Since Tesla delivered the first units of its all-electric Semi to Frito-Lay facilities in Modesto, California, in December 2022, any instance of one breaking down on the side of the road has been photographed and highly publicized. However, Teslarati has been told that at least some of the “breakdowns” are caused by a glitch within a software switch, and drivers are pulling over voluntarily as a precaution because the dash screens will flicker and sometimes shut off.
Since December, there have been at least eight instances of Tesla Semi vehicles breaking down. Some attributed it to a loss of range from carrying a load of products, as weight and hauling affect how far an EV can go.
Others suspected it was a mechanical issue, as the Semi is still a relatively young product that has been in development for some time but has only been used in real-world applications by a company that is not Tesla for a few months.
Tesla Semi developers reflect on first deliveries: ‘Out the door. For the world.’
While these are a possibility, they would be expected. Vehicles break down all the time for various reasons, including mechanical failures, and people often run out of gas in combustion engine vehicles and/or range in EVs.
Tesla Semi drivers are experiencing dash issues
At least some of the Semi breakdowns can be attributed to a glitch with a software switch, Teslarati has learned. How many of the breakdowns can be attributed to this issue is unknown, but more than one has been described as having this problem.
According to a source close to the operation in Modesto, drivers are pulling over their Semis as a precaution, as the glitch is causing the dash screens and lights on those screens to flicker and sometimes shut off. “They don’t know what to do,” said the person who did not want to be identified. “So they just pull over, and then they are towed.”
Drivers and others involved in the logistics portion of the operation at Frito-Lay that use the Tesla Semi have stated that the screens will not operate properly. Drivers are pulling over as the screens hold valuable information, such as speed, range, camera views surrounding the truck, suspension information, trailer hitch controls, and more.
Tesla Semi interior (Credit: Tesla)
Without the screens being operational, drivers run into issues that can affect how their jobs are performed, including important safety metrics like speed.
The vehicles are then towed to what we were told is a “secret location” in Lathrop, California, for inspection and repair.
A tow truck driver that has been responsible for transporting the Semis to Lathrop said they had towed at least four units to that location thus far.
Why This Isn’t So Bad
The Semi has only been in Frito-Lay’s hands for about four months, and it is an extremely early project that is still a very limited operation. Frito-Lay expects to have only fifteen Tesla Semis in Modesto this year, so the vehicle is not taking over the entire fleet. In fact, Frito-Lay has adopted various sustainable technologies from several companies to make the Modesto plant more environmentally friendly.
The issues, if completely software-related, can be fixed by Tesla engineers. While the Semi is much different than its passenger vehicles, Tesla has a reputation for having some of the best software in the EV industry. There would likely be much more concern if these breakdowns could be attributed to a part failure or range depletion.
Tesla already displayed the Semi’s capabilities with a full load during the unveiling event in December, showing the all-electric class 8 truck traveling 500 miles on a single charge. We were not told about or made aware of any hardware failures or breakdowns that were caused by parts failures.
Tesla Semi completes 500-mile journey weighing in at 81,000 pounds
The problems with the Semi are likely expected by both Tesla and Frito-Lay as it is still an early-stage vehicle that is being rolled out in a very limited fashion.
Frito-Lay/PepsiCo. did not immediately respond to our request for comment.
What’s Next
Tesla is still moving forward with its plans to expand Semi production in Nevada, as earlier this year, it announced it would build a $3.5 billion expansion to Giga Nevada.
As for Frito-Lay and PepsiCo’s facility in Modesto, there is no indication that they will let a few early issues with the Semi ruin their fleet. In fact, the facility is set to have Megachargers installed at its plant in Fresno, California.
As far as we know, the Semi is still operating daily. Yesterday, it was spotted in Sacramento.
The big picture is that vehicles break down, and new vehicles sometimes have issues that need to be ironed out. It doesn’t mean the project is a failure or that the Semi is doomed to be a dud. It’s the growing pains of the Semi operation.
Disclosure: Joey Klender is a TSLA Shareholder.
I’d love to hear from you! If you have any comments, concerns, or questions, please email me at joey@teslarati.com. You can also reach me on Twitter @KlenderJoey, or if you have news tips, you can email us at tips@teslarati.com.
Elon Musk
SpaceX just combined Grok, Cursor, and X into one mega plan
SpaceXSI merges Grok, Cursor, and X Premium into one plan, raising questions for Tesla owners.
SpaceX Super Intelligence has rolled out The X Subscription, a single plan that combines Grok, Grok Bot, Cursor, and X Premium.
There are five levels, including a free plan that includes daily Grok access and a starter allowance for Cursor’s coding agents. Plus is $8 per month, Premium is $30, Super is $100, and Ultra is $200. Usage scales as you move up, with Premium offering four times the Plus allowance, Super 15 times, and Ultra 50 times. Annual billing brings the prices down a bit further, with Premium at $300 per year.
We’ve unified plans across Grok, Cursor, and X Premium.
Introducing The X Subscription. https://t.co/SvkrVvBa0p
— SpaceX Super Intelligence (@SpaceXSI) October 12, 2026
The $30 Premium tier is where SpaceXSI says it packs the benefits of SuperGrok, Cursor Pro, and X Premium+, which previously added up to $90 per month. Grok Bot, the agent that handles tasks like ordering food or managing a calendar, is included from Premium upward but not on Plus. Paid plans share one weekly usage pool across Grok and Cursor, and each plan includes at least twice the coding usage of the comparable Cursor plan. Third party models in Cursor remain available on Premium and above, but they are billed separately at API list prices.
