Tesla broke ground on its “Megafactory,” a new production facility in California, so christened because it will produce the company’s large-scale battery system Megapack. News of the previously unannounced factory was confirmed by the Lathrop Mayor Sonny Dhaliwal, in a Facebook post that was deleted and re-posted. “We are proud to be the home of […]
Inspiration4’s successful splashdown is just the beginning of private spaceflight for SpaceX
Just like that, they came back. The Inspiration4 crew made a triumphant splashdown on Saturday evening off the east coast of Florida, marking the close of the first completely private, all-civilian space mission. SpaceX’s Go Searcher recovery ship hauled the Crew Dragon capsule, dubbed Resilience, a little less than an hour after splashdown. The crew […]
Elon Musk welcomes SpaceX crew home with $50m donation to charity
Four-person crew asked for the public’s help in reaching fundraising target of $200m for the children’s charity St JudeElon Musk surprised his first all-private crew of space tourists with a welcome home gift after their trailblazing trip to orbit ende…
Elon Musk praises Chinese automakers amidst regulatory scrutiny
An unusually scripted Elon Musk issued conciliatory and complimentary comments to Chinese automakers during a pre-recorded appearance at China’s World New Energy Vehicle Congress, striking a pose that is worlds away from his commentary style in the United States. “I have a great deal of respect for the many Chinese automakers for driving these [EV […]
Tesla will open controversial FSD beta software to owners with a good driving record
Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the company will use personal driving data to determine whether owners who have paid for its controversial “Full Self-Driving” software can access the latest beta version that promises more automated driving functions. Musk tweeted late Thursday night that the FSD Beta v10.0.1 software update, which has already been pushed out […]
Tesla should say something
Last weekend, a reader wrote to this editor, politely asking why tech companies should speak up about the abortion law that Texas passed last week. “What does American Airlines have to do with abortion?” said the reader, suggesting that companies can’t possibly cater to both pro-abortion and anti-abortion advocates and that asking them to take […]
Pandemic-driven liquid oxygen shortage threatens ULA, SpaceX launches
The ongoing reverberations from the COVID-19 pandemic are continuing to make themselves felt in the most unlikely of places: spaceflight. On Friday, NASA took the unexpected step to ground a September satellite launch due to pandemic-related shortages of liquid oxygen (LOX), and there may be more launch delays yet to come. Demand for oxygen has […]
Elon Musk’s Loop gets Autopilot — and an intruder
Less than two weeks after its official launch, The Boring Company’s Loop system in Las Vegas had its first security breach. On June 21, the morning of the final day of the International Beauty Show, an “unauthorized vehicle” joined the system’s fleet of Tesla taxis underground, emails between the Loop’s operations manager and a Clark […]
The Station: Rivian makes its IPO move, Nuro pushes into Nevada and Waymo scales up in SF
The Station is a weekly newsletter dedicated to all things transportation. Sign up here — just click The Station — to receive it every weekend in your inbox. Hello readers: Welcome to The Station, your central hub for all past, present and future means of moving people and packages from Point A to Point B. I’m […]
‘The smartest person in any room anywhere’: in defence of Elon Musk, by Douglas Coupland
He’s the Silicon Valley Übermensch, the maverick boss of Tesla and SpaceX who wants us to colonise Mars and who can wipe out billions of dollars with a single tweet. So what’s not to love?It’s interesting whenever Elon Musk’s name comes up and people b…