Tesla Space #84: Tesla's elongated area

Welcome to the Tesla Space newsletter, our 84^th issue.

Another great week behind us, here’s what we’ve got for you in the Tesla Space today:

• Tesla officially launches in the 4th-largest auto market in the world: India.

• Elon says there will be a shareholder vote on Tesla investing in xAI.

• Tesla launches Grok in Teslas in the US.

• Robotaxi service area was increased, and it looks like a…

• Tesla Diner looks ready to open any week now. Elon visited.

• xAI launched Grok 4, the world’s smartest AI. And it also includes “companions”, which got the Internet buzzing,

…and a lot more. Enjoy!

— Jaan

X OF THE WEEK

The thing is… Tesla has quite a few products now. Is it Optimus? Is it Roadster? Something else entirely?

$TSLA

… is up 6.41% in a week (since Tuesday’s close), now at $316.90 per share. Tesla is now at a $993B market cap.

TESLA NEWS

Tesla officially launches in India! 🇮🇳 

The first-ever Tesla car deliveries in the country will start this quarter, and sales registration will start in Delhi, Mumbai, and Gurugram.

Starting prices:

Model Y RWD: ₹61,07,190 ($69,700)
Model Y LR RWD: ₹69,15,190 ($79,000)

The high prices are due to the strong import taxes right now, and we can assume Tesla will be getting rid of India's current high automotive import tax of 70%-100% and it’d be reduced to around 10% in the near future.

FSD also costs $7,000 USD in India. Model Y RWD deliveries start in Q3, while Model Y LR RWD deliveries start in Q4 2025.

Here’s the CNBC video coverage from the launch. Also, CMO Maharashtra — office of the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis — shared a live 4-minute livestream video of the opening on its X account.

He said things like "Tesla is not just a car company, it is all about design, innovation, and sustainability. The people of Mumbai and the people of India are going to love Tesla, and you (Tesla) will have one of your best market in India. I think Tesla is going to change the entire market."

The current Model Ys brought to the country have been imported from Giga Shanghai.

Tesla has also added 8 “coming soon” Supercharger locations on its network map already, as it is common for Tesla to start building the SC network when starting deliveries in a new country. I’m hoping they’ll wrap the first time as a proper milestone edition, but in the meantime, I managed to create quite a decent one with AI:

About the EV situation in India itself — I’ll resurface the statistics from my 2024 global EV sales analysis:

🇮🇳 India: In 2024, there were 99,055 BEVs sold,
+20.8% Year over Year growth, 1.99% EV mix.

The EV growth in the 4th-largest car market in the world has been solid: EV sales doubled in 2023 (+114.3%), and 2024 +21% on top of that. The market share went from 1.74%→ 1.99%.

Now, the first half of 2025 has already shown new records in EV sales, and now with Tesla entering the market…

In other news:

• Elon commented on the potential of Tesla x xAI merging, saying “no” to a question on a direct merger between Tesla and xAI. BUT Elon also wrote
  "It would be great, but subject to board and shareholder approval" on if Tesla could do the same investment SpaceX did ($2B into xAI), AND Elon wrote that
  “It’s not up to me. If it was up to me, Tesla would have invested in xAI long ago. We will have a shareholder vote on the matter.”

• Transport Canada found no evidence of fraud or wrongdoing by Tesla in its investigation into the company's $43 million in rebate claims under the Incentives for Zero-Emission Vehicles (iZEV) program. Tesla will now receive those frozen funds.

• 🇨🇦 Tesla also reduced Model Y prices in Canada by CA$20,000, bringing it back to pre-tariff levels.

• Tesla's annual shareholder meeting is officially scheduled for November 6th, 2025. Quite late this year, I know…

• Reportedly, the six-seater refreshed Model Y has already rolled off the production line at Giga Shanghai.

  • The design behind the C-pillar has been altered, likely to provide more headroom for the third row.

  • The wheelbase is confirmed to be longer, estimated at an additional 15 to 20 cm.

  • The second-row seats feature perforations, suggesting they might offer ventilation, whereas the third-row seats do not.

  • The wheel design also differs from the current model.

  I assume it will also be one of the new vehicle versions offered inthe US and Europe soon.

PS! If you enjoy these reports and want to support us, consider becoming a Tesla Space Insider — it will give you an edge in all things Tesla.

GROK IN YOUR TESLA

If you’re a Tesla owner in the US, you should already have an email from Tesla on this upcoming feature.

So, Grok AI is coming to Tesla. Now, as of writing this, the update itself has not yet gone out to owners, but we assume every minute now… should be inside the 2025.16 update.

Watch this video from Tesla of the Grok AI running natively in a Tesla answer what it would do on its first date with Optimus (Tesla's humanoid)... on the "unhinged" mode.

• Tesla is launching it in the US first, unsure if this makes it to Europe, China or elsewhere yet.

• Initial support is limited to AMD Ryzen-based infotainment systems; Intel-equipped vehicles will follow once performance is validated. It requires premium connectivity and account pairing. You’ll need to log in with your Grok account.

• Code leaks show Grok can replace the current voice-command system, handle conversational queries, and trigger vehicle functions (e.g., open glove box). But Tesla wrote Grok does not currently do that.

• Musk did not specify whether cars will ship with Grok 3 or Grok 4, although the answer did come under Sawyer’s post on the launch of Grok 4.

• We got the idea of the interface already from the Tesla hacker @greentheonly:

There are three voices (Ara, Rex, Gork) and different modes: argumentative, assistant, conspiracy, doctor, kids_story, kids_trivia_game, language tutor, meditation, motivation, romantic, sexy, storyteller, therapist, unhinged. Here are the icons for these you’ll find in the same order:

You can also choose NSFW or Kids mode if necessary.

