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Welcome to the Tesla Space newsletter, our 139th issue.

Today is an important day. It will be historic for Tesla geeks (like us), and will be referred to as the start of something significant by many in the future. I’ve got lots to tell you.

Here's what's on the Tesla Space menu today:

  • Launch Day! With 45 Cybercabs and 106 extra Model Ys on the Texas registry;

  • The Cybercab lightbar colours are real and have a real job;

  • Robotaxi geofences and hours both grew, with all six city sizes;

  • Tesla puts its European FSD evidence in public: 1.6 million km, zero at-fault collisions;

  • Zero spontaneous battery fires across 265 billion miles, in Tesla’s own words;

  • The 36 Supercharger Vote locations are named;

  • Third-party Superchargers in Tennessee get famous guitars on them;

  • Elon on the 15 GW power shortfall coming in 2027, and a $3.5T SpaceX by 2033;

… and lots more, as usual. Enjoy!

— Jaan

PS, don't forget the Community Corner at the end of this newsletter, and leave your feedback there. I read everything you write and reply to as many as I can in every issue.


TESLA SPACE 🤝 GREENFIELD ROBOTICS

So we’re in the habit of bringing back the offers that really clicked with our Tesla Space readers based on your feedback and metrics, and this was one of them, so here’s an interesting Physical AI system:

The Physical AI Boom Reaches The Farm

Most AI lives on a screen. This kind drives itself through a soybean field at 2 a.m. and cuts weeds to the centimeter, with no herbicide. Greenfield Robotics has 82 machines running across 16 states. This year's fleet sold out, and every robot was delivered. 

The platform keeps adding jobs: weeding now, feeding, spraying, and cover-crop planting on the way. Farmers are done with chemicals linked to Parkinson's and tied to the price of oil. 

The pull is real, and the machines work. Greenfield's Regulation A+ offering lets everyday investors own a stake ahead of the scale-up the company is building toward.

Greenfield Robotics is Testing The Waters under tier 2 of Regulation A. No money or other consideration is being solicited, and if sent in response will not be accepted. No offer to buy the securities can be accepted and no part of the purchase price can be received until the offering statement filed by the company with the SEC has been qualified by the SEC. Any such offer may be withdrawn or revoked, without obligation or commitment of any kind, at any time before notice of acceptance given after the date of qualification. An indication of interest involves no obligation or commitment of any kind. “Reserving” shares is simply an indication of interest. There is no binding commitment for investors that reserve shares in this manner to ultimately invest and purchase the shares reserved of the company, or to purchase any shares of the company whatsoever.


First up, our latest video, give it a watch: The Tesla Semi Takeover Has Finally Begun!

Done? Let's get on with the Tesla Space news this week

X OF THE WEEK

That’s all you need to know:

The numbers you’ll hear about below will prove they really are flooding Austin.


Speaking of Launch Day, an important note:

Tesla Space Insiders will get a Cybercab Launch Event overview special email that we call “ 🚨 Insider Alerts”, today right after the event, which will tell you exactly what went down and, as usual, cover a lot of different views, also from those who are present at the event (we follow them all!).

All non-insiders (of course I still love you) get an overview in our next week’s newsletter.
So if you want to be first to get the full overview of what went down, become an Insider.

We even created an offer to celebrate the Cybercab launch: you’ll get 10% off of any plan:


ROBOTAXI, FSD & CHIPS

We’re starting with this section again, because today is Launch Day.
Thursday September 3, at 4:45 PM CT in downtown Austin.

45 Cybercabs are on the Texas registry now

Tesla has added 45 Cybercabs to the company's Texas robotaxi fleet. The purpose-built vehicles appeared in the Texas Motor Carrier Credentialing System (TxMCCS) registry, joining 269 375 Model Ys already authorized for autonomous operation.

Why did Tesla also add the 106 Model Ys to the registered robotaxi fleet now to get to 375 Model Ys specifically, next to the 45 Cybercabs?

Well, if you add up 375 + 45, you’ll get it.

