Three original Tesla Roadsters were found with 0 miles in a storage container
GruberMotors (Edited by NATA)
In a remarkable discovery, three untouched Tesla Roadsters from 2010 have emerged from their long slumber in a Chinese port, offering a glimpse into the pivotal role they played in sparking the electric vehicle (EV) revolution and Tesla's astounding success. More than just pristine collectibles, these Roadsters stand as enduring symbols of a watershed moment in the automotive industry and Tesla's ambitious journey.
These three US-spec left-hand drive Roadsters, two Very Orange models and one Radiant Red, Sport model, have been sitting unspoiled and hidden away in sea containers since their purchase in 2010. Now, they're ready to be revived and enjoyed by eager Tesla fans and collectors.
Elon Musk Tweets About the Remarkable Find
The discovery caught the eye of Elon Musk. He acknowledged this fantastic discovery, tweeting, "These are increasingly rare." His endorsement of the find highlights the significance of these vehicles, both as a part of Tesla's history and as rare collectibles for enthusiasts.
Some Tesla fans have been asking Musk to purchase and display the cars at Tesla factories. But if you're a Tesla aficionado looking to own a piece of EV history, this is your chance! The current owner is accepting bids for this unique set of Roadsters, with a preference to sell them together. However, they're open to splitting them up for the right price.
Roadster Specs
These Roadsters look brand new, inside and out, however the batteries still need to be tested
GruberMotors (Edited by NATA)
The Tesla Roadster had a 53 kWh battery, which offered a range of about 245 miles (395 km). Its electric motor only produced 248 horsepower, but due to its extremely light chasis, it reached 60 mph in about 3.7 seconds.
The Role of the Roadster in the EV Revolution and Tesla's Meteoric Rise
The Tesla Roadster played a crucial role in the company's history, funding the creation of the Model S and sparking the EV revolution. Launched in 2008, the Roadster was Tesla's first production vehicle and the world's first high-performance electric sports car. Its success proved that electric vehicles could be cool, sexy, and fast, breaking the mold of gas-guzzling automobiles and paving the way for Tesla's future models.
With the Roadsters' impressive performance and the legacy they represent, they're sure to be a prized addition to any collection. So don't miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to own a piece of Tesla history that genuinely transformed the automotive industry. The Gruber Motor Company has already received five bids, with the highest being $200,000 for all three. Email your bid to ev@gruber.com and get ready to cruise in a vintage Tesla Roadster integral to the EV revolution.
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Tesla has updated their referral program, and there are quite a few interesting changes to boot. There are now bigger discounts for buyers and bigger rewards for referrers, and it seems that the referral program has also had its cap reset.
The updated program has rolled out to North America - so both Canada and the United States. The changes are not active in Europe, China, or other regions - but keep your eyes out. Tesla will probably enable the new rewards in the coming days.
New Referral Discount
The new referral discount now provides $2,000 USD off your vehicle purchase, and includes any of Tesla’s vehicles - including the Cybertruck in the United States.
For Canadians, it's $2,600 CAD off your purchase, but the Cybertruck and Model 3 are exempt.
Inventory vehicles are included in the discount, which means you could potentially score a demo vehicle for several thousand dollars off right now. Used vehicles are not eligible for the discount.
In conjunction with the 0% Financing if you purchase FSD, now is one of the best times to purchase a new Tesla, especially with both the US and Canadian Federal EV Rebates potentially ending next year.
New Referral Reward
The reward is also much higher - $1,000 USD in the United States, and $1,300 CAD in Canada. That’s the highest the referral reward program has ever been, and it’s quite a big set of rewards. You can now obtain up to $10,000 USD or $13,000 CAD off your next vehicle purchase, or put it towards Tesla Shop Accessories, Supercharging, or even Tesla Service.
Interestingly, the program also says that referrers have the chance to win an invite to an upcoming special Tesla event. Given we just had We, Robot, the next event could be the launch of the Model Y Juniper or the $25,000 next-gen car.
Referral Reset
If you had maxed out the original referral program, it also seems that your referral count has now been reset. The updated program is once again a 10-referral limit, which will reset again either once Tesla updates the referral program, or a 12-month cycle rolls over.
Tesla has published a 16-post series covering a wide range of unique scenarios against which the company tests each FSD release. Tesla’s VP of AI, Ashok Elluswamy, also provided some additional context, which we’ll cover below.
