Tesla has never run commercials, and it doesn’t have a Public Relations or Advertising Department. Evidence over the years suggests that it doesn’t need one as the company’s products, events, and uncommonly vocal CEO Elon Musk have shown that spending money on commercials is overrated. Instead, they’ve let the company do its own talking, and despite not spending a dollar on ads, it’s arguably the most talked-about car company on the planet.
Before I wrote about electric cars for a living and considered myself an “EV enthusiast,” I knew that other electric cars existed. There’s a BMW i3 that I see on a daily basis on my daily commute to the gym, there’s a Chevy Bolt owner in my neighborhood, and there were a handful of Teslas around. Now, Teslas dominate my area, despite the fact that the company has never spent any money on advertising its products. I know I’ve seen Chevy Bolt and BMW i3 commercials on several occasions, but nobody talks about them.
From Elon Musk’s Twitter feed to rapper Yung Gravy’s hit single “Whip a Tesla,” there are plenty of ways Tesla has received the spotlight of the public eye through the years. Here are a few of the ones that I feel are the best example of how powerful Tesla’s PR machine is, even though it uses that money to continue developing its products.
1. The Tesla Model X “Dance”
While this one is extremely old and worn-out, it was usually the first thing I showed people who didn’t know what a Tesla is. It’s a flashy, flamboyant, fun Easter Egg that has the Model X dancing to the Trans Siberian Orchestra, and it’s an extremely annoying feature, according to several long-time Tesla owners who I keep in touch with. Despite its overuse by Tesla’s newcomers, it’s still a feature that spread throughout the internet like wildfire. It was a combination of inventiveness and Elon Musk’s bold sense of humor, and it undoubtedly gets the attention of many people who have no clue what is so special about Tesla vehicles.
Yeah, it might be old and outdated to some, but there’s no doubt it got the word out to some new Tesla followers. Rarely used in the wild anymore, it was recently used in China to attract college grads to consider working for the company.
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2. Elon Musk’s Twitter Feed
From Tesla stock synopses to product release details, to updates to Tesla’s lineup, Elon Musk’s Twitter feed is a legendary PR tool for the automaker. It’s free to create a Twitter, and Elon Musk uses it for literally any reason he can. His over 55 million Twitter followers feast at nearly every Tweet he writes, and the main difference for me is the responses he receives.
Musk is a comical man, someone who holds a great sense of humor and a light-heartedness that only a few people in his stressful position would be able to display. While most professional athletes attract responses from fans and foes who are interested in the sport they play, Musk attracts attention from nearly everyone from every walk of life. While you can usually expect some to share their newest memes, looking for approval from the unequivocal Lord of Memes, most commonly there are questions from Tesla owners and fans who are interested in when the next big development will be released.
Musk gains around 1 million new followers every week, according to his profile on Social Blade, A million extra sets of eyes feast upon his Tweets every night, whether they deal with automotive or his other projects, or his recent dive into Cryptocurrency, they attract massive attention from everyone in every corner of the World.
3. The Cybertruck Broken Glass Episode
During the 2019 unveiling of the Tesla Cybertruck, a demonstration of the vehicle’s durability was underway. First, Tesla’s Cheif Designer Franz von Holzhausen slammed a sledgehammer into the driver’s side door of the all-electric pickup. With no dents, dings, or imperfections to be found, the next part of the demonstration would reveal the nearly impossible to break Cybertruck glass, and it would solidify Tesla’s nearly indestructible vehicle.
Except the glass broke.
And for weeks and weeks, and months even, video of the Cybertruck’s glass breaking plagued the internet. For most companies, it would have been an embarrassing episode of a PR nightmare that would need massive amounts of explaining. Instead, Tesla used it to expand the brand.
Yup. Sledgehammer impact on door cracked base of glass, which is why steel ball didn’t bounce off. Should have done steel ball on window, *then* sledgehammer the door. Next time …
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 25, 2019
Tesla created the Cybertruck glass shirt for its store, which simply had the dinged-up glass put on the front of a black t-shirt. Not shying away from the event, Tesla used the cards it was dealt, and it was really incredible how something that would derail a product unveiling for something that claimed to be so strong and robust was used to continue the public’s awareness of the Cybertruck.
Only Tesla.
There’s three of my favorite examples of Tesla’s PR brilliance. Of course, there are plenty more, including one that occurred last weekend with UFC Lightweight Beneil Dariush.
Be sure to let me know what your favorite examples of Tesla’s PR are!
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News
Tesla intertwines FSD with in-house Insurance for attractive incentive
Every mile logged under FSD now carries a documented financial value—lower risk, lower cost—based on Tesla’s internal driving data rather than external crash statistics alone.
