News
Trump effect takes hold of Tesla’s (TSLA) stock price
Why has Tesla’s stock price increased so much in value over the past couple of months? What effects have a Trump Presidency had on Tesla stock values? And, overall, why have there been so many skeptics who’ve openly voiced concerns about Tesla’s validity as an investment?
Tesla has seen a pattern in which, due to delivery date misses, analysts have critiqued the company’s overall growth potential. They often wonder aloud whether turning monies back into the Tesla business makes sense for investors. Increasing scrutiny of new competitors for a currently small but potentially significant electric vehicle market has complicated the overall Tesla stock valuation picture.
And then there’s CEO Elon Musk, widely known for working 100 hour weeks while he runs both the Tesla automotive company and SpaceX.
Over the past year, a cycle has taken place in which sliding stock prices are followed by strong public sentiment that pushes stocks prices upward. Helpful for the overall Tesla financial health picture have been carefully placed Tesla news events, model improvements, software updates, or new company acquisitions, such as SolarCity.
What’s changed from late 2016 into early 2017 with TSLA?
TSLA stocks are currently receiving very positive reports from the market. Shares have risen nearly 20% since the beginning of the year and up over 40% from the period between November’s low through January, 2017. Just last week, Morgan Stanley’s lead auto analyst, Adam Jonas raised Tesla’s price target from $242 to $305 with associated higher earnings prediction for fiscal year 2018.
Partially that optimism rises from a view that Tesla can launch its $35,000 Model 3 on schedule. Tesla describes Model 3 targets on its website as production beginning in mid-2017 and delivery estimates for new reservations in mid 2018 or later. Jonas has given the nod to the likelihood that Tesla will be able to create additional business through car-sharing, but also cited a “supportive political environment” as cause for the upgrade.
There’s also Tesla’s short interest, which has jumped 27.8 percent in the past year. Traders have wagered that the Model 3 may not live up to the market’s sky-high expectations.
The Trump effect on TSLA
Possibly the most important reason that TSLA stock has been trading with a brighter outlook is the addition to Musk’s collaboration with newly-elected President Donald Trump. When Musk first agreed to participate as one of Trump’s council of business leaders, much consternation arose among Tesla fans. The President has reiterated a strong stance since then on creating U.S. jobs by bringing the workforce back into the U.S.
But, with Tesla increasing production at its California plant and returns quickly mounting at its Gigafactory in Nevada, the Tesla Effect is jobs, jobs, jobs. Tesla is already well on its way to accelerating the world’s transition to sustainable mobility by producing electric vehicles in sufficient volume and forcing change in the automobile industry.
Trump urged U.S. car manufacturers on Tuesday to build more cars in the U.S as part of a plan to discourage the car industry from investing abroad. In response, the Big Three voiced concerns about fuel efficiency standards, trade policy, and regulatory concerns.
Silencing the roaring bears
With more cash on hand than expected, Tesla has wilted the case of the more aggressive bears. At the end of 2016, analysts noted increased company efficiency, which dampened the previous overarching view that Tesla would need a capital infusion in early 2017. So, too, in Tesla’s favor is its ability to sell carbon credits against its zero emissions vehicles. With former Audi exec Peter Hochholdinger now on payroll to improve and accelerate production, Tesla will also only improve in its production methodology.
As Tesla’s production process shifts to widespread automation through machines that build machines, these and other improvements have diminished the bear case against Tesla. Certainly, 2017 and beyond contain challenges for Tesla. But, at least for now, Tesla has made significant strides to move the Wall Street bulls a lot closer to its point of view.
Elon Musk
SpaceX Starship Version 3 booster crumples in early testing
Photos of the incident’s aftermath suggest that Booster 18 will likely be retired.
SpaceX’s new Starship first-stage booster, Booster 18, suffered major damage early Friday during its first round of testing in Starbase, Texas, just one day after rolling out of the factory.
Based on videos of the incident, the lower section of the rocket booster appeared to crumple during a pressurization test. Photos of the incident’s aftermath suggest that Booster 18 will likely be retired.
Booster test failure
SpaceX began structural and propellant-system verification tests on Booster 18 Thursday night at the Massey’s Test Site, only a few miles from Starbase’s production facilities, as noted in an Ars Technica report. At 4:04 a.m. CT on Friday, a livestream from LabPadre Space captured the booster’s lower half experiencing a sudden destructive event around its liquid oxygen tank section. Post-incident images, shared on X by @StarshipGazer, showed notable deformation in the booster’s lower structure.
Neither SpaceX nor Elon Musk had commented as of Friday morning, but the vehicle’s condition suggests it is likely a complete loss. This is quite unfortunate, as Booster 18 is already part of the Starship V3 program, which includes design fixes and upgrades intended to improve reliability. While SpaceX maintains a rather rapid Starship production line in Starbase, Booster 18 was generally expected to validate the improvements implemented in the V3 program.
Tight deadlines
SpaceX needs Starship boosters and upper stages to begin demonstrating rapid reuse, tower catches, and early operational Starlink missions over the next two years. More critically, NASA’s Artemis program depends on an on-orbit refueling test in the second half of 2026, a requirement for the vehicle’s expected crewed lunar landing around 2028.
