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Tesla's latest prediction for Model Y's arrival is 2020
Tesla has largely kept its forthcoming Model Y shrouded in mystery. We know it's a crossover EV, and we know it might not have mirrors, and that's about it. But CEO Elon Musk has now revealed that the company aims to bring the new vehicle to production in 2020, adding in its conference call that doing so will spark a "manufacturing revolution". Although he didn't expound on what that revolution will look like.
Tesla: Model 3 production could hit 5,000 per week in two months
One of the major stories about Tesla's car business has been its struggle to build sufficient quantities of its Model 3 electric car. In a just-released earnings report the company said that prior to its most recent shutdown, it had managed to build over 2,000 cars per week for three weeks in a row for the first time, and anticipates it will manage 5,000 per week in two months. Following comments from Elon Musk that over-reliance on robots slowed production, the earnings report expanded on that angle. In certain production areas like "portions of the battery module line, part of the material flow system, and two steps of general assembly" it has "temporarily" dialed back automation in favor of semi-automated or manual processes. If it can hit its production goals, Tesla also claims that it can be profitable in Q3 and Q4 of this year. On an earnings call after the release, Musk specifically detailed a "Flufferbot" Tesla created to place fluff on a battery, before determining that humans were better at it and that the fluff wasn't necessary. He also chided journalists for coverage of Autopilot-related crashes, claiming that they shouldn't be writing about it, since, he said, it could lead to people turning off the feature and dying in a crash. Expect to see "quarterly safety statistics" from Tesla about the feature going forward. That people have died with the feature engaged did not come up. Musk also got tired of "boring" questions from investors and turned for a few minutes to crowdsourced questions from YouTube.
Elon Musk: 'Oh btw I’m building a cyborg dragon'
Oh btw I'm building a cyborg dragon — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 25, 2018 Where my Model 3, tho?
Tesla: Workplace safety, unions and the color yellow
Tesla's troubles with media reports on working conditions and union organizing took a hard right turn on Monday. In response to Reveal's report on Tesla's workplace safety, the auto manufacturer accused the Pulitzer-finalist of being "an extremist organization working directly with union supporters to create a calculated disinformation campaign against Tesla."
Tesla will run its Model 3 production '24/7' to meet targets
Tesla is scrambling to increase Model 3 production however it can, and that now appear to include some drastic measures. Elon Musk has informed staff that Model 3 assembly at the company's Fremont factory will step up to "24/7 operations," with a new shift added to keep the plant humming. Combined with upgrades (including both an ongoing improvement and one due in late May), Tesla intends to "unlock" production levels of 6,000 per week by the end of June. The company's publicly stated goal is 5,000 per week, but Musk doesn't want a production volume with "no margin for error" across a vast supply chain.
Tesla may be purposefully undercounting worker injuries (updated)
In a report published today, Reveal details evidence that Tesla has been undercounting the injuries sustained by workers at its Fremont, California factory. Over the last couple of years, injury rates at the factory have been higher than the industry average, but for 2017, the company reported a sharp drop in injury rates. The reductions brought Tesla in line with the rest of the industry, but Reveal's investigation, in which it conducted interviews with more than three dozen current and former employees and reviewed hundreds of pages of official documents, suggests that the company has been mislabeling work injuries.
SpaceX will try 'giant party balloon' to slow upper rocket stages
SpaceX ultimately wants to recover every stage of a rocket, not just the first, and it may resort to some unusual tactics to get more control over those stages. Elon Musk has claimed that his company will try to take rocket upper stages out of orbital velocity using a "giant party balloon" -- yes, he knows it sounds "crazy." He hasn't shed more light on the subject as we write this, but we've reached out to SpaceX to see if it can elaborate.
Elon Musk agrees robot glut slowed Model 3 production
Tesla's affordable Model 3 has been trapped in development hell for what seems like ages now, and in an interview with CBS's Gayle King, CEO Elon Musk offered a little more insight into how the production process has fallen short. While escorting King through the company's Fremont, California-based factory, Musk conceded that Tesla might've had too many robots involved in its car production process and that the company would benefit from having more humans on the line. And when King opined out loud that in some cases, said robots probably slowed down production, Musk responded with a terse "yes, they did."
Tesla hopes to deliver all-wheel drive Model 3 in July
Every Tesla Model 3 rolling off the line has so far been a single motor, rear-wheel drive variant. That's been more than a little frustrating if you've had your heart set on the surefootedness of the dual motor all-wheel drive model. However, you now have a better idea of when you can expect it... and you might not be entirely happy. Elon Musk has informed a pre-order customer that AWD Model 3 production will "probably" start in July. Simply put, he wants manufacturing levels to climb high enough that Tesla can afford to introduce features that "inhibit production ramp" -- and while the company is improving, there's still a way to go.
Tesla’s overhauled navigation system will roll out this weekend
Today, Elon Musk tweeted that Tesla's new navigation system should be rolling out this weekend. He cautioned that it won't be fully finished, calling it a "mature beta" but promised that it would "improve rapidly." Rather than making small improvements to the existing system, the company has chosen to fully overhaul the maps system, called "Tesla Maps".
