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Tesla's production problems extend to its solar roof business, too
The production problems Tesla has faced with its Model 3 have been well documented. Now, sources say the company is facing similar issues with its solar roof tile initiative. According to Reuters, former and current employees have revealed that assembly line problems, plus CEO Elon Musk's exacting aesthetic demands, has delayed production, causing tension with partner Panasonic, and rattling officials that are keen to see a return on significant state investment.
Elon Musk is seriously considering taking Tesla private
Earlier today, Elon Musk tweeted that he's considering taking Tesla private, and buying shareholders out at an above-price rate of $420 if they didn't want to stay invested. Considering the company CEO's, ahem, freewheeling speech on Twitter, it wasn't immediately clear if he was serious. But Musk published an internal email he sent this morning clarifying that while a final decision hasn't been made, he's got plenty of reasons for thinking a private Tesla operates better than a public one, at least right now.
Elon Musk made Tesla stock spike with hint the company will go private
Maybe Twitter user Elon Musk thought he was being funny with a terrible pot joke, or maybe he was serious. Either way, the Tesla CEO just sent the company's stock soaring after a tweet. He said he might take the company private again after the stock hits $420 (which, if you're unaware, is a weed reference).
‘Dota 2’ veterans steamrolled by AI team in exhibition match
Later this month, the best Dota 2 teams in the world will meet in Vancouver for the biggest tournament of the year, The International. The annual contest consistently boasts the highest prize pool in eSports (it's up to $23.5 million already this year), not to mention the glory that comes with winning the prestigious event. It may not be long, however, before a team of non-human players becomes worthy of such success. This weekend, the all-bot roster of OpenAI Five took on a team of Dota 2 casters and ex-pro players that individually rank amongst some of the best in the world. OpenAI Five won the best-of-three exhibition match convincingly, and the only reason the human team took a game was thanks to a little help from the audience.
Why Elon Musk isn't the hero we imagined
Every now and again, there's a story of true human ingenuity that reminds us what we should aspire toward. Twelve children, trapped in a flooded cave system, were rescued by an international team of experts. Divers used their years of training and experience to find and save people when all hope was thought lost. One diver, Saman Kunan, died in the effort. And yet, rather than celebrate their sacrifice and effort, we've spent the better part of a week preoccupied with the word "pedo." You already know why: Elon Musk, the entrepreneur who revolutionized e-commerce, electric vehicles and private spaceflight, lashed out at someone in anger. Members of Team Musk raced to the aid of their hero, while others used it as yet another stick with which to beat the man. It's impossible to talk about Musk in a rational, balanced way. He's not simply a human being, with flaws and foibles and dreams like we all have, but a touchstone for the whole world. Musk has become a representative for so many causes that, to many, criticizing him is somehow denigrating the cause. Look at Tesla, the car company that has disrupted the automotive and energy industries. Almost single-handedly, Musk made EVs cool, and proved that people wanted to own one. The fact that I can now even think about buying a second- or third-hand EV is, at least in part, due to Musk. Tesla also demonstrated that concerns over battery life and range were unfounded. It's now relatively easy to schedule your trip to include a 20-minute-or-so stop for a bathroom break while an EV recharges. And the Supercharger network has quickly been supplanted by a number of additional charging stations in hotels, in public buildings and curbside. Some of this has been the result of government incentive programs, but demand is clearly increasing. While Musk made EVs cool, plenty of others have benefited from this perception change. In my native UK, the Nissan Leaf and Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV have outsold the Tesla Model S and X by a considerable margin. But that may change in the future, since the Model 3 could become what was seen as impossible a few years ago: a mass-market electric sedan.
Musk disputes rumors that Model 3 cancellations are outpacing orders
Tesla's Model 3 production rate has been a topic of interest for some time, but lately, so has the company's order rates. Following an analyst's suggestion that Tesla was now receiving more cancellations than orders, CEO Elon Musk took to Twitter to dispel that notion, giving a glimpse into Tesla's order numbers that are rarely shared by either the company or its CEO. In his tweet, Musk said that last week Tesla had over 2,000 orders for its Model S and Model X vehicles as well as 5,000 new net orders for its Model 3, which are healthy rates if accurate.
Elon Musk apologizes for calling cave diver a 'pedo guy'
SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk has apologized to a British cave diver for calling him a "pedo guy" in a Twitter rant over the rescue of children trapped in a cave in Thailand. "My words were spoken in anger after Mr. Unsworth said several untruths and suggested I engage in a sexual act with a mini-sub," he tweeted this morning. "Nonetheless, his actions against me do not justify my actions against him, and for that I apologize to Mr. Unsworth and to the companies I represent as leader. The fault is mine and mine alone."
Elon Musk said he will pay for home water filters in Flint
Four years ago, the Flint water crisis began when officials switched its source from Lake Huron to the Flint River. Its more corrosive water caused dangerous levels of lead from old pipes to leach into the city's drinking water, poisoning residents. Now, after fighting with officials just to get the problem recognized in 2015, many residents still don't trust the city's tap water. Into the fray steps Elon Musk, fresh off of his submarine-building exploits, responding to a tweet with this promise "Please consider this a commitment that I will fund fixing the water in any house in Flint that has water contamination above FDA levels. No kidding."
