News
Tesla’s race to full self-driving under pressure as GM Cruise gets $2.25B investment
In a press release on Thursday, General Motors announced that SoftBank would be investing $2.25 billion in the automaker’s self-driving unit, GM Cruise Holdings LLC. The Detroit-based auto giant would also be investing an additional $1.1 billion into its self-driving division. These investments are aimed at boosting the unit’s capability to reach commercialization at scale by next year.
GM Chairman and CEO Mary Barra lauded the additional investments into the company’s self-driving unit. Barra noted in the press release that the support from SoftBank adds an “additional strong partner” as the automaker pursues its “vision of zero crashes, zero emissions, and zero congestion.”
GM Cruise currently operates a fleet of autonomous Chevy Bolt EVs in San Francisco that provide autonomous ride-hailing services to its employees. Plans are also underway to develop a Chevy Bolt EV variant that is specifically designed to be fully autonomous, with the vehicle not having pedals or a steering wheel.
SoftBank’s $2.25 billion investment into GM Cruise will be made in two tranches. SoftBank Vision Fund will first invest $900 million at the closing of the transaction. Once GM Cruise’s autonomous vehicles are ready to hit the market, Vision Fund will release the second tranche of $1.35 billion. This will ultimately result in SoftBank Vision Fund commanding a 19.6% stake in GM Cruise.
The new investment brings GM Cruise’s valuation close to $11.5 billion. The investment also brings to light the arguable undervaluation of Tesla’s Autopilot system, which has been on the consumer market for several years and has more than 150,000 vehicles from around the world that’s collecting data.
Still, GM Cruise’s new financial backing puts tremendous pressure on Tesla, which has seen its fair share of scrutiny as it steadily improves its Autopilot software in the public eye. Despite having collected reservation deposits for its Full Self-Driving capability that is yet to be released, Autopilot continues to improve and pacing toward full autonomy, according to CEO Elon Musk.
During the Q4 2017 earnings call, Musk addressed the delays in the company’s planned coast-to-coast autonomous drive. The exhibition, which was set for December 2017, did not pan out, although Tesla could have accomplished the coast-to-coast trip, according to Musk. However, doing so would have required far too much “specialized code” that would only be fully effective on a particular route. During the earnings call, Musk stated that Tesla would likely conduct the autonomous coast-to-coast drive sometime this year.
A Tesla Model 3 on Autopilot. [Credit: LivingTesla/YouTube]
One notable difference between Tesla and GM Cruise, and Google’s Waymo is the Tesla’s opposition to the utilization of LiDAR technology – a common fixture on self-driving cars. Instead of LiDAR, Tesla’s electric cars rely on a series of cameras, radar, and ultrasonic sensors to collect data on a vehicle’s surroundings. LiDAR, which is used in GM Cruise’s Chevy Bolt EVs and Waymo’s autonomous vehicles, boasts high spatial precision. Inasmuch as LiDAR can measure distances well, however, it performs poorly in bad weather.
Ultimately, Tesla’s ace-in-the-hole in the increasingly competitive self-driving car market could be its neural net and sharing of fleet data. There are roughly 150,000 AP2.0 vehicles on the road today, with each one providing valuable data to Tesla’s deep neural networks. Akin to the human brain, the more data that is available to train the neural network, the better its performance would be.
Ultimately, Tesla’s neural net could be the difference-maker when the company goes all-in and competes in the self-driving race. Until then, however, the electric car maker could soon be taking a backseat to companies like GM Cruise and Waymo, both of which are accelerating their efforts at rolling out consumer-ready autonomous vehicles in the near future.
News
Tesla expands Robotaxi in a way that was long anticipated
Instead, it has to do with the consumer base it offers Robotaxi to, because it has not offered it to everyone in the past.
Tesla has expanded Robotaxi in a way that was long anticipated, and it does not have to do with a new, larger geofence in a city where it already offered its partially autonomous ride-hailing suite, or a new city altogether.
Instead, it has to do with the consumer base it offers Robotaxi to, because it has not offered it to everyone in the past.
Tesla has taken a major step forward in its autonomous ride-hailing ambitions with the official launch of the Tesla Robotaxi app for Android users. Released on the Google Play Store on April 24. Titled simply “Tesla Robotaxi,” the app is now available to download directly from Tesla.
The @Tesla Robtoaxi App has just officially launched for Android users. Go get some rides y’all!
Download: https://t.co/D2jIONXc91 pic.twitter.com/rQ6TD14zkC
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) April 24, 2026
This rollout fulfills a long-anticipated expansion that opens the service to hundreds of millions of Android smartphone users who were previously unable to access it on iOS alone.
The app delivers a streamlined, driverless ride experience powered by Tesla’s automated driving technology.
Users sign in with a Tesla Account, view the current service area map within the app, enter a destination, and receive an estimated fare and arrival time before confirming the ride. When a Model Y from the Robotaxi fleet arrives, riders confirm the license plate, enter the vehicle, fasten their seatbelt, and tap “Start Ride” on either the app or the vehicle’s touchscreen.
During the trip, passengers have access to all the same controls that iOS users do, and can adjust climate settings, seat positions, and music while tracking progress on an in-app map. The interface also allows drop-off changes or support requests if needed. After the ride, users exit, close the doors, and submit feedback.
This Android availability directly broadens the rider base for Robotaxi in its initial service areas. Unfortunately, Android users are used to being subject to delayed launches of new features available to Tesla owners.