ROBOTAXI SERVICE & SOFTWARE

Tesla expanded its robotaxi service area in Austin by... to... well, just see it yourself:

There’s a reason you don’t see much of the media reporting on this service area elongation…

I would assume the actual expansion will be spread out somewhat, but they’ll likely keep that joke going for a bit there. And with it, Tesla is already ~3.9 sqmi larger service area than Waymo in Austin. And the fleet validation vehicles have been found way further as well.

Tesla also raised the ride fee from $4.20 to another fixed fee…

you guessed it,

to $6.90 per ride.

By the way, Tesla’s geofenced area in Austin alone now covers 7% of Waymo’s entire service area in the US. And Waymo does ~13M robotaxi rides per year right now.

So my napkin math says at the same rate, we can assume Tesla does 17,500 robotaxi rides per week right now already (910k/year) - if it had the same amount of robotaxis running on the same coverage area. We know Tesla ramps up fast.

Since launching the robotaxi, Tesla has improved based on feedback:

• Can now adjust pickup location

• Edit your destination after booking

• Displays remaining wait time at pickup in the app

• Walking directions to pickup & your final destination

• Search results show if a destination closes near the arrival time

• Design improvements

Tesla is planning to expand its Robotaxi service to Arizona as it has filed for permits for Metro Phoenix area, and Musk recently said Tesla is waiting on regulatory approvals to launch robotaxis in the San Francisco Bay Area, which he said will happen in a “month or two.”

However, filings don’t yet show Tesla having applied for either driverless testing permits or deployment authorization, both required before offering any commercial robotaxi service in California.

Meanwhile, one of the key Tesla AI team engineers, Srihari Sampathkumar, leaves the company.

Tesla details 2025.16 software update features:

• Grok (Beta) in the US, AMD vehicles (Requires Premium Connectivity or a WiFi connection). Grok is currently in Beta & does not issue commands to your car – existing voice commands remain unchanged. 

• Light Sync (New Model 3 & Model Y, 2026 Model S/X, @Cybertruck): Accent lights now respond to music & you can also choose to match the lights to the album’s color for a more immersive effect. Toybox > Light Sync

• Audio Settings Update: You can create & save multiple presets to match your listening preferences. Controls > Audio

• Dashcam Update: You can now zoom or adjust the playback speed.

• Charging Info at Arrival: In the charger list, you can now see which locations require valet service or pay-to-park access. Upon arrival, you'll receive a notification with access codes, parking restrictions, level or floor information & restroom availability

• Onboarding Guide (New Model 3 & Model Y, LHD): If this is your first Tesla, the Onboarding Guide helps you get familiar with your Tesla. You'll get a rundown of how to adjust driver settings, using the touchscreen as well as controlling lights, wipers & Autopilot features with the steering wheel, among other functions. Controls > Service > Onboarding Guide

In another post, Tesla said the Accent lighting now also turns red when Sentry is protecting the car. In case you’ve missed it, Sentry Mode is using your car’s cameras to monitor for suspicious activity when parked. If a threat is detected, your Tesla automatically starts recording & alerts you via the Tesla app, where you can review & save clips directly to your phone.

By the way, Tesla has also added a nod to Rick and Morty — Sentry mode activates if you say “Keep Summer Safe.”

SUPERCHARGING

Tesla Diner is very close to ready, set up outside, already team filming shots, Elon just wrote:

"I just had dinner at the retro-futuristic Tesla diner and Supercharger.
Team did great work making it one of the coolest spots in LA!" Spy shots show Optimus inside, etc. 

And here are some latest images from the spot:

MUSKONOMY

SpaceX / Starlink

Starship is on track to launch again in about 3 weeks.

Starlink now has over 500,000 customers in Canada. Here’s a video Starlink shared of a dog sledder staying connected during extended hunting trips on ice.

xAI

xAI casually launched the smartest AI model out there, the Grok 4. Grok 4 became the top-performing publicly available model on ARC-AGI. This even outperforms purpose-built solutions submitted on Kaggle. ARC-AGI-2 is hard for current AI models. To score well, models have to learn a mini-skill from a series of training examples, then demonstrate that skill at test time. The previous top score was ~8% (by Opus 4). Below 10% is noisy. “Getting 15.9% breaks through that noise barrier, Grok 4 is showing non-zero levels of fluid intelligence.”

It is also quite crazy how Grok has leapfrogged from being behind to being ahead of competitors, for example, on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index across 7 evaluations:

Also, there's a new “Companions” mode now, which came a bit after the launch. This one got the Internet really buzzing.

I’ve now got access to Ani, the waifu-style “companion” that by default flirts with you, including removing some clothes if you level up, etc.
And the other companion is a red panda called Rudi, that started storytelling kids-style as soon as I opened it up, but I’ve also seen users get it go in unhinged mode and be, well, "rude”.

Can’t show it in an email well, but the characters move around just like in video games.

There are more of these characters coming soon.

When someone posted “one big step closer to anime girls becoming real”, Elon answered: “Optimus will enable them to be physically real.”

By the way, Elon said just yesterday that “Optimus 3 will have agility roughly equal to an agile human.”

And we already mentioned Grok being nearly available in the cars.

Just yesterday, xAI also announced Grok for Government, along with two new partnerships for US Government partners.

And on Grok image/video understanding, in the context of games here, Elon says: "Big jump in capability when we finish training our V7 foundation model (Grok 4 is V6), which has much better image/video understanding and our video gen model. Grok will be able to see and play the game it creates, fix any bugs and add features, until it judges the game to be excellent."

The Boring Company

Boring Company Las Vegas Loop tunnel is now open to everyone every day from 10 AM to 9 PM. Tickets start at $4.25. (video)