Tesla Space #64: Cybertruck is... the safest?

X OF THE WEEK

In case you don’t speak the language, Tesla account posted “Hello, China”.

Yes, FSD (Supervised) goes live in China! There are some videos under this thread.

However, Tesla doesn’t call it that. Instead, it’s called “Autopilot for City Roads” — probably to cater to local regulations or just to note it’s not fully rolled out everywhere yet.

So, it’s not the single stack FSD just yet, but it’s a huge improvement in what they had before. It is indeed performing really well based on the videos we’ve seen so far.

Here’s a detailed account from someone who tried it. And the launch is also confirmed by Elon with: “We just used publicly available video on the Internet of roads and signs in China and used that to train in sim.”

In case you wonder why that is, Elon talked about the challenge in the previous earnings’ call — basically they can’t train with the live fleet yet due to China not allowing the feed to be sent to US servers:

I would assume we’ll soon get some “oh FSD can’t handle this or that in China” news soon, which won’t be taking into account of how Tesla is basically building on top of a significantly downgraded version - for now.

Edit: It already started — there’s a Reuters hit piece quoting an HW3 Tesla owner in China who didn’t even get an update. 🤦 

TESLA NEWS, GLOBALLY

We’ve got quite a few special insights this week, thanks to VP Vehicle Engineering at Tesla, Lars Moravy, visiting the Ride the Lightning podcast. A bunch of you already know how good of a host Ryan McCaffrey is, and this was indeed an insightful one — listen in here.

Here are my notes for new stuff we learned:

Tesla is developing a new process so they don't have to paint the Cybercab.

Lars said "You inject the polyurethane paint at the same time that you make the plastic panels. There's no paint shop with that vehicle. We put the colors in when we make the panels. That's it. If you want to repair it, it's just basically paint."

• Lars says it is inspired by Cybertruck's unpainted stainless steel.

• If the car gets scratched, the repair would involve standard paint.

• Can be produced in other colors, though gold is the current focus.

On Cybercab wireless charging:

Lars says the Cybercab will be “roadtrip capable” when it is released, and wireless charging will be a way the entire trip is out of the hands of the passengers.

Lars: “You saw it, we have wireless charging, right? It’s coming for the Cybercab and I think that’s ultimately, if you’re going to put a bunch of design effort into something, why put this really complex, moving device to move a cable, when you can have no moving parts.”

On the new more affordable models they are launching in a few months:

Lars: "The most difficult part of doing that is not making the cars worse, so I promise that they won't be a massive step down from the cars we sell today."

On why the new Model Y doesn't have 48v architecture:

Lars: "We will in time; When you're talking about that many units a week, it's a lot of supply chain to bring up; We are beholden at some rate to our supply basis capabilities; We will get all our cars to 48 volts; We're trying to manage that supply chain."

Side note — I am holding back a strong ‘I frunking told you so’ to some naysayers on X right now haha.

Tesla Launching a refreshed Model S/X later in 2025: there are currently no plans to eliminate the Model S and Model X from the lineup.

“Just give it a minute. We’ll get there. The upgrade a couple of years ago was bigger than most people thought in terms of architecture and the structure of the car got a lot better, too. But, we’ll give it some love later this year and make sure it gets a little bit…you know, with the stuff we’ve been putting in 3 and Y. Obviously, with 3 and Y, the higher volume stuff, you’ve gotta focus there.”

Tesla Roadster is being worked on:

Lars: "Oh it is definitely real. We're working with SpaceX on that now; Cold gas thrusters are super cool and they add a certain level of breaking the laws of motors physics. I promise you it (the new Roadster) will come out; I last worked on it this past Tuesday."

By the way — Lars was also interviewed in the new Top Gear video about Model Y.

Quick bites:

• Watch tip: The world's largest synchronized Tesla light show took place in Belgium with 1,150 Teslas.

• WattEV announced it will take delivery of 40 Tesla Semis in 2026 and has two in operation now.

• Tesla will acquire parts of the insolvent Manz AG, a German high-tech parts maker, including more than 300 employees at its site in Reutlingen city in the southwest

• The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department will receive a fleet of 10 Tesla Cybertrucks to start patrolling the streets — donated by an anonymous individual.

• Tesla launched a new "Tesla Assist" chatbot on its website powered by AI to answer frequently asked questions about Tesla products and services — gust click the little bubble on the bottom of Tesla's website to use Tesla Assist. Jose from Tesla says “You can also ask to drive it and will schedule an appointment automatically.”

• Tesla has put up a 1:40 Scale Megapack Charger on its Shop for $120.

• Oh, and in case you’ve stumbled upon the headlines about a possible Nissan x Tesla deal — I’m here to tell you it ain’t happening.

  Tesla has no use for Nissan's factories in the US… why would they want inferior technology and spaces? Also, FT was obviously way off on Hiro's involvement here. I’ve gathered for you the two data points you need:

VEHICLES

Cybertruck gets a ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ Safety rating!

