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The Boring Company San Antonio Loop’s net revenue expected to be $25M per year, fares to start at $10

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On Wednesday, May 18, The Alamo Regional Mobility Authority (RMA) board was briefed on more details about The Boring Company’s (TBC) proposed tunnel from the San Antonio International Airport to downtown.

Bexar County Public Works director and county engineer Renee Green briefed the Alamo RMA board on The Boring Company tunnel project before the members went into executive session.

Green’s presentation noted that 10 million out of 30 million people who visit the city pass through the San Antonio International Airport. As such, the San Antonio tunnel project is expected to generate a net revenue of up to $25 million per year, with fares between $10 to $12. 

“These revenue projections would require, obviously, more detailed study for reasonableness and accuracy. That’s what the ridership and revenue study will tell us,” said Green.

According to Green, all funding for the tunneling project would come from Elon Musk’s tunneling company. She emphasized that taxpayers would not spend a cent on the project. TBC offered a “turn-key lump sum construction price where they assume all the risks.” The Boring Company project is estimated to cost between $241 million and $298 million. 

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TBC plans to build a one-way tunnel 7.6 miles long that would possibly run parallel U.S. 281. However, the route of the tunnel will not be settled until a feasibility study is performed. An examination of potential environmental risks must be done as well. 

The San Antonio tunnel would have exit shafts located every half-mile for safety purposes. The number of stations the tunnel would have is still unknown. 

The presentation stated that 100 Tesla vehicles could transport about 32,000 passengers through the San Antonio tunnel daily on average. It would have a maximum capacity of transporting 4,500 passengers per hour with 100 vehicles. If the tunnel’s Tesla fleet increased to 350 vehicles, it would be able to accommodate 112,000 commuters daily and 15,750 passengers per hour from the airport to downtown. 

“This is an extremely efficient system. You don’t have any cross traffic, you’re not stopping at each location, you’re either pulling in or pulling out of the tunnel system,” said Green. 

She emphasized that each trip would have little to zero wait time. However, Green also highlighted that The Boring Company tunnel would work alongside traditional transit systems and would not be competing for the same ridership.

“The project can provide an equivalent capacity to both bus and rapid transit for a fraction of the operating costs that we’re talking about, while providing reliability and solving a lot of the last-mile difficulties that you see with traditional transit systems by utilizing underground rides where the system will supplement any plan for ongoing transit type projects and is not expected to replace them,” she added.

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Maria--aka "M"-- is an experienced writer and book editor. She's written about several topics including health, tech, and politics. As a book editor, she's worked with authors who write Sci-Fi, Romance, and Dark Fantasy. M loves hearing from TESLARATI readers. If you have any tips or article ideas, contact her at maria@teslarati.com or via X, @Writer_01001101.

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Tesla made Full Self-Driving more seamless with this little-known feature

“Brake Confirm for the Start Self-Driving button is now defaulted off. When disabled, Start Self-Driving will not require you to press and release the brake to confirm engagement.”

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla’s Full Self-Driving suite seems to get better with every single release. However, it is also making it more seamless and easier than ever to use for passenger travel, thanks to a recent feature that has flown under the radar.

Tesla started rolling out its v14 iteration of the Full Self-Driving suite a few weeks ago to Early Access Program (EAP) members, and it finally started making its way to the public for the first time earlier this week.

Tesla Full Self-Driving v14.1 first impressions: Robotaxi-like features arrive

The wide rollout of Tesla v14.1.3 was long-awaited, as its capabilities were flexed by the handful of people lucky to have it. However, those sitting with v13.2.9 were still eager to get to their hands on the new FSD version, especially considering it came with a lot of cool upgrades.

One of which is flying under the radar and not getting as much attention as it should. Although it is a minor feature change from v13, Tesla has made FSD more seamless than ever with a simple fix that it started utilizing with v14.

With v14.1.1, Tesla started rolling out the removal of the “Brake Confirm” feature, which required drivers to touch the brake to activate Full Self-Driving. This is now an optional feature, as it now is defaulted to the off position by the car.

The release notes for the feature state:

“Brake Confirm for the Start Self-Driving button is now defaulted off. When disabled, Start Self-Driving will not require you to press and release the brake to confirm engagement.

You can enable Brake Confirm in Autopilot > Brake Confirm.”

Simply put, you no longer need to touch the brake to confirm your intention to use Full Self-Driving, which is a small but very effective fix.