Tesla intertwined its Full Self-Driving (Supervised) suite with its in-house Insurance initiative in an effort to offer an attractive incentive to drivers.
Tesla announced that its new Safety Score 3.0 will automatically have a perfect score of 100 with every mile driven with Full Self-Driving (Supervised) enabled.
The change is designed to boost customers’ average safety scores and deliver noticeably lower monthly premiums.
The move marks the clearest link yet between Tesla’s autonomous driving technology and its proprietary insurance product. Tesla Insurance already relies on real-time vehicle data—such as acceleration, braking, following distance, and speed—to calculate a Safety Score between 0 and 100. Higher scores have long translated into cheaper rates.
Under the previous system, however, even brief manual interventions could drag down the average, frustrating owners who rely heavily on FSD. Version 3.0 eliminates that penalty for supervised autonomous miles, effectively treating FSD-driven segments as the safest possible driving behavior.
The incentive is immediate and financial. Drivers who keep FSD engaged for the majority of their trips will see their overall score rise, potentially shaving hundreds of dollars off annual premiums.
Tesla framed the update as a direct response to customer feedback, many of whom had complained that the old scoring model punished the very behavior it was meant to encourage.
For now, the program applies only to new policies in six states: Indiana, Tennessee, Texas, Arizona, Virginia, and Illinois.
Existing policyholders are not yet included, a point that drew swift questions from the Tesla community. Many owners in other states, including California and Georgia, expressed hope that the benefit would expand nationwide soon.
The announcement arrives as Tesla continues to roll out FSD Supervised updates and push for regulatory approval of more advanced autonomy. By tying insurance savings directly to FSD usage, the company is putting its own actuarial weight behind the technology’s safety claims.
Every mile logged under FSD now carries a documented financial value—lower risk, lower cost—based on Tesla’s internal driving data rather than external crash statistics alone.
Tesla has not disclosed exact premium reductions or the full rollout timeline beyond the six launch states.
Still, the message is clear: the more drivers trust FSD Supervised, the more Tesla Insurance will reward them. In an era when legacy insurers remain cautious about autonomous tech, Tesla is betting that its own data will prove the safest miles are the ones driven hands-free.
Elon Musk
Tesla finalizes AI5 chip design, Elon Musk makes bold claim on capability
The Tesla CEO’s words mark a strategic shift. Tesla has long emphasized software-hardware co-design, squeezing maximum performance from every transistor. Musk previously described AI5 as optimized for edge inference in both Robotaxi and Optimus.
Tesla has finalized its chip design for AI5, as Elon Musk confirmed today that the new chip has reached the tape-out stage, the final step before mass production.
But in a brief reply on X, Musk clarified Tesla’s AI hardware roadmap, essentially confirming that the new chip will not be utilized for being “enough to achieve much better than human safety for FSD.”
He said that AI4 is enough to do that.
Instead, the AI5 chip will be focused on Tesla’s big-time projects for the future: Optimus and supercomputer clusters.
Musk thanked TSMC and Samsung for production support, noting that AI5 could become “one of the most produced AI chips ever.” Yet, the key pivot came in his direct answer: vehicles no longer need the bleeding-edge silicon.
And thank you to @TaiwanSemi_TSC and @Samsung for your support in bringing this chip to production! It will be one of most produced AI chips ever.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 15, 2026
Existing AI4 hardware, which is already deployed in hundreds of thousands of HW4-equipped Teslas, delivers safety metrics superior to human drivers for Full Self-Driving. AI5 will instead accelerate Optimus robot development and massive Dojo-style training clusters.
The Tesla CEO’s words mark a strategic shift. Tesla has long emphasized software-hardware co-design, squeezing maximum performance from every transistor. Musk previously described AI5 as optimized for edge inference in both Robotaxi and Optimus.
Now, with AI4 proving sufficient, the company avoids costly retrofits across its fleet while redirecting next-generation compute toward higher-value applications: dexterous robots and exponential training scale.
But is it reasonable to assume AI4 enables unsupervised self-driving? Yes, but with important caveats.
On the hardware side, the claim is credible. Tesla’s FSD stack runs end-to-end neural networks trained on billions of miles of real-world data. Internal safety data reportedly shows AI4-equipped vehicles already outperforming average human drivers by a significant margin in controlled metrics (collision avoidance, reaction time, edge-case handling).
Dual-redundant AI4 chips provide ample headroom for the driving task, leaving bandwidth for future model improvements without new silicon. Musk’s assertion aligns with Tesla’s pattern of over-provisioning compute early, then optimizing ruthlessly, exactly as HW3 once sufficed before HW4 scaled further.