While SpaceX is known for diagnosing failures quickly and returning to testing at unmatched speed, losing the newest-generation booster at the very start of its campaign highlights the immense challenge involved in scaling Starship into a reliable, high-cadence launch system. SpaceX, however, is known for getting things done quickly, so it would not be a surprise if the company manages to figure out what happened to Booster 18 in the near future.
News
Tesla FSD (Supervised) is about to go on “widespread” release
In a comment last October, Elon Musk stated that FSD V14.2 is “for widespread use.”
Tesla has begun rolling out Full Self-Driving (Supervised) V14.2, and with this, the wide release of the system could very well begin.
The update introduces a new high-resolution vision encoder, expanded emergency-vehicle handling, smarter routing, new parking options, and more refined driving behavior, among other improvements.
FSD V14.2 improvements
FSD (Supervised) V14.2’s release notes highlight a fully upgraded neural-network vision encoder capable of reading higher-resolution features, giving the system improved awareness of emergency vehicles, road obstacles, and even human gestures. Tesla also expanded its emergency-vehicle protocols, adding controlled pull-overs and yielding behavior for police cars, fire trucks, and ambulances, among others.
A deeper integration of navigation and routing into the vision network now allows the system to respond to blocked roads or detours in real time. The update also enhances decision-making in several complex scenarios, including unprotected turns, lane changes, vehicle cut-ins, and interactions with school buses. All in all, these improvements should help FSD (Supervised) V14.2 perform in a very smooth and comfortable manner.
Elon Musk’s predicted wide release
The significance of V14.2 grows when paired with Elon Musk’s comments from October. While responding to FSD tester AI DRIVR, who praised V14.1.2 for fixing “95% of indecisive lane changes and braking” and who noted that it was time for FSD to go on wide release, Musk stated that “14.2 for widespread use.”
FSD V14 has so far received a substantial amount of positive reviews from Tesla owners, many of whom have stated that the system now drives better than some human drivers as it is confident, cautious, and considerate at the same time. With V14.2 now rolling out, it remains to be seen if the update also makes it to the company’s wide FSD fleet, which is still populated by a large number of HW3 vehicles.
News
Tesla FSD V14.2 starts rolling out to initial batch of vehicles
It would likely only be a matter of time before FSD V14.2 videos are posted and shared on social media.
Tesla has begun pushing Full Self-Driving (Supervised) v14.2 to its initial batch of vehicles. The update was initially observed by Tesla owners and veteran FSD users on social media platform X on Friday.
So far, reports of the update have been shared by Model Y owners in California whose vehicles are equipped with the company’s AI4 hardware, though it would not be surprising if more Tesla owners across the country receive the update as well.
Based on the release notes of the update, key improvements in FSD V14.2 include a revamped neural network for better detection of emergency vehicles, obstacles, and human gestures, as well as options to select arrival spots.
It would likely only be a matter of time before FSD V14.2 videos are posted and shared on social media.
Following are the release notes of FSD (Supervised) V14.2, as shared on X by longtime FSD tester Whole Mars Catalog.
Release Notes
2025.38.9.5
Currently Installed
FSD (Supervised) v14.2
Full Self-Driving (Supervised) v14.2 includes:
- Upgraded the neural network vision encoder, leveraging higher resolution features to further improve scenarios like handling emergency vehicles, obstacles on the road, and human gestures.
- Added Arrival Options for you to select where FSD should park: in a Parking Lot, on the Street, in a Driveway, in a Parking Garage, or at the Curbside.
- Added handling to pull over or yield for emergency vehicles (e.g. police cars, fire trucks, ambulances.
- Added navigation and routing into the vision-based neural network for real-time handling of blocked roads and detours.
- Added additional Speed Profile to further customize driving style preference.
- Improved handling for static and dynamic gates.
- Improved offsetting for road debris (e.g. tires, tree branches, boxes).
- Improve handling of several scenarios including: unprotected turns, lane changes, vehicle cut-ins, and school busses.
- Improved FSD’s ability to manage system faults and improve scenarios like handling emergency vehicles, obstacles on the road, and human gestures.
- Added Arrival Options for you to select where FSD should park: in a Parking Lot, on the Street, in a Driveway, in a Parking Garage, or at the Curbside.
- Added handling to pull over or yield for emergency vehicles (e.g. police cars, fire trucks, ambulances).
- Added navigation and routing into the vision-based neural network for real-time handling of blocked roads and detours.
- Added additional Speed Profile to further customize driving style preference.
- Improved handling for static and dynamic gates.
- Improved offsetting for road debris (e.g. tires, tree branches, boxes).
- Improve handling of several scenarios, including unprotected turns, lane changes, vehicle cut-ins, and school buses.
- Improved FSD’s ability to manage system faults and recover smoothly from degraded operation for enhanced reliability.
- Added alerting for residue build-up on interior windshield that may impact front camera visibility. If affected, visit Service for cleaning!
Upcoming Improvements:
- Overall smoothness and sentience
- Parking spot selection and parking quality
SpaceX Starship Version 3 booster crumples in early testing
Tesla FSD (Supervised) is about to go on “widespread” release