;)

Anyway, the Cybercab numbers are indeed an indicator of a ‘flood’ incoming, and we’re seeing a big increase in pickup/dropoff (also called pudo in the industry) activities in town, as you see in this video or all the others out there. Or Sawyer, who is already in town for the event, seeing this:

To be clear, there is no steering wheel in those Cybercabs anymore. It’s the real thing.

And as you know, we’ve now seen hundreds of Cybercabs staged in other cities, from Houston to Miami, waiting to hit operations too.

Now, what I really loved seeing recently was the final proof that Tesla is using the colored RGB lights from its lightbar to signal to customers which Cybercab is theirs:

image by: @artsimage

Several Cybercabs were filmed in downtown Austin on August 27 running amber-orange and emerald-green sweeps across the front light strip, all on this video. Photos from the night show a reflective treatment on the Cybercab logo, too:

image by: @adanguajardo

The geofences of robotaxi grew as well

Dallas more than doubled, from 31 square miles (80 km²) at launch to 81 square miles (210 km²), pushing west toward Irving and past the original Highland Park corridor on fully unsupervised Model Ys.

Austin grew about 9% on August 31, reaching north along I-35 and US-183 toward Pflugerville and picking up Mesa Park and the neighborhoods above the Domain.

The robotaxi geofence sizes in mi2 are now: Austin: 264; Dallas: 81; Miami: 31; Orlando: 26; Houston: 25; Tampa: 24

The hours went up too. Robotaxi now runs 6am to 10pm, seven days a week, and Tesla says the unsupervised fleet is "a lot bigger" with upgraded intelligence in vehicle distribution and routing, so you wait less.

Tesla put its European FSD safety evidence on one public page

Tesla Europe's own headline number.

Tesla has published a full safety evidence dashboard for its FSD Supervised system in Europe, consolidating nine findings across three datasets into a single public page.

The filing supports Tesla's application for EU-wide approval under UNECE R171.01 exemptions ahead of a decisive October 6 committee vote.

That’s why you’ll hear a lot more buzz around this — and it will be a hugely impactful day for Tesla, as it’ll decide if Tesla will get the EU-wide FSD approval or will have to walk back also in the countries that have already approved it.

Tesla's own test fleet logged approximately 1.6 million km across eight European countries, with 793,000 miles driven exclusively on FSD Supervised. The result: zero at-fault collisions.

this is where Tesla has gathered FSD(S) data for this dataset

Lots more data and some graphs on the links above, if you want to dig deeper.

Quick rounds:

  • FSD Pothole avoidance is "coming soon", per Elon on August 31. Ed asked us about exactly this in last week's Community Corner, so there's the answer. It was also listed as an upcoming improvement in the FSD v14.3 release notes on April 7, but… Elon answered "Definitely" to the same question about Autopilot on April 7, 2019. So let’s see if it’ll happen now, 7 years later. 🙂

  • A Tesla on FSD stopped the car for a boy who suddenly ran into the road, here’s the video. The owner posted the clip: "Before my brain could process what was happening my car stopped abruptly and resumed running after the dashing boy cleared the path. I couldn't have prevented this on my own." The fun part is that the boy is in fully green clothes, iykyk.

  • 🇦🇺 Tesla Motors Australia has emailed owners confirming FSD v14 Lite is in active development for Australia and New Zealand: "We're currently rolling out FSD (Supervised) v14 Lite to users in North America and South Korea, with active development underway for Australia and New Zealand."

TESLA NEWS

Zero spontaneous battery fires across 265 billion miles

Tesla has published a detailed engineering page breaking down the safety philosophy, chemistry, and manufacturing behind its vehicle batteries. The page covers everything from cell-level failure testing to fleet-wide monitoring across millions of vehicles, and it includes a notable claim:

Across more than 265 billion miles of operation through the end of 2025, Tesla says it has no evidence of even a single spontaneous battery failure leading to a vehicle fire in its current vehicle offerings.

