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Tesla Semi makes an appearance at Dallas, TX Service Center

[Credit: Tesla Owners Club Of North TX/Instagram]

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Fresh off its visit to the Anheuser-Busch brewery in St. Louis, MO, the long-range Tesla Semi has been spotted at the Dallas, TX Service Center. The electric long-hauler was parked at the loading ramp of the facility when its photograph was taken.

The latest Tesla Semi sighting was shared by the Tesla Owners Club of North Texas on the group’s official Instagram page. A video of the truck filmed later during the day was also shared in the r/TeslaMotors subreddit, showing the electric truck exiting the Dallas, TX Tesla Service Center and accelerating towards the street.

The reason behind the Semi’s trip to Dallas is unknown, though the city itself is a point of interest. Just like St. Louis, Dallas hosts a facility that is directly related to one of the electric truck’s biggest buyers — PepsiCo. Dallas, TX, after all, is the corporate headquarters of Frito-Lay, a subsidiary of PepsiCo, the company that ordered 100 Tesla Semis for its operations across the United States. Dallas, TX is also the city where PepsiCo Sr. Director of Environmental Sustainability Al Halvorsen is based, as could be seen in his LinkedIn profile.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bgha9omFpHA/?tagged=teslasemi

A 30-year veteran of Frito-Lay, Halvorsen leads the environmental sustainability and compliance programs of Frito-Lay North America, ultimately helping the subsidiary transition into a more sustainable and environmentally-friendly business model — an initiative that the Tesla Semi would play a part in. Considering that Frito-Lay has its headquarters in Dallas, the presence of the Semi in the city could suggest that Tesla is paying a visit to one of its largest buyers. Frito-Lay products, comprised of snack food, after all, are a perfect match for the electric truck, considering that the items’ light weight would maximize the vehicle’s range savings.

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Back in December, we reported that PepsiCo had secured a massive order of 100 Tesla Semis from the Elon Musk-led company. While the 100 Semis would comprise only a tiny fraction of PepsiCo’s 10,000-strong fleet of long-haulers, the electric trucks would play a role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the company’s supply chain.

As we previously reported, the Tesla Semi paid a visit to Anheuser-Busch’s brewery in St. Louis, MO last week. The electric long-hauler was photographed extensively during its trip to MO, with many Tesla enthusiasts managing to capture images of the vehicle as it was parked in the brewery and at a nearby Supercharger in St. Charles. Anheuser-Busch, just like PepsiCo, is also one of Tesla’s largest buyers for the Semi, having ordered 40 units of the electric truck.

Tesla is also actively involved in the development of in-house ultra high-powered Megachargers, which would be installed at key locations that would frequently be traveled by Semi fleet operators. 

Watch the Tesla Semi leave the Dallas, TX Service Center in the video below.

Leaving the airport and caught the Tesla Semi leaving the service center DAL
byu/OMGchad inteslamotors

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Simon is an experienced automotive reporter with a passion for electric cars and clean energy. Fascinated by the world envisioned by Elon Musk, he hopes to make it to Mars (at least as a tourist) someday. For stories or tips--or even to just say a simple hello--send a message to his email, simon@teslarati.com or his handle on X, @ResidentSponge.

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Tesla lands regulatory green light for Robotaxi testing in new state

This will be the third state in total where Tesla is operating Robotaxi, following Austin and California.

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla has landed a regulatory green light to test its Robotaxi platform in a new state, less than three months after the ride-hailing service launched in Texas.

Tesla first launched its driverless Robotaxi suite in Austin, Texas, back on June 22. Initially offering rides to a small group of people, Tesla kept things limited, but this was not to be the mentality for very long.

It continued to expand the rider population, the service area, and the vehicle fleet in Austin.

The company also launched rides in the Bay Area, but it does use a person in the driver’s seat to maintain safety. In Austin, the “Safety Monitor” is present in the passenger’s seat during local rides, and in the driver’s seat for routes that involve highway driving.