The Cybertruck has officially received a 5-Star overall safety rating from the NHTSA. Even more, the Cybertruck had the lowest overall probability of injury & lowest chance of rollover of any pickup truck tested by the NHTSA.

Here are the details from NHTSA, here is the full footage of their crash test, and here is a 3-minute video from Tesla explaining the engineering and design that led to this.

So we finally got to see their full crash test footage to finish off the endless loop they teased long ago. Again, if you watch one video about it, make it this one.

I also love how Wes Morrill started his explainer about the crumple zone (that you find here):
“All the armchair experts claimed the Cybertruck has no crumple zone and I get it, the proportions seem impossible. It was a tough one and there is a lot of engineering that went into it. Let me break it down for you: […]”

Also, Wes commented on the Cybertruck casting being repairable to some extent: “The castings are actually repairable after a collision. The crush rail section can be cut off and a new cast crush rail section installed in its place. Of course at some point it will be damaged beyond repair as with any vehicle.”

A truck lands on top of a Tesla…

I don’t like crashes, but I do love those stories where people walk away from major crashes just because they were driving the safest car in the world:

A truck full of oranges falls ON TOP OF a Tesla. The driver walks away with minor scratches. More of the story here. The owner picked up a new car about 3 weeks after the accident — and I understand why!

I hope life gives +1 karma for each life saved through these types of accidents for all Tesla engineers and designers involved in the build of this car.

Here’s a fresh image of the first delivery of the New Model Y in China— and there’s a video from Tesla to celebrate as well.

Refreshed Model Y’s are rolling out of Giga Texas as well — as Tesla said, it is launching the new model across its factories at once. Some owners in the US have already received their VINs and have paid for the car.

And here’s a new celebratory video from Tesla’s Giga Berlin on transitioning the line to the new MY.

We also got the reasoning for the turn stalk being put back in the car from Lars:
“We always say at Tesla, if you aren’t deleting so much that you have to put something back, you haven’t deleted enough. Well, maybe we deleted too much.”

Of course… Elon responds “Autonomy will make the stalk about as useful as an appendix”

Quick bites:

• Cybercab seen testing at Giga Texas today without its golden wheel covers, and a steering wheel!

• Lars said this on Tesla's automatic adaptive headlight beams update: “We'll start with New Model Y and work our way to the others - we got through the difficult work.”

• Tesla activates cabin radar after three years, offers free replacement for some vehicles. Wes says: “Cabin radar can also detect if a child was left in the vehicle, even if the selfie cam can't. The number of incidents per year is low but the severity can be extremely high. Just another way Tesla adds value to your family's safety.”

• Lars says they might’ve made the new Model Y too quiet, as someone said they can now hear the electric motor well. “We’re on it!"

• Cybertruck has won MotorTrend's 2025 Best Tech for chassis technology — “ Thanks to steer-by-wire, Tesla’s 6,900-pound stainless-steel megalith moves with uncanny agility.” If you want to geek out on steer-by-wire, Wes Morrill shared some insights here.

• Polestar offers up to $20,000 towards a lease of a new Polestar 3 if someone switches from their Tesla. ( 😆 )

MUSKONOMY

SpaceX & Starlink

Starship Flight 8 is scheduled for this Friday!

Super Heavy is on the launch pad at Starbase already.

Meanwhile, the Flight #7 report is updated to also explain the cause of the RUD. Also, here’s a new recap video of the #7 they shared.

🇳🇬 Starlink has become Nigeria’s second-largest Internet Service Provider (ISP) with over 65,000 subscribers.

Stalink comes out and confirms: “Starlink is fully committed to providing service to Ukraine. Any rumors to the contrary are categorically false.”

𝕏

Oh wow who could have seen this one coming:

“Musk's X is in talks with investors to raise money at a valuation of $44 billion, the same price he paid for the company in 2022,” per Bloomberg.

xAI

With the Grok 3 launch, the app has made it to the #1 spot on free apps on the Apple’s App Store in the US.

See our video from last week on what’s up with Grok 3 launch.

DOGE

…adding updates on DOGE last week angered a few of you. I want to say — I see you. And all feedback is valid feedback, thank you. A little note for the future issues:

Most of the anger comes as it was a positive coverage while their outlook on DOGE and Elon’s involvement in politics is very negative. Even though in my eyes I was reporting as neutrally as possible. I think that is fine.

I am not here to judge whether Elon’s involvement in DOGE and politics is good or bad for Tesla, the US people, or anyone else in the larger picture. That’s not what we do here.

Since Elon spends a considerable time in working on this and it likely affects Muskonomy’s ventures (SpaceX can get to Mars easier? Tesla… not sure what it’ll all end up meaning for Tesla), I believe it falls under this section well and is justified.

I will continue to include the updates, keep it brief and as an outsider, try to judge the politics as little as possible and just report on verifiable info with source links.

PS! If you’re hungry for more from us, consider becoming a Tesla Space Insider.