Elon Musk's mini-sub was 'not practical' for Thailand cave rescue
The Thai cave rescue is over, with all 12 boys and their coach safely above ground. Elon Musk's miniature submarine clearly arrived too late. However, it's now clear that it wouldn't have seen use regardless. In the last few hours of the operation, joint command center lead Narongsak Ostanakorn told Musk that his tech was "good and sophisticated," but that it was "not practical" for the rescue. While officials haven't provided detailed reasoning, a look at the logistics of the rescue might explain why.
Tesla raised its prices in China to offset US trade war tariffs
Just when it looked like China was going to be Tesla's boon, the US's trade war changed all that. Over the weekend, Tesla raised the price of the Model S and Model X by around 20 percent to compensate, according to stock-investing publication Seeking Alpha. In terms of hard figures, that means it'll cost around $22,000 and $37,000 more to buy one of Elon Musk's EVs in the region, depending on configuration. This massive setback comes mere months after China eased restrictions on foreign automakers.
Elon Musk's Thailand cave rescue would use a 'kid-size' submarine
Elon Musk is quickly solidifying his offer to help rescue a boys' soccer team trapped in a Thailand cave, and in just the way you would expect from a technology entrepreneur. He has revealed that the "primary path" for his attempt will involve a "kid-size submarine" that uses the liquid oxygen transfer tube of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket as its hull. He added that it be "extremely robust" and would support many as four air tanks, with four handles that could be used as hitching points for ropes and cables.
Elon Musk is sending teams to assist with the Thailand cave rescue
Elon Musk has offered assistance in the rescue of the boys' soccer team trapped in a cave in Thailand. Engineers from SpaceX and The Boring Company will travel to the country on Saturday to help with what is becoming an increasingly perilous rescue effort. As CNN reports, conditions are becoming life-threatening, with a former navy diver involved in the operation losing his life after a sudden drop in oxygen levels underground.
Tesla made 5,031 Model 3s in a week
Tesla's ultimate fate, and Elon Musk's reputation has hinged on being able to produce 5,000 units of the Model 3 in a single week. Once that goal was hit, the company could finally shrug off the accusation that it was a billionaire's plaything, out of its depth and unable to compete with Big Auto. Now, at the end of its second financial quarter, the company has confirmed yesterday's rumor that it produced 5,031 Model 3s in seven days.
OpenAI's 'Dota 2' bots are taking on pro teams
The Dota 2 world championship, The International, is fast approaching, and a top team will have a different-looking squad to contend with: a group of artificial intelligence bots. OpenAI, which Elon Musk co-founded, has been taking on top Dota 2 players with the bots since last year, and now it's gunning for a team of top professionals in an exhibition match at one of the biggest events in eSports.
Tesla's prototype Semi has a 'Mad Max' Autopilot mode
You didn't think Tesla's Semi truck would go without a Ludicrous-like software setting just because it's meant for work, did you? Sure enough, it exists. Elon Musk has revealed that the prototype electric cargo hauler has a Mad Max mode. No, this won't give the Semi a battering ram or a flame-spewing guitar -- rather, it influences Autopilot's blind spot threshold. Musk didn't elaborate on what that meant, but his photo of the settings page suggests the semi-autonomous driving feature will make lane changes with even more gusto than the "aggressive" option.
Tesla sues former employee who allegedly stole confidential data
Today, CNBC reported that Tesla is suing a former employee named Martin Tripp. The lawsuit centers around the alleged theft of gigabytes worth of proprietary information from the electric car company. Tesla had no comment, but did provide Engadget with a copy of the lawsuit.
Elon Musk says Tesla employee committed 'sabotage'
Tesla may have more trouble on its hands than layoffs and production challenges. Reuters said it had obtained a company-wide email from Elon Musk stating that an unnamed employee had conducted "extensive and damaging sabotage." The staffer reportedly altered code in a company operating system and, more worryingly, had shared "large amounts" of sensitive info to unknown outsiders. There was no word on whether or not this alleged saboteur was working with another outfit or was going rogue.
Tesla is now making 3,500 Model 3 cars per week
Tesla has been scrambling to make its goal of producing 5,000 Model 3 cars per week by July, and it appears to be making good progress... although it also has a long way to go. Electrek has obtained a company-wide email from Elon Musk indicating that Tesla is now reliably producing "above 500" vehicles per day, or about 3,500 per week. Some portions of the line are "almost at 700" per day, he added. In a tweet, Musk also noted that Tesla had assembled its first performance-oriented dual motor model.
Elon Musk's Boring Company will build a high-speed link in Chicago
Elon Musk's tunneling and transportation startup, The Boring Company, has been selected to construct a high-speed link in Chicago. The route, called The Chicago Express Loop, will run between Terminals 1-3 of Chicago's O'Hare airport, and Block 37 in downtown Chicago. At least, that's the plan.
Tesla lays off nine percent of its workforce
Tesla hasn't produced nearly as many of its vaunted Model 3 affordable EVs as it expected, which has led to a quarter of those who preordered the vehicle to demand refunds. As early as this year's first-quarter earnings call, Elon Musk told employees that a reorganization was coming -- and it came today. Musk published an internal email on Twitter revealing that the automaker is cutting around nine percent of jobs across the company.
