Elon Musk
Tesla Semi fleet from Frito-Lay gets more charging at Bakersfield factory
Among the several companies that have had the opportunity to add Tesla Semi all-electric Class 8 trucks to their fleets earlier than others, the most notable is arguably Frito-Lay, which has utilized the vehicle for a couple of years now.
However, as their fleet is making more local runs and there are undoubtedly plans to expand to more Semi units, the company has recognized it needs additional Megachargers to give juice to their trucks.
As a result, Frit-Lay decided to build more chargers at their Bakersfield, California facility, according to new permits filed by Tesla:
🚨 Frito-Lay is building an 8-stall Megacharger array at its factory in Bakersfield, California https://t.co/qARfJjogXF pic.twitter.com/gvorIVxsoc
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) April 18, 2025
There are already chargers at the company’s Modesto, California, factory, but Bakersfield is roughly three hours south of Modesto.
Interestingly, Tesla is calling the chargers “Semi Chargers” in the filing, potentially hinting that it is no longer referring to them as “Megachargers,” as they have been in the past. This is a relatively minor detail, but it is worth taking note of.
In 2022, Frito-Lay began installing these chargers in preparation for the Semi to become one of the company’s main logistics tools for deliveries in California and surrounding states.
Frito-Lay is not the only company that has chosen to utilize the Tesla Semi for these early “pilot” runs. PepsiCo has also been a company that has used the Semi very publicly over the past two years.
Additionally, the Tesla Semi participated in the Run on Less EV trucking study back in late 2023, where it managed to complete a 1,000-mile run in a single day:
Tesla Semi logs 1,000-mile day in Run on Less EV trucking study
Tesla is planning to ramp production of the Semi late this year. On the Q4 2024 Earnings Call, VP of Vehicle Engineering Lars Moravy said the company would be focusing on the first builds of the Semi’s high-volume design late this year before ramping production in the early portion of 2026:
“We just closed out the Semi factory roof and walls last week in Reno, a schedule which is great with the weather. In Reno, you never know what’s going to happen. But we’re prepping for mechanical installation of all the equipment in the coming months. The first builds of the high-volume Semi design will come late this year in 2025 and begin ramping early in 2026.”
Tesla will build these units at a new Semi production facility located in Reno near its Gigafactory. The company is getting closer to finishing construction, as a drone video from this morning showed the facility is coming along at a good pace:
🚨Tesla Semi factory progress update: pic.twitter.com/dlzIjKwfT3
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) April 18, 2025
Elon Musk
Elon Musk hints at when Tesla can fix this FSD complaint with v14
Tesla has worked on resolving the issue and has worked on it with subsequent rollouts, but it has only improved slightly. The company has mentioned that it is working to fix it completely, but it seems the next big Software Update to actually resolve the issue altogether will likely be 14.2.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk hinted at when the company will resolve a major complaint with the Full Self-Driving suite. This particular issue has been persistent and a common complaint within the v14 suite.
Tesla has had its v14 FSD rollout deployed for over a month, and its earliest iterations featured a vast majority of improvements from the past versions. However, one common complaint has continued to be mentioned: stuttering and hesitancy.
Tesla Full Self-Driving’s biggest improvements from v13 to v14
Most commonly, FSD users have experienced this at intersections when the Tesla is at a complete stop. The vehicle will inch forward, contemplate proceeding, and then stutter pretty significantly before ultimately moving forward.
Tesla has worked on resolving the issue and has worked on it with subsequent rollouts, but it has only improved slightly. The company has mentioned that it is working to fix it completely, but it seems the next big Software Update to actually resolve the issue altogether will likely be 14.2.
Musk confirmed that on Wednesday:
Yes
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 12, 2025
When will v14.2 rollout? It’s likely a month or more away. Currently, Tesla is rolling out v14.1.7, which is the latest version and features some minor improvements to Hardware 4 vehicles.
These cars are currently on v14.1.4, but are not receiving v14.1.5 or v14.1.6, as both of those seemed to be internal releases to company employees.
Tesla FSD v14.1.7 incoming…. pic.twitter.com/6zuMDZRVD2
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) November 12, 2025
The stuttering issue has been a main complaint of many FSD users, and it is something that is being addressed. Musk’s confirmation that the suite is likely to receive a fix for this issue with the next major FSD release is a sign of good things to come, but we’re hopeful it comes sooner rather than later.
