Lifestyle
Virgin Hyperloop One debuts full-scale passenger pod designed by BMW
A full-scale prototype model of a Hyperloop One passenger pod was unveiled in Dubai’s City Walk Mall, showcasing the amenities and design of the next-generation, high-speed transport system.
The 8.7-meter-long, 3.3-meter-diameter prototype, which represents a 1:1 model of the Hyperloop One passenger pod, came to fruition from the efforts of the Virgin Hyperloop One team and Dubai’s Road Transport Authority. The exhibit on the Middle Eastern mall was opened to the public, though its first visitor was Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Dubai’s Crown Prince.
The Virgin Hyperloop One full-scale model displayed in Dubai was designed with luxury in mind. In an interview with Khaleej Times, Abdulredha Abu Alhassan, executive director of the Rail Planning and Projects Development at the RTA, described the plush amenities that were showcased in the prototype pod.
According to the RTA executive, the cream and beige seats of the Hyperloop One model were designed by German car firm BMW. While Abu Alhassan did state that passengers would have to be buckled in at all times due to the Hyperloop One’s speed, passengers could look forward to an enjoyable experience due to the pod’s interactive entertainment system.
“There will be no windows. However, there will be interactive entertainment screens at the armrest of the seats. The seats have been designed in a very futuristic manner,” the executive said.
The interior of the pod was also incredibly futuristic with its blue and red neon lights, invoking an almost Tron-like atmosphere. From the images of the pod’s interior, it appears like Dubai’s Hyperloop system would be a comfortable ride as well, as evidenced by the generous amount of legroom shown in the full-scale prototype model.
In a statement to Dezeen, Dutch designer Daan Roosegaarde expressed his optimism about the coming of the next-generation transport system. Roosegaarde was also particularly impressed by the Virgin Hyperloop One’s interior design.
“It’s a great design, really like a bubble of material and light. I can’t wait to use it to travel in 12 minutes to Abu Dhabi soon,” the Dutch designer said.
Dubai’s Hyperloop system is expected to debut as early as 2020, where it is expected to provide a faster alternative for commuters who travel between key areas in the region. With Hyperloop technology, traveling from Dubai to Abu Dhabi, which usually takes 90 minutes by car, would be possible in 12 minutes.
#Dubai Crown Prince unveils the initial design of the @HyperloopOne's
pod in the presence of Virgin Hyperloop One CEO Rob Lloyd. pic.twitter.com/Q3WD63WzOv— Dubai Media Office (@DXBMediaOffice) February 22, 2018
As we noted in a previous report, Dubai has proven to be a supporter of the Hyperloop concept. The next-generation transportation system, which was initially conceived by Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, utilizes a linear electric motor to accelerate and decelerate an electromagnetically levitated pod through a low-pressure tube. This design enables the Hyperloop pods to achieve speeds of up to 700 mph without any turbulence, allowing passengers to enjoy a comfortable ride. A successful test for the Hyperloop was accomplished by the Virgin team back in August 2017 in Nevada, where a pod traveled roughly 500 meters and reached speeds of 190 mph.
Cybertruck
Tesla Mobile App gets a new feature that wrap fans are going to love
Tesla’s Summer Update removes the USB drive step from customizing your car’s digital wrap design.
Tesla’s latest 2026 Summer Update quietly closes out one of the more tedious steps in personalizing a Tesla’s digital appearance. Uploading a custom wrap design used to require a USB drive. Now it doesn’t.
The feature is listed in Tesla’s release notes as “Send Custom Wraps from Mobile App.” The company described it plainly: “Skip the USB drive and upload a custom wrap of your car from the mobile app. Instructions for creating a custom wrap here: github.com/teslamotors/custom-wraps.”
The digital wrap tool has been around since Tesla’s 2024 Holiday Update, when it launched for Cybertruck owners first, as Teslarati reported at the time. Getting a design onto the car meant formatting a USB drive, creating a folder named exactly “Wraps,” dropping in PNG files sized between 512×512 and 1024×1024 pixels and under 1 MB each, then plugging the drive in and applying the wrap through Toybox. Tesla expanded the tool to other models and renamed it from “Colorizer” to “Paint Shop” with the 2025 Holiday Update, while also adding license plate and window tint customization alongside the wraps.
Custom wraps via mobile app https://t.co/5OydZ26g9p pic.twitter.com/uexU0ZePxu
— Tesla (@Tesla) July 22, 2026
The latest Summer Update removes the USB step from that process. Owners will be able to pull a design from wherever they saved it, whether that’s a download from social media or something built from Tesla’s own GitHub templates, and push it to the car directly through the app.