Company car drivers get the Vehicle Data Report

Tesla has added Vehicle Data Reports (VDRs) to its company car offering, giving business drivers access to a detailed snapshot of what their Tesla was doing around a collision or other safety event.

The update was shared by Sloan Cinelli, Head of B2B at Tesla EMEA, who highlighted that VDRs are generated automatically using vehicle, diagnostic, infotainment and Autopilot data where applicable.

Quick rounds:

  • The Model Y L Premium AWD got its official EPA numbers: 332 miles on the 19-inch wheels and 328 on the 20s, both up on the 325 and 320 originally listed. Test drives have started at selected US showrooms, and the Launch Series is close to sold out, with delivery dates pushing into early 2027.

  • The entry Model 3 RWD in Europe went from 534 km to 572 km WLTP on August 28, which is 332 to 355 miles, up 7.1%. The whole change is the wheel: the 18-inch Photon comes off, a new Prismata goes on, with lower rolling-resistance tires.

  • Tesla has repriced two protection plans in opposite directions, both from October: Wheel & Tire Protection goes up, Model Y Performance from $20 to $24 a month and Model 3 Performance from $16 to $24. Cybertruck Windshield Protection comes down, $35 to $25 a month.

  • Tesla has ended its own wrap service after nearly three years. It launched in October 2023 at $7,500 to $8,000 for PPF, dropped to $4,000 on thinner vinyl by late 2024, and the products are now simply gone from the Shop. Tesla now points owners at XPEL through certified third parties.

  • There is a Dog Mode collection in the Shop now, nine items running from a $15 bandana and a $20 chew toy up to a $35 plushie and $145 pet liners.

    I won’t put a picture of it here, butt the placement of the hole for the treats is… well, I’ve said enough already.

SUPERCHARGING

The 36 winning Supercharger locations are named

Tesla has named the 36 winning locations from its Supercharger Voting program: 16 in the US, three in Canada, and the rest spread across 15 other countries and territories. Jurien Bay in Australia, Niseko in Japan, and the Cotswolds and Ullapool in the UK all got through.

Voting has already reopened, with 84 new candidates on the list. Each account gets five votes per three-month cycle, and one vote per location.

I love it when businesses now deploying Superchargers use it as a Canvas for art.

A Supercharger for Business site in Brentwood, Tennessee from EV Auto dealership now has all eight stalls wrapped with the guitars of eight legendary artists, each with the artist's signature, a "Powered by EV AUTO" badge and a QR code telling you the story of the instrument while you charge. Elvis's Hagstrom and Merle Haggard's Fender Telecaster are two of them.

In case you know the DYI Wrap Club (formerly Tesbros), the job was delivered by them:

DIY Wrap Club CEO Ji Hoon Heo in front of the Elvis Hagstrom stall.

MUSKONOMY

SpaceX

Elon on the power problem sitting underneath AI, in a new G20 interview: "There will be a significant power shortfall next year. The consensus estimate is there will be a 15GW power shortfall in 2027 for AI chips. This is why Google and Anthropic are leasing compute from SpaceX, because we've been able to turn on AI better than anyone else so far."

The way SpaceX got there is by building its own power plants, and it recently powered down 11 turbines at the Southaven data center to make room for a 1.2 GW plant.

On where all of this ends up, asked about future SpaceX revenue, Elon has said: "My best guess for ~$3.5T revenue is roughly around 2033 fwiw."

Starlink has a new plan for people with small boats. Personal Maritime runs $185 a month for unlimited data in territorial waters worldwide, with no 30-day Roam travel limit and Ocean Mode beyond 12 nautical miles at $6/GB. Not for yachts, ferries or commercial fishing.

Oh, and Starbase has police Cybertrucks now. Starbase became a city in May last year and started hiring officers this month.

image by: @mymatrixplug

The Boring Company

Clark County has signed off on 19 more Vegas Loop stations, taking the entitled total from 104 to 123 across the approved 68-mile (109 km) network. The new ones include Formula One Grand Prix Plaza, Chinatown, several stops along Tropicana Avenue, and Tuscany. Around 11 or 12 stations are open today. The system has carried more than 4 million passengers since 2021.