That last detail matters because of what has happened around Cursor this year. SpaceX exercised its option to buy the company for $60 billion in June, and the deal closed in August. Weeks later, OpenAI said it will cut Cursor’s access to its models on November 12. Bundling Cursor with Grok usage gives SpaceXSI a reason to steer developers toward its own models.
Tesla integrates Grok Bot into its vehicles for the ultimate personal assistant
For Tesla owners, the connection is Grok Bot. Tesla brought it into its vehicles last month, and at that point access inside the car was limited to SuperGrok Heavy subscribers. Grok Bot is now enabled across every Cybercab and the rest of the Model Y Robotaxi fleet. Neither SpaceXSI nor Tesla has said how the new plans change inside the car access for owners, or whether a $30 Premium subscription now covers Grok Bot in a personal Tesla. That is the question owners will want answered first.
The company is also changing its name along the way. The rollout follows the rebrand Musk announced on October 4, when he said SpaceXAI would become SpaceXSI, and the plan page now carries that branding.
The X Subscription is available to new customers starting now, and SpaceXSI says it will reach everyone globally over the next few days. Existing SuperGrok, Cursor, and X Premium subscribers do not have to switch. The option to move will appear gradually in billing settings, with a prorated refund for the unused time on the old plan. Switching is permanent once the accounts are unified, and old plans are closed to new sign ups.
Energy
Taiwan power firm bets big on Tesla Megapacks as AI data center thirst grows
Taiwan’s Apollo Power orders 260 Tesla Megapacks, betting AI data centers will need more electricity.
A Taiwanese power company has ordered 260 Tesla Megapack 2XL units, roughly 1GWh of storage, betting that electricity rather than chips will decide how fast AI data centers come online. Apollo Power signed the contract with Tesla’s Taiwan energy arm on October 8, according to the company’s filing with the Taiwan stock exchange.
The filing says the units are meant for behind the meter storage and resilient grid projects, with delivery in batches from the end of 2027 and sites operating in 2028. Apollo and Tesla did not disclose a price, citing a confidentiality agreement. Apollo plans to pay for the equipment through a cash capital increase and bank financing, and it noted the purchase is not revenue and does not mean it holds firm orders from its partners.
Biggo reported that only about 33 units are under signed customer contracts, with roughly 150 more in negotiation. The same report put total project investment near NT$130 billion, but that figure includes installation work, with the equipment itself making up about 40 to 50 percent. In other words, a large share of this order is Apollo reserving supply ahead of demand. Apollo’s chairman told local media global large storage supply is tight, which is why the company locked in the units early, according to Yahoo Taiwan Finance.
Apollo also launched an AI data center and grid resilience alliance with Phison, Gigabyte and Shihlin Electric. The pitch rests on a pilot at Phison’s Zhunan plant, where Apollo and Tesla Energy Taiwan installed grid forming Megapack 2XLs in June. Tesla Energy Taiwan general manager Sun Hsiao-Han said the project went from demo to 1GWh in four months, and that Tesla Energy has deployed more than 50GWh worldwide.
Taiwan’s cabinet has approved amendments that would require large energy users to install their own generation and storage, which gives enterprise storage a regulatory tailwind.
The deal fits a pattern Teslarati has tracked. Tesla’s Megablock targets 1GWh commissioned in 20 business days, a pitch aimed squarely at fast moving data center builds. Megapacks already back xAI’s Colossus in Memphis and a 400MW AI campus in Brazil. Sun Media adds that Megapack 2XL was named among the first products in Nvidia’s DSX Ready qualification for battery storage in AI factories.
Deliveries are more than a year away, so the real test is how much of that 260 unit order turns into signed customer contracts.
For a century, the car has asked the same thing of its owner, which is basically to pay attention. Even the best ride-hailing app like Uber or Lyft only moved the problem into someone else’s hands. You stopped driving, but you still sat in a stranger’s car, while half listening, and wondering whether to take a phone call in the car without being rude. The Cybercab has no wheel, no pedals and no driver. With Grok @bot now live inside it, it becomes something else entirely, and I think that matters more than the fleet count that everyone is tracking.
Grok @bot is an agent, not a voice assistant. A rider signs in once, and from then on can say what they need and watch it happen. Order dinner from a favorite restaurant. Fill the grocery cart. Move money, answer email, adjust a calendar, push a work project forward. Tesla engineer Yun-Ta Tsai confirmed it is enabled across every Cybercab and the rest of the Model Y fleet, and Tesla’s own pitch is that Full Self-Driving handles the commute while Grok handles the errands.
Think about what that does to a thirty minute ride. Uber sells you a trip, while Waymo sells you the same trip in a more private setting. Tesla is selling the thirty minutes themselves, returned to you with an assistant attached. Errands that used to eat a Saturday get done between pickup and drop off. The ride stops being dead time between two places and becomes a place of its own.
Tesla integrates Grok Bot into its vehicles for the ultimate personal assistant
Best of all, your Bots follow you into any Cybercab, and presumably your own Tesla, then logs you out automatically when you step out. Anyone can bolt a chatbot onto a screen, but much harder to own the vehicle, the autonomy stack and the assistant at once. It also quietly ties SpaceX’s Super Intelligence business to Tesla’s fleet, after Tesla converted its xAI stake into SpaceX equity. The relationship between those two companies is getting harder to describe as separate.
This is also where the hard questions start, because an agent that can spend your money in a vehicle other people also ride in needs some answers. How does it handle a voice it shouldn’t trust? What gets recorded, who can see it, and for how long? What happens when a rider leaves halfway through a task?
If Tesla gets those answers right, the scoreboard changes. We have been counting Cybercabs and wait times. The more telling number may be what riders accomplish per trip. That is data almost no one else will ever have, and it is the real reason to watch Grok @bot.
What do you think? Leave me a comment.
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