Tesla is currently testing the Robotaxi platform in other states. We reported that it was testing in Tempe, Arizona, as validation vehicles are traveling around the city in preparation for Robotaxi.

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Tesla looks to make a big splash with Robotaxi in a new market

Tesla is also hoping to launch in Florida and New York, as job postings have shown the company’s intention to operate there.

However, it appears it will launch in Nevada before those states, as the company submitted its application to obtain a Testing Registry certification on September 3. It was processed by the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles Office of Business Licensing on September 10.

It will then need to self-certify for operations, essentially meaning they will need to comply with various state requirements.

This will be the third state in total where Tesla is operating Robotaxi, following Austin and California.

CEO Elon Musk has stated that he believes Robotaxi will be available to at least half of the U.S. population by the end of the year. Geographically, Tesla will need to make incredible strides over the final four months of the year to achieve this.

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Tesla is improving this critical feature in older vehicles

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla is set to improve a critical feature that has not been present in older vehicles with a new update.

Tesla vehicles feature a comprehensive suite of driver assistance features, some of which aid in driving itself, while others support the vehicle’s surroundings.

One of those features is that of Driver Visualization, and with the rollout of a new update, owners of Intel-based Tesla vehicles are receiving an upgrade that will come with a simple software update.

Tesla plans to use Unreal Engine for driver visualization with crazy upgrade

The update will provide new visualizations while Intel-based vehicles are in reverse, a feature that was not previously available, but will be with Software Update 2025.32.2.

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The improvement was spotted by Not a Tesla App via TheBeatYT_evil:

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Previously, vehicles Tesla built were equipped with Intel-based processors, but newer cars feature the AMD chip, which is capable of rendering these visualizations as they happen. They were capable of visualizations when driving forward, but not in reverse, which is what this change resolves.

It is a good sign for those with Intel-based vehicles, as Tesla seems to be paying attention to what those cars are not capable of and improving them.

This was an undocumented improvement associated with this particular update, so you will not find any mention of it in the release notes that Tesla distributes with each update.

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Tesla looks to make a big splash with Robotaxi in a new market

Tesla has been transparent that it is prioritizing safety, but it believes it can expand to basically any geographical location within the United States and find success with its Robotaxi suite. CEO Elon Musk said it could be available to half of the U.S. population by the end of the year.

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Credit: Joe Tegtmeyer | X

Tesla is looking to make a big splash with Robotaxi in a new market, as the company was spotted testing validation vehicles in one region where it has not yet launched its ride-hailing service.

After launching Robotaxi in Austin in late June, Tesla followed up with a relatively quick expansion to the Bay Area of California. Both service areas are operating with a geofence that is expansive: In Texas, it is 173 square miles, while in the Bay Area, it is roughly 400 square miles.

Tesla has been transparent that it is prioritizing safety, but it believes it can expand to basically any geographical location within the United States and find success with its Robotaxi suite. CEO Elon Musk said it could be available to half of the U.S. population by the end of the year.

There have been plenty of reports out there that have speculated as to where Tesla would land next to test Robotaxi, and Nevada, Florida, Arizona, and New York have all been in the realm of possibility. These regions will need to approve Tesla for regulatory purposes before Robotaxi can officially operate.

Tesla is still testing and performing validation in several regions, and in Tempe, Arizona, things are moving forward as a Model Y with a LiDAR rig was spotted performing ground truth for the platform:

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With the LiDAR unit, many followers of the self-driving and autonomy space might wonder why Tesla uses these apparatuses during validation, especially considering the company’s stance and vision-based approach.

LiDAR is used for “ground truth,” which is basically a solidification or confirmation of what the cameras on the car are seeing. It is a great way to essentially confirm the accuracy of the vision-based suite, and will not be used on Robotaxi units used within the ride-hailing suite.

The Robotaxi platform was made available to the public earlier this month, as Tesla launched its app for iOS users.

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Tesla Robotaxi app download rate demolishes Uber, Waymo all-time highs

Downloading the app allows you to join a waitlist, giving you the opportunity to utilize and test the Robotaxi platform in either Austin or the Bay Area.

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