Overall, v14 has been an excellent improvement from v13 with the addition of the additional Speed Profiles of Mad Max and Sloth, as well as new Arrival Options that give the driver an opportunity to let the car park in a suitable location upon arriving at the destination.
@teslarati 🚨🚨 Tesla Full Self-Driving and Yap is the best driving experience #tesla #fsd #yapping ♬ I Run – HAVEN.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk’s Boring Co goes extra hard in Nashville with first rock-crushing TBM
The Boring Company’s machine for the project is now in final testing.
The Boring Company is gearing up to tackle one of its toughest projects yet, a new tunnel system beneath Nashville’s notoriously tough limestone terrain. Unlike the soft-soil conditions of Las Vegas and Austin, the Music City Loop will require a “hard-rock” boring machine capable of drilling through dense, erosion-resistant bedrock.
The Boring Company’s machine for the project is now in final testing.
A boring hard-rock tunneling machine
The Boring Company revealed on X that its new hard-rock TBM can generate up to 4 million pounds of grip force and 1.5 million pounds of maximum thrust load. It also features a 15-filter dust removal system designed to keep operations clean and efficient during excavation even in places where hard rock is present.
Previous Boring Co. projects, including its Loop tunnels in Las Vegas, Austin, and Bastrop, were dug primarily through soft soils. Nashville’s geology, however, poses a different challenge. Boring Company CEO and President Steve Davis mentioned this challenge during the project’s announcement in late July.
“It’s a tough place to tunnel, Nashville. If we were optimizing for the easiest places to tunnel, it would not be here. You have extremely hard rock, like way harder than it should be. It’s an engineering problem that’s fairly easy and straightforward to solve,” Davis said.
Nashville’s limestone terrain
Experts have stated that the city’s subsurface conditions make it one of the more complex tunneling environments in the U.S. The Outer Nashville Basin is composed of cherty Mississippian-age limestone, a strong yet soluble rock that can dissolve over time, creating underground voids and caves, as noted in a report from The Tennessean.
Jakob Walter, the founder and principal engineer of Haushepherd, shared his thoughts on these challenges. “Limestone is generally a stable sedimentary bedrock material with strength parameters that are favorable for tunneling. Limestone is however fairly soluble when compared to other rack materials, and can dissolve over long periods of time when exposed to water.
“Unexpected encounters with these features while tunneling can result in significant construction delays and potential instability of the excavation. In urban locations, structures at the ground surface should also be constantly monitored with robotic total stations or similar surveying equipment to identify any early signs of movement or distress,” he said.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk shares ridiculous fact about Optimus’ hand demos
It appears that Optimus’ V3 iteration is still very much under wraps.
Elon Musk recently revealed something quite shocking about the Optimus demonstration hand that was showcased at the 2025 Annual Shareholder Meeting. As per the CEO, the complex robotic hand that impressed the event’s attendees was not a component of Optimus V3 at all.
Needless to say, it appears that Optimus’ V3 iteration is still very much under wraps.
Optimus’s hand
Even in Tesla’s We, Robot event last year, the company showcased a robotic hand that seemed capable of performing complex tasks. A similar hand was showcased at the recent investor event. It was then no surprise that some attendees and EV community members assumed that the robotic component, which was very dexterous, was a preview of Optimus V3’s hand.
As per Elon Musk in a recent post on X, however, this was not the case. While the robotic hand that Tesla showcased at the 2025 Annual Shareholder Meeting was already very impressive, it was still a V2 component. In response to a quote post from his mom Maye Musk, who noted that “Elon told me a few times that the hand is the most difficult part of the robot,” Elon Musk clarified that the impressive component was still from Optimus V2.
“This is just the V2 Optimus hand. The V3 hand is another level beyond this. Exquisite engineering,” Musk wrote in his post on X.
Not like Tesla
Tesla is designing Optimus to be a potential replacement for humans in some of the world’s most delicate tasks, such as surgery. It is then extremely important for Optimus’ hand to be very dexterous and refined in its movements. This is something that even companies that are also producing humanoid robots have yet to accomplish fully. Musk highlighted this during the Annual Shareholder Meeting, when he discussed how Tesla is really the only company that can scale humanoid robots properly.
“You will see certainly many companies showing demonstration robots. There’s really three things that are super difficult about robots. One is the engineering of the forearm and hand because the human hand is an incredible thing, actually. It’s super dexterous.
“So, engineering the hand really well, the real-world AI, and then volume manufacturing. Those are generally the things that are missing. One or more of those things are missing from other companies. So Tesla is the only one that has all three of those,” Musk said.
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