Tesla’s Cyber Rodeo event, held on Thursday in the company’s new Texas Gigafactory in Austin, will likely be remembered more for memes, Elon Musk’s ridiculous cowboy hat, and just plain weird moments, rather than actual news coming out of the conference.
Seriously, if you’re a Tesla/Elon Musk fan, go watch the whole thing (below). It’s got some cool footage showing Tesla’s production process, a massive 3D drone image of Doge above Gigafactory Texas, a woman actually crying as Elon Musk enters the stage, and in an especially classy moment, an ad for Cybertruck’s armour glass accompanied with footage of said glass breaking.
Credit: Tesla/YouTube
Like all things Elon/Tesla, it’s all a bit cringey but sort of funny and fascinating at the same time (you will have to suffer through or rewind over quite a bit of boring aerial footage of the factory to see all the interesting bits, though).
Roughly 37 minutes into the video, Elon Musk enters the stage and says…well, not that much, really. Perhaps the biggest news for actual Tesla owners that also cashed out for the company’s Full Self Driving (FSD) package is that more of them are getting access to the beta version of it.
“We’re aiming to go to a wide beta for all FSD customers in North America this year,” said Musk.
The company also showcased its new 4680 battery cells as well as new structural battery pack, which are already being used in some variants of the Model Y. Musk says that the big difference with the new pack is that the batteries now carry load, meaning the car is lighter overall and requires fewer parts, costs less, and improves crash performance.
Also, Tesla’s oft-delayed Cybertruck should finally be coming in 2023, though Musk didn’t bother sharing a more precise timeline than that.
Musk also mentioned an entire new Tesla vehicle – a “dedicated robotaxi, that’s gonna look quite futuristic” – as well as the upcoming Tesla robot called “Optimist,” which will “obviate what an economy even means.” We’re very eager to see that. Optimist “version one” is hopefully coming next year. Finally, both the upcoming Tesla Semi and the new Roadster are coming next year, Musk said.
Credit: Tesla/YouTube
All of this will happen while the company achieves “massive scale,” something that’s unseen in human history, said Musk.
Near the end of the video, we get a few more tidbits about the Cybertruck. For example, it has no door handles, which is somehow a good idea according to Musk. “The car knows you’re there and it just knows you need to open,” he said.