These scenarios could be difficult for a regular driver to respond to and are a good demonstration of FSD’s capabilities. Let’s take a look at all the different scenarios that Tesla regularly tests against. According to Ashok, these tests are only one of 10 ways Tesla validates their software. These tests were done against FSD v12.5.6.3, the HW4 build that’s on approximately 20% of the fleet.
We’ve embedded each video below and also provided some additional information.
1. Reverse Cut-in (Occluded)
Every FSD release is rigorously tested, including rare and adversarial scenarios on closed courses — Here's 16 examples:
This first test is for a car reversing out of a parking space, while occluded (vision blocked) by another car or obstacle. In the test, the Model Y notices the incoming car and then brakes with space left over.
In this video, it's hard to even spot the car on the right that’s “peeking” forward—it's occluded by bushes on the side of the road. FSD notices and stops in time to let the other vehicle safely pass.
An incoming vehicle that takes a left turn to enter the same lane of travel as FSD - spotted, stopped, and then continuing smoothly. In the second shot, you can see FSD left a considerable amount of space to let the vehicle cut in.
This is honestly one of the most common scenarios on a highway - someone cuts in while obscured into your lane of travel. Once again, FSD does its thing with plenty of space to spare.
FSD’s path planner plans an overtake around a stationary vehicle here, sees the oncoming traffic, and politely waits its turn to continue. This is another everyday scenario, especially on urban and suburban streets.
There are a surprising number of people who don’t know how stop signs work. However, FSD does know how they work and also knows what to do if others act unpredictably. This is one of the best demonstrations of FSD’s capability to react quickly and effectively to unpredictable behavior on the roads.
Another overtake scenario, but this time the vehicle being overtaken throws open its door into traffic. Not necessarily the wisest of moves, but humans are unpredictable. Good to see Tesla working to save its vehicles from both hitting the door or having the door hit with its new Blind Spot Monitoring While Parked feature.
This scenario is another common one - someone is taking a right turn, and you expect them to complete the turn, but instead, they slam on the brakes. Here, you can see the vehicle’s Forward Collision Warning goes off due to the sudden reduction of distance between the Tesla and the vehicle in front of it. FSD still manages to brake in time before Automatic Emergency Braking kicks in.
This one is pretty clean-cut - someone takes a left turn even though you’re on your way through the intersection. This particular accident is one of the most common - 53% of cross-path accidents involve a left turn through an intersection where a side impact will be lethal. FSD can make a big difference - over 8,000 people die in North America alone in this particular scenario.
Here, FSD smoothly reacts to an object on the road as the vehicle ahead dodges it. We’d love to see this scenario done with different types of objects or debris, as this is another common item - especially with roadkill on country roads. A good demo of FSD’s collision avoidance maneuvers too!
Taking it one step further, FSD successfully notices, slows down, stops itself from hitting the bouncing cone, and then makes it around safely. If you’ve ever seen someone strap something down in the bed of a pickup and forget to say “This ain’t going anywhere” - this is that exact scenario.
Another high-speed occluded cut-in, this time for a vehicle making a U-Turn from an oddly shaped intersection. FSD started braking the moment the first couple pixels of the Model Y were beyond the bush occluding vision. With a human’s reaction time, this would have resulted in a T-bone.
Ashok Elluswamy mentioned that this is possible because of low latency and high intelligence - combined together, it enables FSD to make a threat assessment and decide what to do, very quickly. It also considers the potential of a rear-end collision - and there is collision avoidance baked into that decision-making.
Similar to the cone cut-out, this one happens at 73mph (117km/h)! FSD sees the car dodging, notices there’s an obstacle, and moves out of the way without dropping speed.
Another common scenario - in fact, the number one reason why pileups occur on highways is the harsh, sudden braking of vehicles in front. FSD once again notices and comes to a safe stop here.
Tesla has been previously greatly criticized for its ability to come to a safe stop for children playing on the road. Here, Tesla is demonstrating its capability of doing so - once again with highway speeds of 73mph.
And to really make the point - it can do it with a crossing child too. Tesla has made a strong commitment to safety for vulnerable road users, and this is a good way to show how it works.
That’s a lot of unique scenarios that Tesla tests against - and each and every build has to be vetted against this huge list of different safety tests in order to ensure that the build that ends up in customer hands is as safe as possible. With FSD v13 looking like it's coming soon, we’re excited to see where this takes Tesla next.
With Musk announcing that FSD v13 is coming soon, it really is starting to feel like Unsupervised FSD and Robotaxi could be pushed out sometime next year.
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