Optimus and our supercomputer clusters.
AI4 is enough to achieve much better than human safety for FSD.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 15, 2026
Unsupervised autonomy, meaning Level 4 or higher, is not solely a compute problem. Regulatory approval remains the primary gate.
Even if AI4 achieves “much better than human” safety statistically, agencies like the NHTSA demand exhaustive validation, liability frameworks, and public trust.
Tesla’s supervised FSD has shown rapid gains in recent versions, yet real-world edge cases, like construction zones, emergency vehicles, and adverse weather, still require driver intervention in many jurisdictions. Competitors like Waymo operate limited unsupervised fleets, but only in geofenced areas with extensive mapping. Tesla’s vision-only, fleet-scale approach is more ambitious—and harder to certify globally.
In short, Musk’s post is both pragmatic and bullish. AI4 is likely capable of unsupervised FSD from a technical standpoint. Whether regulators and consumers agree, and how quickly, will determine if Tesla’s bet pays off.
The company’s capital-efficient path keeps existing cars relevant while pouring future compute into robots. If the safety data holds, unsupervised autonomy could arrive sooner than many expect.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk signals expansion of Tesla’s unique side business
Long envisioning the Tesla Diner as more than a charging stop, Musk has clearly adopted the idea that the Supercharger and Restaurant combo is a good thing for the company to have. It’s a blend of classic American drive-in culture with futuristic Tesla flair, complete with a 1950s-inspired design, movie screens, and on-site dining.
Elon Musk has signaled an expansion of Tesla’s unique side business, something that really has nothing to do with cars or spaceships, but fans of the company have truly adopted it as just another one of its awesome ventures.
Musk confirmed on Wednesday that Tesla would build a new Diner location in Palo Alto, Northern California. After hinting last October that it “probably makes sense to open one near our Giga Texas HQ in Austin and engineering HQ in Palo Alto,” it seems one of those locations is being set into motion.
Sure
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 15, 2026
Long envisioning the Tesla Diner as more than a charging stop, Musk has clearly adopted the idea that the Supercharger and Restaurant combo is a good thing for the company to have. It’s a blend of classic American drive-in culture with futuristic Tesla flair, complete with a 1950s-inspired design, movie screens, and on-site dining.
He first floated broader expansion plans shortly after the LA opening in July 2025, noting that if the prototype succeeded, Tesla would roll out similar venues in major cities worldwide and along long-distance Supercharger routes.
Earlier hints included a confirmed second site at Starbase in Texas, tied to SpaceX operations, underscoring the Diner’s role in enhancing Tesla’s ecosystem behind vehicles.
The Los Angeles location on Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood has served as a high-profile test case. Opened in July 2025 at 7001 Santa Monica Blvd., it features the world’s largest urban Supercharging station with 80 V4 stalls open to all NACS-compatible EVs, over 250 dining seats, rooftop views, and 24/7 service.
The retro-futuristic building replaced a former Shakey’s and quickly became a destination. Tesla reported selling 50,000 burgers in the first 72 days—an average of over 700 daily—drawing crowds with Cybertruck-shaped packaging, breakfast extensions until 2 p.m., and movie screenings.
Palo Alto stands out as a logical next step for several reasons. As Tesla’s longstanding engineering headquarters in the heart of Silicon Valley, the city is home to thousands of Tesla employees, engineers, and executives who could benefit from a convenient, branded gathering spot.
The area boasts high EV adoption rates, dense tech talent, and heavy traffic along key corridors, making a large Supercharger-diner an ideal fit for both daily commuters and long-haul travelers.
Proximity to Stanford University and the innovation ecosystem would amplify its appeal, potentially serving as a showcase for Tesla’s vision of integrated mobility and lifestyle experiences. It could be a great way for Tesla to recruit new talent from one of the country’s best universities.
If Tesla and Musk decide to move forward with a Palo Alto diner, it would build directly on the LA prototype’s momentum while addressing Musk’s earlier calls for expansion near core Tesla hubs.
Whether it materializes as a full confirmation or evolves from these hints remains to be seen, but the pattern is clear: Tesla is testing ways to make charging stops memorable. For EV drivers and enthusiasts alike, a Silicon Valley outpost could blend cutting-edge tech with nostalgic comfort, further embedding Tesla into everyday culture. As Musk’s comments suggest, the future of the Diner looks promising.
Tesla intertwines FSD with in-house Insurance for attractive incentive
Tesla finalizes AI5 chip design, Elon Musk makes bold claim on capability
