Tesla Talks Robotaxi Details, Hardware 5.0 and More - Complete Shareholder Meeting Recap and Notes

By Karan Singh
Not a Tesla App

Did you miss the Shareholder Meeting? Want to know what Elon Musk said?

We’ve got an easy-to-read recap for you below, split by sections. We’ll be writing more in-depth about many of these topics over the upcoming days as we unpack all the awesome news!

Robotaxi

  • Fleet monetization planning is ongoing.

  • Owners will be able to send their cars to the Robotaxi fleet and summon them back when they need them.

  • Tesla will take a margin, but most of the income will go to owners.

  • Tesla has plans to solve driverless interventions in the future, but expects them to be edge cases of edge cases.

FSD

  • Headed towards Unsupervised FSD!

  • New subversions are essentially new full versions; 12.4 and 12.5 are massive updates.

  • Expect a 2-5x increase in performance between versions.

  • Major versions will include a 2-week free trial.

  • 10 thousand miles between interventions for some internal builds.

  • Hardware 4 training will begin later this year, Hardware 3 will continue to be developed.

  • Hardware 5 is 18 months from retail release.

Optimus

  • Optimus will be able to do many simple and difficult tasks:

    • Teaching

    • Companionship

    • Babysitting

    • Factory Work

  • Tesla expects 2 humanoid robots per person in the future.

  • Tesla expects 1000-2000 robots working in its factories by next year, with a limited production run.

  • 22 degrees of freedom in the next generation hand, one new major hardware revision coming this year.

Cybertruck

  • China and Europe-compliant Cybertruck coming after production is scaled and costs are reduced.

  • Foundation series ending soon, non-foundation series starting next quarter.

Semi

  • Semi is in low-volume production, high-volume production starting soon.

  • Companies are actively choosing Semi due to economic advantages.

  • Massive potential impact on carbon emissions

  • Big impact on the profitability.

Other New Products

  • New products are coming soon, and Tesla is working hard on them.

  • Possible 12-passenger van, added to the “To-do” list.

Supercharger

  • 58K global sites, and continuing to grow.

  • More superchargers deployed this year than the rest of the industry combined.

  • Tesla is providing adapters to other car companies and providing them with support for Supercharger access.

  • Tesla is moving to fill gaps and relieve congestion where possible.

Battery Production and Stationary Storage

  • New 4680 innovations, best cell from a manufacturing and efficiency standpoint.

  • 4680 will be a continuing focus to improve over time.

  • Tesla has made their battery supply chain stronger and is working on further vertical integration.

  • 2023 had 15GWh of Megapack production, 2024 is looking closer to 40GWh.

  • 100-200% growth rate in the energy storage market.

  • Tesla is constrained by Megapack and Powerwall 3 production, can’t keep up with demand, even as they scale rapidly.

AI and Compute

  • AI growth is on a weekly basis, with Tesla taking in video and training on decision-making faster than ever.

  • Tesla is not compute-limited for FSD, but scenario-limited.

  • There is an AWS-style opportunity for parked vehicles to run distributed inference and compute.

  • Tesla intends to introduce LLMs with customizable learning personalities to Optimus and its vehicle lineup.

Investor Facts

  • Elon Musk expects $5-10 Trillion valuation for autonomy, and $20 Trillion for Optimus.

  • Musk mentioned that Ark Invest has the closest scenario – with Robotaxi releasing in 2025 or 2026, for a 110x valuation increase.

  • Elon’s stock award isn’t cash, and he has no intent to cut-and-run and is with Tesla for the long haul to accomplish the mission.

Other Items

  • Tesla Home HVAC, with a built-in HEPA filter, humidity control, super-efficient, super-quiet, with Powerwall integration – one day.

  • Kids Factory Tour Event – for children under 12!

If you’d like to watch the shareholder meeting, you can view it here, along with all the stockholder vote results.

Rimac Announces 'Verne' Robotaxi - Comparing it to Tesla's Upcoming Robotaxi [Photos + Video]

By Karan Singh
MotorTrend

Rimac, the company behind the Rimac Nevera electric hypercar, has announced that it intends to produce a robotaxi, and it looks quite similar to Tesla’s concepts. Much of what we’ve heard about Tesla’s upcoming robotaxi, the Cybercab, is featured in Rimac’s autonomous vehicle. From the two seats to the airy interior and the center-screen-focused interior, it’s all here, although there are significant differences as well. Rimac’s prototype, called Verne, was revealed on Wednesday, June 26th.

