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Tesla Semi image with Cybertruck and Elon Musk hints appearance on ‘Jay Leno’s Garage’

Tesla Cybertruck and Tesla Semi with Elon Musk for Jay Leno's Garage (Source: teslacybertruck | Instagram)

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Tesla CEO Elon Musk was recently spotted with legendary TV host Jay Leno near the SpaceX headquarters in the Cybertruck. Latest images that surfaced online hint that it will be a Tesla electric truck party at Jay Leno’s Garage soon — and the Tesla Semi will also make an appearance.

An image posted on a Tesla Cybertruck Instagram fan page shows a red all-electric truck Tesla Semi in the same frame as the Cybertruck and Elon Musk. Upon close inspection, lighting equipment can be seen on the other side of the Semi, the same setup seen when Musk and Jay Leno’s Garage crew reportedly filmed a segment for the Emmy Award-winning motoring show. The said TV series segment was framed near the Supercharger station next to the Tesla Design Center in Hawthorne, California.

On Friday, the roads around the SpaceX headquarters and Tesla Design Center were teeming with sightings of the Cybertruck and the billionaire entrepreneur. Musk even smiled and waved back when a Tesla fan spotted him on the passenger seat of the Cybertruck while comedian and car guru Jay Leno was busy behind the wheels along Crenshaw Blvd.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B7ywjx9nGM6/

Someone also captured a snapshot of the Tesla chief next to the all-electric pickup truck while a film crew was busy working around him.

An appearance of the Tesla Semi on Jay Leno’s Garage will surely attract the curiosity of the electric vehicle community. The electric car maker has been conducting real world tests on the electric truck since 2017 and according to a leaked email last week, the Tesla Semi will enter a limited production phase starting in the second half of 2020.

Elon Musk and his automotive brand markets the Semi as the safest and most comfortable truck ever. Just like it’s smaller siblings in the Tesla stable, the Semi will have Autopilot capabilities. The Silicon Valley-based vehicle manufacturer also promises that the electric truck will have electric energy costs half those of diesel or more than $200K in fuel savings. Aside from its badass performance, a fully loaded Semi will still be able to accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in just 20 seconds using its four independent motors.

The Tesla Semi will have an expected base price of $150K for its 300-mile range version and $180K for its 500-mile range version.

Vocal Tesla supporter Jay Leno will surely have a blast featuring two vehicles that are set to disrupt the industry on his show. The Cybertruck has received more than 250,000 reservations since its unveiling while companies looking to cut their carbon footprints and more cost-efficient tractor-trailers have their eyes on the Semi.

Aside from the Tesla Cybertruck and the Tesla Semi, a Tesla employee who gave a Model 3 owner an early tour of the Model Y’s interior mentioned that the much-awaited electric crossover will also be appearing at Jay Leno’s Garage.

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Here are some of the snapshots of the Tesla Cybertruck and Elon Musk captured last Friday while filming a segment for Jay Leno’s Garage.

A curious soul who keeps wondering how Elon Musk, Tesla, electric cars, and clean energy technologies will shape the future, or do we really need to escape to Mars.

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Tesla Cybercab uses a unique strategy for picking up the right rider

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Credit: ARTSIMAGE | X

Tesla Cybercab is using a unique strategy for picking up the correct rider, which is a crucial part of ride-hailing to ensure people end up in the right place and are charged the correct price.

Cybercab will utilize an RGB strip in its front light bar that will illuminate in a variety of different colors to mark itself.

This identifying mark will also appear in the Robotaxi app, giving riders in the same location a notable distinction in an effort to avoid any confusion regarding who should get in each vehicle.

Other ride-hailing services use similar strategies: Lyft and Uber rides are recognizable through driver identity, vehicle type and color, as well as license plate. Waymo will display the rider’s initials on top of the vehicle, letting them know that the specific vehicle for them has arrived.

Tesla’s strategy is unique and interesting, but there are some flaws. Cybercab’s main purpose is aimed toward being an autonomous ride for all, including those who have disabilities like being blind or even color blind.

Tesla will likely have something in the pipeline for those who cannot see colors or have limited vision. There will definitely be multiple ways to identify which vehicle is the one that “you” specifically ordered.

