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Why Having a Tesla Makes Errands Fun

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Only a Tesla can inspire me to get to the gym and voluntarily go buy the extra soft toilet paper my husband is fond of (and nearly out of) at 7:00am. How perfect this car is for running errands, and providing a little humor, can not be understated. Last week, I had the day off for Veteran’s Day. My husband did not, but doesn’t leave for work until 8:45am. That being said, I flew out the door early knowing I could take the Tesla if I made it quick.

Per usual, I scouted out a good parking spot in the shopping center. Good in Tesla terms means far enough away from the door to minimize the chance of someone parking beside you, and on an end of some sort so you can favor that side and leave more space opposite in case someone does take up residence in the next space. Also per usual, I backed in. Look, it’s the same as the driveway at home. Driving backwards means reduced visibility, even with the best backup camera. Why everyone doesn’t automatically back into every parking spot so that they have full visibility when leaving is beyond me. Think about it. It’s also why using the frunk rather than the traditional trunk in the rear is great! I was able to cruise right up with my cart, load things in, and not worry about having to maneuver my cart to the rear of the car and squeeze in between the car behind me.

Frunk 2

If you happened to miss where I’m shopping, here’s a hint: buying two of said toilet paper packs resulted in a $5 gift card. As did buying two bottles of laundry detergent. And my multi-coat red paint is the perfect match for the store’s logo. Here’s proof:

Frunk 1

When I came out of the store, I tossed my purchases right in the front trunk that we owners so cleverly dub the “frunk.” It’s carpeted and clean and the perfect size for these kind of purchases. Even without bags. (Disclaimer: Owning a Tesla elevates your consciousness about environmental impacts. And cashiers will look at you like you have two heads when you say “I don’t need any bags.”)

Everything fit wonderfully and I had just taken the above photo when something hilarious happened right on cue. A kind gentleman parked several parking spots away and looked over at me. Two women behind him were looking as well. “Are you okay?” he yelled over to me. I yelled back, “I’m just loading in my purchases.”

A short conversation ensued about how it’s an electric car and thus has no engine. The women walked off but he had come closer to get a better look. He explained to me that he assumed something was wrong because I was in the parking lot alone with my hood up. Chivalry isn’t dead folks. I only wish I had the foresight to snap the man’s picture. I thanked him for his concern and we parted ways.

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Having a frunk is useful in many ways. On one vacation, we decided to buy a new pair of suitcases while we were at a supercharger stop. We kept the old suitcases loaded in the back but still had plenty of room for more. That’s the power of two trunks. Beyond that, there is the security. Having a hatch, even with the parcel shelf hiding your trunk’s contents, to me could be risky. All it takes is a smash and grab to get to things. The front trunk, however, secures and completely hides contents like a traditional trunk does. Christmas shopping season is upon us! Then there is the convenience of loading when you back into parking spot like I do.

Last, but not least, there is the ever present chance that someone will see you placing something under the hood. You can then choose between walking away and leaving the gawker confused, or educating the world on the joys of driving an ICE-less beast. Having the single motor S85 means I have the space to load all this junk in my frunk and more.

Frunk 3

Frunk Related Stories

"I'm Electric Jen

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Watch Tesla’s “guardian angel” FSD feature take over for collision evasion

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Tesla’s Automatic Collision Evasion feature can be seen in one of the first owner videos of it in action.

Tesla owner Spencer (@scotsrule08) posted on Monday that the feature “worked flawlessly,” saying FSD reengaged itself just as he was about to hit a curb. Ashok Elluswamy, who leads Tesla’s AI team, shared the clip and wrote, “A guardian angel always looking out for you.”

The video arrives in the middle of a staged rollout. Tesla first shipped Automatic Collision Evasion with FSD (Supervised) v14.3.9 in software update 2026.27.6 earlier this month, which Teslarati covered as it reached cars. Update 2026.27.10, which began going out on September 19, carried the feature improvements with FSD v14.3.10, according to release notes tracked by Not a Tesla App. The newer 2026.27.11 build is now reaching another wave of vehicles.


The feature only runs on HW4 vehicles, and it requires an active FSD purchase or subscription with both FSD (Supervised) and Automatic Emergency Braking enabled. HW3 owners receive FSD v14.2 Lite in the same updates, but that build does not include collision evasion.

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Tesla’s release notes describe two triggers. The first is an imminent frontal collision that braking alone may not prevent, in which case the car can activate FSD to steer, brake or accelerate around the hazard. That scenario is limited to highways below 85 mph, with no pedestrians or cyclists detected and no slippery road surface. The second covers a driver who appears inattentive, such as reaching into the back seat, or who seems to have switched off FSD by accident. Spencer’s curb clip appears to fall into that second category.

Tesla plans big safety improvements for Full Self-Driving v15

Once the system takes over, the accelerator is muted and light brake input will not cancel the maneuver. Drivers need to apply firm, deliberate steering force to take back control, and the car chimes to hand control back once the danger has passed.