Tesla reveals 2026 Summer Update with crazy fixes to Nav and more
It’s a small fix relative to the rest of this latest release, which also included expanded Grok voice commands, automatic navigation that learns regular routes, and self-driving stats inside the mobile app, all detailed in our rundown of the full Summer Update. The USB requirement was one of the more common complaints about Paint Shop since it launched. Tesla did not say when the wrap upload change would reach individual vehicles, only that the broader update is rolling out now in waves.
Elon Musk
Tesla Diner is throwing a birthday party with a Franz-signed special treat
Tesla Diner turns one on July 21 with Optimus, roller skates, and a Franz-signed hat.
Tesla is throwing its Hollywood Diner a first birthday party on July 21 and the celebration comes with a guest list of unique items, including a limited run of Tesla Diner birthday hats personally signed by Tesla Chief Designer Franz von Holzhausen for the first 50 customers who place an in-car order at midnight.
One year after lines wrapped around the block on Santa Monica Boulevard for a diner that most of the restaurant industry did not take seriously, Tesla is making the case that the concept was worth the years it took to build. The concept had been in Musk’s head since at least 2018, when he floated the idea of “an old school drive-in, roller skates and rock restaurant” on X, describing it years later as “‘Grease’ meets ‘The Jetsons’ with Supercharging.”
Tesla Optimus Gen 3 is coming to the Tesla Diner with new ambitions
What made the diner genuinely different from any restaurant that came before it was not the menu or the nostalgia. It was the ordering model. Tesla owners could place food orders directly from their vehicle’s touchscreen before arriving, a small feature that hints at something much larger on the horizon. As the Cybercab and unsupervised FSD expand across major cities, the diner model becomes a template for an entirely new kind of commerce. A robotaxi pulling in to charge does not need a human to walk up to a counter. The vehicle places the order, the food is ready on arrival, and the passenger never interrupts the experience of being driven somewhere else. It is the first glimpse of what drive-through commerce looks like when the car is doing the driving.
As Teslarati has reported, Musk signaled immediately after opening that the Hollywood location was only the beginning, posting that Tesla would expand the concept to major cities worldwide and along Supercharger corridors on long-distance routes if the first location proved successful. One year in, the birthday celebration on July 21 makes a strong case that it has. Tesla announced a full day of events including a Cybercab on display, a birthday menu, Optimus in attendance, face painting, a photo booth, roller skating servers, a light show, a Skypad DJ, and complimentary collectibles.
If Musk’s ambition holds, the Hollywood diner is year one of something much bigger. The birthday party is the proof of concept. The robotaxi fleet is the business model waiting behind it.
Tesla Diner is turning 1 on July 21st, so we’re throwing a party
Come swing by for a day full of fun:
– Cybercab on display
– Birthday menu
– @Tesla_Optimus
– Face painting for kids & adults
– Photo booth
– Servers on roller skates delivering your order
– Light show
– Skypad DJ… pic.twitter.com/TD8pOjihYs— Tesla North America (@tesla_na) July 18, 2026
Lifestyle
NTSB findings on fatal Tesla crash tell a very different story
The NTSB confirmed the driver, not Tesla’s FSD, caused the fatal Texas house crash.
The National Transportation Safety Board released preliminary findings Wednesday confirming that a Tesla driver, not the vehicle’s software, caused a fatal crash in Katy, Texas in June. The driver, 44-year-old Michael Butler, had engaged Full Self-Driving Supervised mode on Rose Hollow Lane, a residential street with a 30 mph speed limit, before manually overriding the system by pressing the accelerator pedal all the way to 100%. Data recovered from the 2025 Tesla Model 3 showed the vehicle was traveling over 70 miles per hour when it struck a home and killed 76-year-old Martha Avila, who was inside. Weather was clear, the road was dry, and it was daylight.
Texas man charged in fatal Tesla crash where he blamed Autopilot
Butler told authorities he had passed out at the wheel. But security camera footage obtained by the NTSB told a different story, and showed the car accelerating through an intersection before leaving the road entirely. Police also found that Butler’s phone had Google searches including the terms “Tesla FSD not aggressive enough 2026” and “Tesla FSD too timid,” raising serious questions about how he was using the system before the crash. Butler has since been charged with manslaughter. The victim’s family has filed a lawsuit against both Butler and Tesla, alleging negligence.
The NTSB findings aligned directly with what Tesla VP of AI Software Ashok Elluswamy had already stated publicly on X in the weeks after the crash, writing that “the driver manually overrode self-driving by pressing the accelerator all the way to 100%.” The data confirmed his account.
Yup. In this case, the driver manually overrode self-driving by pressing the accelerator all the way to 100% of the accel pedal in this residential area. They reached a speed of 73 mph during the crash, and had the accelerator pressed even after the crash.
— Ashok Elluswamy (@aelluswamy) June 22, 2026
Tesla starts preparing for Optimus in its smartphone app
Tesla Q2 Earnings: Here’s what to expect