Cybercab is set to start giving public rides next Thursday, September 3, in Austin, as it announced a dedicated event last week and invited many members of the Tesla community.

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Tesla will launch Cybercab on September 3

Additionally, members of the public will be invited as well. Tesla has been offering employee rides in Cybercab for nearly two months.

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Tesla ends in-house wrap service that always seemed like a short-term program

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla has said goodbye to one customization option for its vehicles: the wrap service it launched several years ago.

After launching an in-house wrap service in August 2020 for the first time in China. In the U.S., it launched in October 2023. Tesla continued to expand the program and adjust it with better pricing and fewer options for the Cybertruck.

By December 2023, it was giving owners of the Model 3, Model Y, and the Cybertruck the opportunity to give their vehicle a fresh look with a vinyl wrap.

Tesla revamps in-house vinyl wrap service with better pricing

It was only available in five locations: Costa Mesa, Oceanside, Santa Clara, West Covina, all in California, and Seattle, Washington.

However, Tesla made some big adjustments to its shop, and the wrap service is officially gone:

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Wraps are very popular across the Tesla lineup, especially since the company offers relatively few colors. Many choose to wrap their Teslas with interesting colors, patterns, or even finishes, turning their cars from glossy to satin or matte.

However, Tesla’s wrap service was so limited geographically that it never really had a chance to get off the ground or compete with local shops. Every area in the United States is now overflowing with detailing shops, mobile detailers, and other automotive specialists, many of whom perform wrap services.

Tesla’s service was confined to the Pacific time zone and only spanned across two states. It was never going to be something Tesla was a major competitor in, nor was it going to disrupt the wrapping industry. Now that the program has ended, it seems pretty ideal to believe it was always going to be a short-term thing.

Along with the wrap service, Tesla removed several other products, but nothing too crazy. The Model 3 Door Pocket and Cupholder Liners, the Model S 19″ Magnetite Wheel and Winter Tire Package, Model X/Y Ski/Snowboard Carrier for Hitch Rack, Tesla’s Electric Summer Party Tee, and the Electric Summer Tee were the other items the company totally eliminated from its online shop.

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Tesla Robotaxi fleet gets a brain upgrade ahead of Cybercab launch event

Tesla’s Robotaxi service now runs longer hours nationwide as its unsupervised fleet quietly grows larger.

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Tesla’s Robotaxi service just got easier to catch, with the company’s official Robotaxi account noting that rides are now available from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., seven days a week, across its operating footprint. The account also said its unsupervised fleet is “a lot bigger” than before, though without specifics. The bigger change is what Tesla says upgraded intelligence in vehicle distribution and routing is what’s actually cutting wait times, not a new Full Self-Driving version.

While Tesla did not name the team behind the upgrade, the language points to its AI and fleet software group rather than the driving stack itself. Vehicle distribution and routing in Robotaxi has functioned mostly as a dispatch problem with the software deciding which idle car goes to which rider, and how far it has to travel to get there. “Upgraded intelligence” suggests a smarter version of that dispatch logic, likely using demand forecasting to position idle cars near where riders are about to request them rather than reacting once a request comes in. Tesla’s AI division has built similar prediction systems for other parts of the business, including the neural networks that power FSD itself, so applying that same approach to fleet logistics would be a natural extension rather than a new discipline for the team.

Tesla is also about a week away from a separate robotaxi milestone. The company plans to launch Cybercab, its purpose built two seat robotaxi with no steering wheel or pedals, in Austin on September 3. Cybercab has been giving employees rides on public and private roads for weeks, and the September event is expected to fold those vehicles into the existing Robotaxi fleet within days of the launch.


Austin previously ran Robotaxi from 6 a.m. to 2 a.m. as of last September, a schedule set before the service expanded into Dallas, Houston, Miami, Tampa, Orlando and the Bay Area. Wednesday’s post did not specify whether that extended overnight window still applies in Austin specifically or whether 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. is now the standard across every market. Tesla’s post, visible on its official Robotaxi account, framed the change simply as fewer riders waiting around for a car.

Whether the wider hours hold once Cybercab enters the fleet next week is the next thing worth watching. Tesla has tended to expand Robotaxi in increments, first geofence, then hours, then fleet size, and each step so far has arrived without much advance notice.

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