Tesla Semi program Senior Manager Dan Priestley recently shared a short update on the Class 8 all-electric truck’s production facility near Giga Nevada. While the speed of the Semi factory is not at the pace of larger projects like Giga Shanghai, the upcoming facility is taking shape.
Priestley shared his update on social media platform X. As per the executive, he dropped by the Semi factory’s site to see its progress. Priestley’s photo featured several production Semi units, including one without an air deflector on its roof.
Checking in on factory progress pic.twitter.com/wCZiSuuuvF— Dan Priestley (@danWpriestley) September 6, 2024
The Tesla Semi executive likely saw some substantial progress during his trip to the factory’s buildout site. Some of this progress was highlighted in a video posted by longtime Tesla Semi advocate @HinrichsZane on X, who captured some aerial footage of the facility’s construction area on Friday afternoon, September 6, 2024.
As per the Tesla Semi watcher, several panels have been installed on the far northwest corner of the facility. More steel beams have also been set up nearby. Inside the facility’s covered area, some concrete has been poured to create a floor. Overall, the initial parts of the Semi factory are starting to look like an actual building.
Tesla Semi Factory – BZI System Innovation
September 6, 2024
Tesla partners with BZI (Building Zone Industries) to use a new, state-of-the-art commercial building system.
– Mezzmaster
– Panel Table
– Sky Brace
This is not the same method as used at Giga Texas. pic.twitter.com/0u1mDfD8BS— Zanegler (@HinrichsZane) September 7, 2024
Interestingly enough, the footage provided by the Semi watcher suggests that Tesla has tapped the services of BZI, a steel fabrication company from Utah, for the Semi factory’s buildout. BZI’s official website indicates that it specializes in large-scale steel construction projects. It is also quite innovative in its own right.
As could be seen in the recent aerial video of the Tesla Semi factory, BZI seems to be using its Panel Table, a transportable, self-contained table system; its MezzMaster, a telehandler attachment that securely holds an assembly; and its SkyBrace, a rigid-brace system that allows a structure to be built without extensive temporal cable X-bracing, at the Tesla Semi facility.
Needless to say, the construction of the Tesla Semi factory is getting more interesting.
Don’t hesitate to contact us with news tips. Just send a message to simon@teslarati.com to give us a heads up.
Investor's Corner
Tesla (TSLA) Q2 2026 earnings results: miss on EPS, beat on revenue
Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) reported its earnings for the first quarter of 2026 on Wednesday afternoon. Here’s what the company reported compared to what Wall Street analysts expected.
The earnings results come after Tesla reported a massive beat on vehicle deliveries for the second quarter, delivering 489,126 vehicles and building 451,758 cars during the three-month span.
This was a major shock for those on Wall Street as they anticipated somewhere around 400,000 deliveries for the quarter, and showed Tesla still has plenty of demand for its vehicles around the world and in the U.S. despite losing the $7,500 EV Tax Credit last year.
Tesla Q2 2026 Earnings Results
- Non-GAAP EPS – $0.33 reported vs. $0.53 expected
- Revenues – $28.236 billion reported vs. $26.4 billion expected
- Free Cash Flow- -$1.092B
- Profit -$ 4.751B
Tesla (beat/missed) analyst expectations, so the market response to the company’s quarter is what we will look for next.
Tesla shares closed today down just over 1 percent, trading at $374.01.
In the past, it has been anyone’s guess with what Tesla shares will do after they report earnings. Strong quarters have resulted in sharp drops, while lackluster quarters have seen the stock shoot up considerably.
Tesla will hold its Q2 2026 Earnings Call in about 90 minutes at 5:30 p.m. on the East Coast. Remarks will be made by CEO Elon Musk and other executives, who will shed some light on the investor questions that we covered earlier this week.
You can stream it below. Additionally, we will be doing our Live Blog on X and Facebook.
Q2 2026 Earnings Call https://t.co/zZS6ii2TWK
— Tesla (@Tesla) July 22, 2026
Elon Musk
Tesla is about to make parking in busy lots less stressful than ever
Tesla is about to make parking in busy parking lots at businesses and other points of interest less stressful than ever by allowing drivers more control over where they park and how, CEO Elon Musk confirmed on X.
Tesla has been working to improve the parking performance of vehicles utilizing the Full Self-Driving suite, but now it is looking to add more customization, allowing drivers to choose the specific space they park in, but also potentially the orientation the car pulls into the spot:
It’s coming soon
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 21, 2026
Musk has reiterated on X twice over the past several weeks that Tesla is working to make things with the FSD suite based more on the driver’s specific preferences and behaviors that were seen in past drives.
Essentially, it sounds like if you tend to park away from a business to avoid other vehicles, Tesla FSD will soon recognize that preference of yours and start parking further away as well. Additionally, the prospect of assigned parking spaces has been something many owners have voiced concerns about.
Living in a community with assigned parking spaces makes using FSD incredibly difficult as it will rarely park in the correct spot when there are so many to choose from. This is also pertinent in work settings where there are sometimes assigned parking spaces.
The updates to Tesla’s Full Self-Driving suite in terms of listening to driver preferences with parking are also extending to routing. Tesla announced yesterday that with the release of its 2026 Summer Update, it was adding Automatic Navigation and Preferred Routes:
Tesla reveals 2026 Summer Update with crazy fixes to Nav and more
Tesla has always maintained the idea that any human input is bad input, and that, ideally, Tesla Full Self-Driving will always make the right decision. Of course, this is all in theory, but the issue is that so many of Tesla’s interventions have come because it does something that is not necessarily wrong, but perhaps not what the driver would prefer.
Taking these preferences into account will help Tesla alleviate some of the potentially unnecessary interventions that drivers perform.
News
Tesla starts preparing for Optimus in its smartphone app
Tesla is starting to prepare for the launch of the Optimus robot in its smartphone app, new coding strings show. Elon Musk has referred to Optimus as what will be the greatest-selling product of any kind of all time, and now, Tesla is getting ready for its launch.
Tesla’s smartphone app had several first-time mentions of the Optimus program, according to Tesla App Updates, who intially reported on the appearance. Here’s what they found:
A Dedicated “Robot” Phone Key Authentication
Tesla is working on a Bluetooth Low Energy, or BLE, authentication that is specifically for robots. This does not only apply to Optimus, though, as Robotaxi, which is Tesla’s autonomous ride-hailing platform, might also identify vehicles within the fleet as robots as well.
Tesla shows rapid teardown of Model S and X lines, paving the way for Optimus at Fremont
Essentially, pairing your phone as a key to anything Tesla identifies as a robot to a “whitelist” of authorized devices. Optimus, Robotaxi, or other products that fall into this category will only respond if the device trying to communicate with it is authorized.
This is a great security feature that will eliminate at least face-value and low-level threats.
Home Data Collection and System Alerts
This appears to be somewhat of a neural network for Optimus within your house. There will be a dedicated screen that asks for consent to collect both video and spatial data while Optimus performs in-home tasks. Everything from vacuuming, washing dishes, dusting, and other activities will be tracked.
There will also be a comprehensive alert system that will track everything from low battery to mechanical issues.
Other Changes
Most of the changes tracked in this particular app update are related to Tesla’s 2026 Summer Update, and include things such as image assets for new features, a preview of the new custom wraps feature, and other unique features.
You can check out our coverage on what is included with the 2026 Summer Update here:
Tesla reveals 2026 Summer Update with crazy fixes to Nav and more