The Boring Co. will sell giant ‘Lego-like’ building bricks
Apparently flamethrowers weren't enough. The next merchandise Elon Musk's Boring Company will sell are life-sized Lego bricks that you can use to build your own structures. The bricks are made of rock extracted during The Boring Company's drilling, and according to tweets from Musk, they interlock and have a "precise surface finish" so they could double as affordable housing materials. Initially, they'll be sold in kits to recreate versions of ancient Egyptian structures like pyramids and the Sphinx. It stands to reason that Musk could use these to build the Hyperloop infrastructure and stations, too.
Elon Musk pulls Tesla and SpaceX pages after #DeleteFacebook challenge
Elon Musk isn't known for kidding around, and he just made that clear in his response to Facebook's Cambridge Analytica scandal... more or less, at least. The entrepreneur has hidden the official Facebook accounts for Tesla and SpaceX in response to at least one tweet challenging him to scrub them. Apparently, he didn't realize the companies had Facebook presences until now. He's not getting rid of the companies' Instagram accounts, but he believed they were "borderline" as Facebook's influence was "slowly creeping in."
After Math: Space Farce
It was a parabolic week for space nerds. The president teased the creation of a fourth military branch dubbed the "Space Force," world-renowned astrophysicist Stephen Hawking passed away at the age of 76, and NASA's acting chief retired without someone ready to succeed him. But hey, at least to listen to Elon Musk's Wonka-esque visions for the future of spaceflight during his sold out SXSW keynote. Numbers because the only thing harder than math is space.
Elon Musk is poaching 'The Onion' staff for a comedy project
The one certainty about Elon Musk is that no two startups will be closely related: he has been responsible for city guides, online payments, electric cars, spacecraft, open AI and transportation tunnels. And that trend isn't about to stop any time soon, it appears. Daily Beast sources has learned that Musk has lured several workers from satire site The Onion to work on a comedy project. Reportedly, former editor in chief Cole Bolton and former executive editor Ben Berkley have been working on the project ever since they left The Onion in 2017, and have poached both three writers and an editor in the meantime.
Breaking down Elon Musk's surprise, sold-out talk at SXSW
An email sent in the dead of night on Saturday revealed that Elon Musk, the founder of Tesla and SpaceX, would appear at SXSW for a surprise Q&A session. By 8:30 the following morning, the Moody Theater was sold out; by noon, when Musk was scheduled to take the stage, the arena was packed.
Witnessing the Church of Elon Musk
SXSW plays host to big-name speakers all the time. Mother! and Black Swan director Darren Aronofsky was on stage yesterday, Apple's Eddy Cue is on a panel tomorrow and Moonlight director Barry Jenkins had a keynote this morning. But something felt different at the Moody Theater in downtown Austin. The crowd was unusually excited, expectant. A thousand or so SXSW attendees, a large number of them press, had congregated, after getting only 12 hours' notice, to hear Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk speak. The panel was scheduled for noon, but at 12:15 PM people were still shuffling in. Either Musk was running late or officials were stalling to let the audience take their seats. A small group in the venue's upper tier began clapping, as though calling for an encore after a concert, and the rhythmic applause swiftly pulsed around the theater, to no avail.
Watch the best bits of Elon Musk's SXSW talk
Elon Musk took the stage about 30 minutes late at the Moody Theater in downtown Austin, Texas, and when he finally appeared, the soldout crowd cheered and jumped to their feet, smartphones glowing. His conversation at SXSW was a surprise, announced late the night before, and the talk itself was just as casual. Westworld co-creator Jonathan Nolan took prewritten questions from the audience and asked Musk for his thoughts on a vast array of topics, covering everything from colonizing Mars to the benefits of a carbon tax and the future of artificial intelligence.
SpaceX aims to test its Mars rocket system in first half of 2019
You might not have to wait long to see SpaceX's BFR rocket system in action ... maybe. In a talk at SXSW, Elon Musk said he expected the spacecraft's first "short up-and-down flights" by the first half of 2019. He was quick to hedge his claim, noting that his timelines tend to be "optimistic" (remember how Falcon Heavy was supposed to launch in 2013?), but this at least gives you a timeframe. Test flights couldn't place too much later when the goal is to send cargo missions to Mars by 2022.
SpaceX and 'Westworld' creators made a Falcon Heavy short film
Elon Musk promised a short film about the inaugural Falcon Heavy launch from the team behind Westworld, and he delivered. The entrepreneur has posted the video, Falcon Heavy and Starman, in two parts on Instagram (update: now on YouTube). It's not exactly a magnum opus, but it does a good job of encapsulating SpaceX's milestone in a short amount of time, including Starman's departure. Surprisingly, the video includes the loss of the center booster -- SpaceX isn't pretending the launch was all sunshine and roses. And naturally, there's no shortage of David Bowie for the soundtrack.
Hyperloop is edging closer to reality
Plenty has happened in the five years since Elon Musk first published his white paper on a system he called hyperloop. Since releasing that manifesto to the world, hundreds of people and hundreds of millions of dollars have been put to work, all in the service of bringing Musk's retro-futurist dream of a vacuum tube for people to life. And despite being less than a fever dream half a decade ago, the pace of innovation is notably increasing, with 2018 already including several big announcements regarding its future.