It makes your car much more active in terms of overall activation, and it is definitely a quicker and more streamlined departure from your current location than ever before.

Here’s a good look at how quick it is:

@teslarati With Tesla Full Self-Driving v14, there is no delay when you start FSD. Press “Start Self-Driving” and you’re on your way #fyp #viral #tesla #teslafsd #fsdv14 ♬ original sound – TESLARATI

The feature is small, but it is very noticeable with your first uses of FSD v14. Eventually, it will become even more streamlined as Tesla solves self-driving and autonomy, as it will require zero human intervention to get started, which means the “Start Self-Driving” button will also be removed.

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Tesla rival’s ex-CEO makes shock prediction about Elon Musk’s future

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Credit: xAI

A Tesla rival’s ex-CEO has made a shock prediction about CEO Elon Musk, stating that he believes he will abandon the production and manufacturing of electric vehicles altogether, eventually deciding to focus on robotics, SpaceX, or Artificial Intelligence.

Ex-Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares said in an interview recently that he believes Musk will see no future for Tesla’s EVs, and will eventually bail on the development of them altogether (via Detroit News):

“We can’t rule out that at some point, he’ll decide to leave the automotive industry to refocus on humanoid robots, SpaceX, or artificial intelligence. Elon Musk will have left the automotive industry.”

Musk is no stranger to crazy moves or even speaking his mind. However, a prediction of this magnitude does not seem entirely accurate, especially considering that one of Tesla’s biggest priorities currently is that of self-driving cars, something the company has devoted and invested billions of dollars and endless time to.

Despite that, Tavares still believes Tesla will eventually phase out of the automotive industry altogether and will be beaten by BYD. He also criticized Tesla’s valuation on the stock market, saying it was “simply stratospheric.”

Stellantis changes its tune after Tavares steps down

The comments came as Tavares was promoting a new self-memoir. He finished with a shock claim that Tesla won’t even be around in ten years:

“Tesla’s stock market value loss will be colossal because this valuation is simply stratospheric. I’m not sure that Tesla will still exist in 10 years. It’s an innovative group, but they’ll be beaten by BYD’s efficiency.”

Musk saw the story shared on X and said that Tavares “has no clue,” effectively dispeling the mentality that he could simply abandon such a crucial part of the company’s product line and forget about the millions of people who have already bought the company’s cars and invested into gathering data for its Full Self-Driving tech.

Musk is set to commit to Tesla for many more years in early November, as Tesla shareholders are set to vote on a $1 trillion proposed pay package from the company’s Board. It is likely the pay package will pass, as the previous two votes on a separate package were overwhelmingly approved.

However, Musk’s true concern is having enough influence with ownership to handle and manage the company’s fleet of Optimus robots.

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Tesla ‘Mad Max’ gets its first bit of regulatory attention

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Credit: Teslarati

Tesla “Mad Max” mode has gotten its first bit of regulatory attention, as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has asked for additional information on the Speed Profile.

A few weeks ago, Tesla officially launched a new Speed Profile for Full Self-Driving (Supervised) known as “Mad Max,” which overtook the “Hurry” mode for the fastest setting FSD offers.

Tesla launches ‘Mad Max’ Full Self-Driving Speed Profile, its fastest yet

It launched with Full Self-Driving v14.1.2, and it was no secret that the company was looking for a new mode that would cater to more aggressive driving styles.

The release notes showed the description of the Speed Profile as:

“Introduced new speed profile MAD MAX, which comes with higher speeds and more frequent lane changes than Hurry.”

It certainly lived up to its description. In our testing, it was aggressive, fast, and drove similarly to some of the more challenging traffic patterns I’ve come across.

In normal highway driving, it was one of the quicker cars on the road, while other applications saw it be a suitable version for navigating things like rush-hour traffic.

Here’s what my experience with it was:

While Tesla owners have certainly enjoyed the feature and the behaviors of Mad Max, the NHTSA said it is in contact with Tesla about it, looking to gather additional information. Additionally, it said:

“The human behind the wheel is fully responsible for driving the vehicle and complying with all traffic safety laws.”

The important thing to note with Mad Max mode, along with the other Speed Profiles, is that the driver can choose whichever one they’d like, and they all cater to different driving styles.

While Mad Max is more aggressive, modes like “Sloth” and “Standard” are significantly more conservative and can be more suitable for those who are not comfortable with the faster, more spirited versions.

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