Author: Sean Whitmore

Tesla has filed new trademark applications for the terms “Cybercar” and “Cybervehicle,” as the U.S. electric vehicle maker prepares alternative branding options for its upcoming autonomous vehicle amid ongoing legal and regulatory challenges. The filings come as Tesla works through complications surrounding its original plan to brand the vehicle as “Cybercab,” a name unveiled alongside the company’s robotaxi ambitions. That trademark application has been suspended by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, according to public records. See also: Tesla Plans Robotaxi Expansion to Orlando and Tampa in 2026 U.S. Rollout The suspension stems from an earlier trademark filing for “Cybercab”…

Tesla’s Model Y has been named the Best Electric Vehicle in Consumer Reports’ newly released 2026 Top Picks list, earning the only category win for a fully electric vehicle in the annual rankings. Consumer Reports evaluates more than 260 vehicles each year, combining proprietary road tests with predicted reliability, safety performance and owner satisfaction data. Its 2026 list includes just 10 vehicles across the entire market. While the organisation highlighted a broader industry shift toward electrification and hybrid powertrains, the Model Y emerged as the sole pure battery-electric vehicle to secure a top category position. See also: Tesla Keeps Strong…

The Delaware Supreme Court has ruled in favour of Tesla, sharply reducing legal fees awarded to shareholder attorneys in a settled lawsuit against the automaker’s directors after finding the original calculation overstated the value of the settlement. In its decision, the court cut the legal fee award to $70.9 million from $176.1 million, concluding that the lower court had improperly included the intrinsic value of returned stock options when assessing the settlement’s worth. The revision represents savings of about $105 million for Tesla. See also: Tesla Fremont Manufacturing Director Benjamin Bate Departs After Eight Years The shareholder lawsuit had been…

Tesla has confirmed a $2 billion equity investment in xAI, the artificial intelligence company founded by Elon Musk, marking a significant deepening of ties between the electric vehicle maker and the AI startup despite an earlier shareholder vote that opposed a larger potential investment. In a statement included under “Other Updates” in its fourth-quarter 2025 shareholder deck, Tesla said it entered into an agreement on Jan. 16, 2026, to acquire shares of Series E Preferred Stock in xAI as part of a previously disclosed financing round. Tesla said the transaction was conducted on market terms consistent with those accepted by…

Tesla has disclosed for the first time how many customers globally are using its Full Self-Driving (Supervised) software, revealing that the total number of active users reached 1.1 million in 2025. The figure was published in Tesla’s fourth-quarter 2025 shareholder presentation and represents a combined count of customers who either purchased FSD outright or are paying for the feature through a monthly subscription. Tesla did not break down how many users fall into each category. See also: Lemonade Launches Insurance Tied to Tesla’s FSD, Promising Lower Per-Mile Rates The number marks a sharp increase from previous years, rising from about…

Elon Musk has held preliminary discussions about potentially consolidating parts of his business empire, including exploring whether SpaceX could merge with Tesla or absorb his artificial intelligence startup xAI, according to company filings and sources cited by Reuters and Bloomberg. SpaceX has evaluated the feasibility of a combination with Tesla, an idea that some investors have encouraged, the sources said. Executives have also discussed an alternative scenario in which xAI would be folded into SpaceX ahead of a potential public offering later this year that could value the combined entity at up to $1.5 trillion. No decisions have been taken,…

Tesla will cease production of its flagship Model S sedan and Model X sport utility vehicle as the company pivots toward robotics and artificial intelligence, Chief Executive Elon Musk said during the automaker’s fourth-quarter 2025 earnings call. “It is time to bring the Model S and Model X programs to an end with an honorable discharge,” Musk said. “It’s part of our overall shift to an autonomous future.” See also: Tesla Beats Q4 Earnings Expectations as Margins Improve and Energy Business Sets Records Tesla will transition the Model S and Model X production lines at its Fremont, California factory to…

Tesla has stopped including certain driver-assistance features with new vehicles sold in the United States and Canada, requiring customers who want self-steering and similar capabilities to subscribe to its $99-per-month Full Self-Driving (Supervised) package. According to Tesla’s online vehicle configuration pages, new buyers will continue to receive Traffic Aware Cruise Control, which maintains a set speed and follows traffic at a safe distance. However, Autosteer—previously part of Tesla’s Autopilot suite and designed to keep vehicles centered in highway lanes—will no longer be included as standard equipment. Tesla has also discontinued sales of Enhanced Autopilot, which added features such as automatic…

Tesla has released a redesigned CCS charging adapter that is fully compatible with its Cybertruck, ending a long-standing issue that had limited the stainless-steel pickup’s access to third-party fast-charging networks in United States and Canada. The new CCS1-to-NACS adapter is now available for purchase, allowing Cybertruck owners to use a much wider range of DC fast chargers beyond Tesla’s Supercharger network. The move comes more than two years after the Cybertruck’s launch, during which owners discovered that Tesla’s original CCS adapter could not be used with the vehicle. Although the Cybertruck is equipped with Tesla’s North American Charging Standard (NACS)…

Tesla has discontinued Autopilot, its entry-level driver-assistance system, as the company seeks to steer customers toward its more advanced software, Full Self-Driving (Supervised), amid regulatory and legal pressure in California. Tesla’s online vehicle configurator now shows that new cars come standard only with Traffic-Aware Cruise Control, removing Autopilot branding entirely. The change follows a December ruling by a California judge that found Tesla had engaged in deceptive marketing by overstating the capabilities of both Autopilot and Full Self-Driving over several years. The California Department of Motor Vehicles, which brought the case, temporarily stayed the ruling to give Tesla time to…

