toubajie has highlighted a particular trend that became evident in Waymo’s Q3 2025 occupancy stats. As it turned out, 90% of the trips taken by the driverless taxis carried two or fewer passengers.
These observations all but validate Tesla’s controversial two-seat Cybercab strategy, which has caught a lot of criticism since it was unveiled last year.
Toyota designer observes a trend
Karim Dia Toubajie, Lead Product Designer (Sustainable Mobility) at Toyota Connected Europe, analyzed Waymo’s latest California Public Utilities Commission filings and posted the results on LinkedIn this week.
“90% of robotaxi trips have 2 or less passengers, so why are we using 5-seater vehicles?” Toubajie asked. He continued: “90% of trips have 2 or less people, 75% of trips have 1 or less people.” He accompanied his comments with a graphic showing Waymo’s occupancy rates, which showed 71% of trips having one passenger, 15% of trips having two passengers, 6% of trips having three passengers, 5% of trips having zero passengers, and only 3% of trips having four passengers.
The data excludes operational trips like depot runs or charging, though Toubajie pointed out that most of the time, Waymo’s massive self-driving taxis are really just transporting 1 or 2 people, at times even no passengers at all. “This means that most of the time, the vehicle being used significantly outweighs the needs of the trip,” the Toyota designer wrote in his post.
-->Cybercab suddenly looks perfectly sized
Toubajie gave a nod to Tesla’s approach. “The Tesla Cybercab announced in 2024, is a 2-seater robotaxi with a 50kWh battery but I still believe this is on the larger side of what’s required for most trips,” he wrote.
With Waymo’s own numbers now proving 90% of demand fits two seats or fewer, the wheel-less, lidar-free Cybercab now looks like the smartest play in the room. The Cybercab is designed to be easy to produce, with CEO Elon Musk commenting that its product line would resemble a consumer electronics factory more than an automotive plant. This means that the Cybercab could saturate the roads quickly once it is deployed.
While the Cybercab will likely take the lion’s share of Tesla’s ride-hailing passengers, the Model 3 sedan and Model Y crossover would be perfect for the remaining 9% of riders who require larger vehicles. This should be easy to implement for Tesla, as the Model Y and Model 3 are both mass-market vehicles.
Tesla Model 3 named New Zealand’s best passenger car of 2025
Tesla starts rolling out FSD V14.2.1 to AI4 vehicles including Cybertruck