TBC says: “Because Loop is point-to-point with no intermediate stops, in the limit, one could have a Loop station in every driveway!”

xAI Grok

Grok Bot picked up a real X integration on August 29. Sign in with the X connector and you can tell a bot to search posts, read the timeline, check mentions, pull bookmarks and read trends. Paid Grok Bot subscribers get X API credits to start.

SpaceXAI has also switched on template sharing, so you can build a bot and publish it for other people to download, with a marketplace incoming soon.

Last week I said I would give Grok Bot a go, and I have now started, it looks quite capable. If you are using it, hit reply and tell me what for!

COMMUNITY CORNER

As always, our goal is to become the most value-packed and concise Tesla-related newsletter out there. How did we do today?

FEEDBACK: What do you think of today's issue?

(we read every reply you leave after voting!)

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98.48% thumbs up on last week's issue, you keep loving it so I’ll keep writing it.
🤜 🤛

Here are a few of your comments:

Pedro said:

"The newsletter keeps me up to date with the new and old technology. I am 82, but this keeps my brain active along with my coding refresher courses. Keep all your good work please."

— 82 and still doing coding refreshers. Pedro, you've already set the bar for the rest of us. 🫡

Oliver said:

"Thanks all. You guys are the nuts (British slang!). Keep up the good work."

— Had to look that one up to make sure it was a compliment. Turns out it is. Cheers, Oliver!

O said:

"The Tesla semi looks so cool! And the cyber cab launch event looks awesome. Shame you didn't get invited to the semi launch event :( better luck next time! Thanks for making this awesome read free."

— I’ll get there one day hehe. And absolutely happy to continue reporting here, thanks for reading!

J said:

"A great read about the new Star base in Louisiana. Great news, exciting upgrades for that state."

— Ten launch towers in a place that had none, it really is wild to see.

C said:

"Amazing coverage of so many topics. Keep up the great work."

— Thanks, C, eagerly waiting for yet another Musk company to expand the topics haha.

Brian said:

"I would like some thoughts on what Tesla has done (nothing) or what they promise to do (vague) about us Tesla AI3 hardware FSD purchasers. Here is the most recent reply to my inquiry: [...] 'We recognize that the timeline for unsupervised capability on Hardware 3 vehicles has not aligned with earlier expectations, and we hear the disappointment this has caused. After carefully reviewing your request, we must advise that Tesla is unable to offer a transfer of Full Self-Driving Capability from your current vehicle to a future purchase.' [...] This response appears AI-generated. I did reply to them asking to speak to a real human but I haven't had a response. I would like to take this through arbitration and have notified them. It really bothers me to have to do this because I really love Tesla but so far getting ignored."

—That’s too bad indeed, Brian. While we’re not affiliated with Tesla in any way, we can’t talk in their behalf. As far as I understand, AI3 will get /have gotten the FSD v14 Lite but no info out there yet about a retrofit other than what Elon said on the earnings call. I do personally think they should offer a free FSD transfer to all purchases, but 🤷. Let me know where you’ll get with this

Cindy said:

"Desire to hear more about the comeback of free energy, which is 'Tesla Coil for home energy' since Tesla Solar roofs has been removed from Marketing machine."

—Well, Tesla’s Solar Roofs are gone, but Tesla Solar itself is ramping up massively, with 100 GW plans per year.

I'll address these in bulk:

Skip said: "Thanks for keeping me up to date on all of Elon's companies in one read."

Kath said: "Love the up-to-date information."

S said: "I really enjoy the concise, short articles."

M said: "Always a great read and very informative. Keep them coming!"

Bob said: "Informative and with GOOD news"

David said: "Thank you !"

… — thank you all for leaving these words. Truly. Your kind words are what keep us going.

See you next week for more,
— Jaan, Ted, and Sean.

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