By removing the iOS-only barrier, Tesla instantly expands the addressable market, enabling far more people to summon and use the autonomous vehicles already operating on public roads.
The move is a foundational requirement for scaling ride volume and gathering the real-world data needed to refine the unsupervised Full Self-Driving system that powers every trip.
For the Robotaxi program itself, the launch signals steady operational progress. It prepares the service for higher utilization rates as the fleet grows and supports the transition from limited early deployments to a more robust network.
Tesla expands Unsupervised Robotaxi service to two new cities
Tesla has indicated that users outside current service areas can sign up at the company’s website for future notifications, pointing to a deliberate, phased geographic rollout.
Looking ahead, the company plans to incorporate Cybercab vehicles to increase fleet capacity and efficiency while continuing to expand service territories. With the Android app now live, Tesla has removed a key adoption hurdle and positioned Robotaxi for the next phase of growth in autonomous urban transportation.
The infrastructure is now in place to support significantly larger rider demand as production and deployment accelerate.
News
UPDATE: SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy that launched a Tesla into space is back on a mission
SpaceX Falcon Heavy returns after 18 months away to deliver a satellite that only it could carry.
UPDATE: 10:29 a.m. et: SpaceX is standing down from today’s Falcon Heavy launch of the ViaSat-3 F3 mission due to unfavorable weather. A new target date will be shared once confirmed.
After an 18-month absence, SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy is returning to mission on Monday morning when it’s scheduled to lift off from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center at 10:21 a.m. EDT.
The mission is called ViaSat-3 F3, and the heavy satellite payload needs to reach geostationary orbit, sitting 22,236 miles above Earth where its speed matches the planet’s rotation. Getting a satellite that heavy to that altitude demands more thrust than a single-core Falcon 9 can deliver.
This marks the Falcon Heavy’s 12th flight overall since its debut in February 2018, and its first since NASA’s Europa Clipper mission in October 2024.
Arguably, the most exciting element for spectators will be watching the booster recoveries in action when the two side boosters, B1072 and B1075, will attempt simultaneous landings at Landing Zone 2 and the newer Landing Zone 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, while the center core will be expended over the ocean.
SpaceX wins its first MARS contract but it comes with a catch
Following satellite deployment, expected roughly five hours after launch, ViaSat-3 F3 will spend several months traveling to its final orbital slot before undergoing in-orbit testing, with service entry expected by late summer 2026
As Teslarati reported, NASA awarded SpaceX a $175.7 million contract on April 16, 2026, to launch the ESA Rosalind Franklin Mars rover aboard a Falcon Heavy no earlier than late 2028, which would mark the first time SpaceX has ever sent a payload to Mars. That contract came on top of an already deep pipeline that includes the Roman Space Telescope, the Dragonfly Saturn mission, and multiple national security payloads.
SpaceX executed 165 missions in 2025 and now accounts for approximately 85% of all global orbital launches. With Starlink surpassing 10 million subscribers and an IPO targeting a $1.75 trillion valuation still ahead, Monday’s launch is one more data point in a company that has quietly become the backbone of both commercial and government space access worldwide.
Tesla is launching its solution to end Supercharger fights once and for all, eliminating any confusion on who is to charge next at a congested location.
Last year, a notable incident at a Tesla Supercharger led to a fight, and it all stemmed from a disagreement over who arrived at the location first.
Congestion at Tesla Superchargers is a pretty infrequent occurrence for most of us, but there are more congested and popular areas where wait times can be extensive. An unfortunate growing pain of EV ownership is the plain fact that chargers are not as available as gas pumps, and there are, at times, lines to charge.
This can cause tensions to flare and people to get entitled when visiting Superchargers. Nobody wants to spend hours at a Supercharger, but now, there will be no more confusion when there is a queue, and that’s thanks to Tesla’s new Virtual Queue for Superchargers.
Tesla is finally starting to build out the Virtual Supercharger Queue, according to Not a Tesla App, but it still relies on drivers to make it work.
When a driver is near a Supercharger that is full, a message will pop up on the Tesla App, using the driver’s location to determine their eligibility to join the virtual queue.
The app states:
“While the app is closed, Tesla uses your location to notify you of accurate wait times at Superchargers when you arrive.”
Another message within the app states:
“There is a waitlist to charge. Are you sure you want to start a charging session now?”
This sounds as if it will require drivers to act appropriately and only plug in when the app prompts them to do so, by letting them know it is their turn.
The app will notify the driver of their position in the queue, as well as how many vehicles are ahead of them.
Tesla launches first ‘true’ East Coast V4 Supercharger: here’s what that means
The company announced a while back that it would be working on a solution for this issue. Personally, I’ve only had to wait at a Supercharger for a charge on one occasion, and there was a line of between 3 and 10 cars during this singular occurrence.
I’m out at the Lancaster, PA Supercharger and showed up with a queue of three vehicles.
It’s now up to five and there have been several issues with order of arrival and confusion about who is first.
Any update on Supercharger queue? @elonmusk @aelluswamy @r_jegaa
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) January 31, 2026
There were no conflicts or arguments about who had arrived first, but there was some discussion between several drivers during my time there about who was to charge first. Throw a non-Tesla EV into the mix, one that can only charge at a pull-in spot, and that causes even more of a complication.
Tesla expands Robotaxi in a way that was long anticipated
UPDATE: SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy that launched a Tesla into space is back on a mission