Elluswamy recently noted that earlier hazard prediction, faster reaction time and better collision avoidance would arrive with FSD v15, the next major version.

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Elon Musk

Elon Musk drops a surprise update on Boring Company’s next big dig

Musk says Boring Company could shrink the Austin to San Antonio drive to just minutes.

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Elon Musk says The Boring Company is working on what he called “a simple, precursor Hyperloop” tunnel connecting Austin and San Antonio, targeting speeds above 200 mph and cutting a drive that can take up to two and a half hours down to a consistent under 30 minutes. Musk posted the idea on X Sunday, in a reply to a repost of an AI generated video imagining a science fiction future with human colonies on other worlds, which he shared with the line “This is the future we shall bring into being.”


The Boring Company’s own account picked up the idea in the same thread, adding a detail about how the trip would actually work: “Because Loop/Hyperloop is express (i.e. no intermediate stops), one could travel from an Austin parking lot to a favorite San Antonio restaurant in about 30 minutes. As long as they both have Loop stations.” That framing ties the proposed intercity link to the same station model the company already runs in Las Vegas, where riders enter the tunnel network through small, garage style stops rather than one central terminal.

This is not the company’s first run at the Austin to San Antonio corridor. Boring Company floated tunnels between the two cities as far back as 2021, and later competed for a separate San Antonio Loop project tied to the airport before that specific bid stalled. Pitches for tunnels in Chicago, Los Angeles, and a New York to Washington corridor have followed a similar pattern of big announcement without a shovel in the ground.

What is different this time is the balance sheet, especially since The Boring Company closed a 3 billion dollar funding round led by investors in the United Arab Emirates earlier this month at a valuation near 23 billion dollars, giving the tunneling company more capital to chase speculative projects than it had during its earlier Texas pitches. The company is also mid-build on two other intercity systems it has actually broken ground on, inc;luding a Nashville tunnel linking downtown to the airport, where a second boring machine finished commissioning in June, and its Las Vegas network, where the station count keeps climbing on paper faster than tunnels get dug.

That gap between announcement and execution is the reason to treat Sunday’s post as an opening bid rather than a project. A tunnel spanning roughly 80 miles between two metro areas, running at speeds Boring Company has not demonstrated over any real distance, would dwarf anything the company has built. For now, the Austin to San Antonio Hyperloop exists as a caption under an AI generated space video.

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Tesla eyes supply partners for Optimus mass production

Tesla certified three Chinese suppliers for Optimus mass production, signaling its robot timeline is accelerating.

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Concept rendering of Tesla Optimus in mass production

Tesla’s robotics team traveled to Ningbo, in China’s Zhejiang province, on September 16 and spent the following day auditing component suppliers for Optimus, according to a Bloomberg report cited by RobotAIGeek. The visit moved three manufacturers from provisional status to certified mass production partners: Tuopu Group, which handles actuators and chassis components, Ningbo Joyson Electronic, a sensor supplier, and Zhejiang Sanhua Intelligent Controls, which builds thermal management systems. All three already supply parts to Tesla’s electric vehicles, and the audit reportedly came with fresh orders that supply chain reports put at an initial batch of roughly 5,000 units.

Tuopu, Joyson, and Sanhua built their manufacturing base serving the automotive industry, where tolerances and volume requirements are already close to what a mass produced humanoid robot demands. Sanhua in particular has history here. Teslarati reported last October that the company had received a roughly $685 million order for linear actuators tied to Optimus, a volume industry watchers estimated could cover around 180,000 robots once production ramped.

Supply chain reports tied to this week’s audit put Tesla’s near term production goal at about 1,000 Optimus units a week by late September, rising to 2,000 to 2,500 units a week by the end of the year. That pace would put real weight behind the timeline Tesla has been building toward since May, when it wound down Model S and Model X production at Fremont to convert that floor space into a dedicated Optimus line targeting one million units annually. JPMorgan analysts who toured the factory in August confirmed the conversion took roughly four months, a pace Musk has called unprecedented for a facility that size.

New drone video shows Tesla’s Optimus Factory reaching a turning point

Fremont is only the first phase. A second, larger Optimus plant is rising at Gigafactory Texas, where drone footage shared by Joe Tegtmeyer last week showed the structural steel nearing completion on the north end of the building. Tesla has said that facility is meant to eventually support production of up to 10 million units a year, though volume output there is not expected before 2027.

Commercial sales of Optimus are still targeted for the second half of 2027, but production is expected to start well before then. JPMorgan analyst Rajat Gupta has said Tesla’s “Optimus Academy” program, which uses early units to collect real world training data inside Tesla’s own facilities, is expected to be running later this year. Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Ian Ma described the Ningbo audits as “a positive commercialization signal for China’s humanoid supply chain,” noting that sentiment could improve further if the visit leads to confirmed supplier nominations and larger orders. The Solactive China Humanoid Robotics Index rose about 1.4% on the news, though it remains down roughly 30% for the year.

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