Digital insurer Lemonade said it is launching a new auto insurance product designed for users of Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (Supervised) driver assistance system, promising to cut per-mile rates by about 50% when the software is engaged. The offering, which Lemonade is calling “Autonomous Car insurance,” is among the first insurance products to explicitly price risk based on how driving software performs versus a human driver. It signals a shift by insurers toward new models as partial autonomy becomes more widespread. Lemonade said it is leveraging vehicle telemetry data made available through a technical collaboration with Tesla, though it declined to…

Elon Musk used a last-minute appearance at the World Economic Forum on Thursday to criticise U.S. tariffs on solar power, outline ambitious plans for Tesla including humanoid robot sales next year, and signal that European regulatory approval for its self-driving technology could arrive within weeks. Musk, who has for years described the forum as elitist and detached from ordinary people, was interviewed by Larry Fink, interim co-chair of the World Economic Forum. Fink opened the session by expressing admiration for Musk, setting the tone for a wide-ranging discussion that touched on artificial intelligence, robotics, reusable rockets and Musk’s long-standing fascination…

Wawa has launched its first self-branded Tesla Supercharger site after joining Tesla’s Supercharger for Business program, deepening a partnership that has already made the U.S. convenience store chain the largest host of Tesla fast-charging stations. The new site, located in Alachua, Florida, northwest of Gainesville, is the first Supercharger location owned and branded by Wawa. It features 16 fast-charging stalls with power ratings of up to 325 kilowatts and is now open to the public. Charging is priced at $0.37 per kilowatt-hour, according to Tesla. See also: Tesla Brings World’s Largest Supercharger Hub Fully Online on California’s I-5 Corridor Wawa…

Tesla’s Cybertruck recorded a steep decline in U.S. sales in 2025, underscoring the challenges facing electric pickups despite earlier optimism about the segment, according to estimates from Cox Automotive. Tesla had originally targeted annual Cybertruck production of up to 250,000 units, a figure later revised to a capacity of around 125,000 vehicles. However, demand has remained well below those levels. Cox Automotive data indicates that U.S. sales fell to about 20,200 units in 2025, down from roughly 39,000 units in 2024, the model’s first full year on the market. Based on those estimates, 2025 demand amounted to around eight per…

Tesla is accelerating the pace of its artificial intelligence hardware development, with Chief Executive Elon Musk saying the company is aiming for a nine-month design cycle for its custom AI chips, a timeline that would be unusually fast for the semiconductor industry. Musk said Tesla’s next-generation AI5 chip design is nearly complete, while work on its successor has already begun. “Our AI5 chip design is almost done and AI6 is in early stages, but there will be AI7, AI8, AI9 … aiming for a 9-month design cycle,” Musk wrote on X, also encouraging engineers to join Tesla’s AI hardware team.…

Tesla has secured a dual safety distinction after its Model 3 and Model Y were both named Best in Class for 2025 by Euro NCAP and the ANCAP. Under the latest assessments, the Model 3 was recognised as the safest Medium Car, while the Model Y was awarded safest Medium SUV. ANCAP said the Model Y also achieved the highest overall weighted safety score of any vehicle tested in 2025, across all categories and segments. See also: Tesla to Shift Full Self-Driving to Subscription-Only Model https://twitter.com/EuroNCAP/status/2011424366207111507 Euro NCAP said the Model Y delivered one of the strongest safety performances on…

Tesla said its Full Self-Driving (FSD) driver-assistance system will be available only via monthly subscription starting Feb. 14, ending the option for U.S. customers to buy the software outright for a one-time fee. Chief executive Elon Musk announced the change on social media, saying: “Tesla will stop selling FSD after Feb 14. FSD will only be available as a monthly subscription thereafter.” The company currently offers FSD as either an $8,000 one-time purchase or a $99-per-month subscription in the United States. See also: Tesla Rolls Out FSD v14.2.2 With Incremental Improvements to Driving Behavior Tesla’s system, officially branded “Full Self-Driving…

Tesla has filed to introduce its in-house auto insurance program in Indiana, signalling a continued expansion of its telematics-based coverage after more than three years without entering new U.S. markets. The filing, submitted by Tesla Property & Casualty, outlines a private-passenger auto insurance program tailored to Tesla vehicles, with a proposed effective date of March 1, 2026, according to documents first reported by insurance industry publication Coverager. The submission describes a “full private-passenger auto program” that would rely on vehicle data to help determine pricing. See also: Tesla Adds Long-Range Budget Model Y Variant in Europe, Boosting Range to 657…

Tesla has begun rolling out version 14.2.2 of its Full Self-Driving (FSD) software as part of update 2025.45.5, introducing a series of refinements aimed at improving driving smoothness and system reliability. According to feedback from early users, the update delivers noticeable improvements in steering smoothness, cornering behavior and lane discipline. Drivers report fewer instances of abrupt corrections or lane-hugging behavior that had been observed in earlier versions of the 14.2 release. See also: Tesla Expands FSD (Supervised) V14 Ride-Along Program to Five European Nations https://twitter.com/DevinOlsenn/status/2003288783089991933 One of the most notable changes involves lane changes and merging behavior. Users say the…

Tesla has introduced a new cleaning fee structure for its Robotaxi service, formalizing how riders may be charged for leaving vehicles in an unsanitary condition as the company prepares for broader deployment of its autonomous ride-hailing platform. Under the updated policy, Tesla will charge a $50 fee for moderate messes such as food spills, excessive dirt, or minor staining. More severe incidents, including the presence of biological waste or evidence of smoking inside the vehicle, will incur a $150 fee, the company said. Tesla said the policy is intended to maintain consistent vehicle cleanliness and ensure a positive experience for…