Verne Robotaxi

Verne will include a 43
Verne will include a 43
MotorTrend

The Verne is expected to begin operation in 2026 and is a two-seater robotaxi using Mobileye’s LiDAR technology. The vehicle is expected to be a level 4 autonomous vehicle, which means it would still require remote support for handling complex situations, similar to Waymo’s work in San Franciso.

The Verne has a 43” display, and 17 speakers, and is supposedly designed to emulate “a room on wheels”, with an inside-out design concept. Interestingly, rather than regular doors, the Verne has doors that swing forward horizontally, along with a keypad-based entry system.

A smaller screen between the front seats lets you control certain aspects of the vehicle
A smaller screen between the front seats lets you control certain aspects of the vehicle
MotorTrend

Rimac says they have signed agreements to launch in 11 cities in the EU, the UK, and the Middle East. They have also mentioned they are negotiating contracts with 30 more cities worldwide.

Rimac also showed off images of its robotaxi app and a concept building for its robotaxis – presumably a charging and service hub.

The verne will feature sliding doors, a lot like a minivan
The verne will feature sliding doors, a lot like a minivan
MotorTrend

Comparing Rimac’s Robotaxi to Tesla’s

Although Tesla has yet to reveal the Cybercab, there are several things Tesla has already talked about for their upcoming robotaxi. One key difference between Rimac’s vision and Tesla’s is that Tesla appears to be chasing the cheapest possible transport, with Tesla previously touting ride prices that would rival bus ticket prices. While Rimac appears to focus more on an ideal experience. While everyone loves extra luxury, at the end of the day, price usually wins.

The Rimac robotaxi app
The Rimac robotaxi app
MotorTrend

One example is Tesla’s single center screen, compared to Rimac’s two screens. In addition to the viewable 43” center display, which presumably is not a touch-screen, Rimac has a separate screen and controls between both passenger seats. Tesla’s approach appears to focus on a single screen, with the user controlling much of the car’s control such as music and climate through Tesla’s robotaxi app.

Another example is Rimac’s idea of including an entry pad and screen on the outside of the vehicle for passenger to be able to unlock the vehicle. Tesla’s approach to unlocking a vehicle is expected to rely on temporary keys that are tied to user’s phones leveraging ultra wideband, a lot like how Tesla’s phone keys work today on newer vehicles.

Tesla’s approach to autonomy is also drastically different than Mobileye’s, which relies on radar, LiDAR and more cameras than Tesla’s Autopilot suite today.

Viability

This announcement from Rimac is a bit of an oddity. As a company, Rimac has produced less than 150 vehicles in their short lifespan – all hand-designed and hand-produced Rimac Nevara hypercars. Their ability to scale to produce more than a handful of these Verne robotaxis, while visually appealing, is questionable at best.

On the same front, Rimac recently received a $200M Euro grant from the EU as part of a package to develop an economic recovery plan for Croatia. Rimac has also received $80M Euros in funding from Hyundai and Kia – but that was to collaborate on a high-performance fuel cell electric vehicle, and a high-performance EV sports car.

The exterior of the Verne robotaxi
The exterior of the Verne robotaxi
MotorTrend

Beyond that, Rimac has never done any work with autonomy – the self-driving tech that is running the Verne is entirely based on the outsourced work from Mobileye. It seems that the Verne will serve as Mobileye’s real-life test on whether its technology can be integrated into a Robotaxi platform on its own.

Tesla previously used Mobileye’s technology for its own autonomy during its inception years (AP 1) but quickly moved on towards using its own vision-based camera tech instead.

The Rimac robotaxi app
The Rimac robotaxi app
MotorTrend
The interior of the Verne
The interior of the Verne
MotorTrend

Tesla FSD V12.4.2 Expected To Go to Employees Today – What To Expect

By Karan Singh
Not a Tesla App

FSD v12.4 has been in the works for quite a while now, with Elon Musk previously suggesting that it would arrive near the end of May.

Musk has now given us an update on the state of v12.4, saying that FSD v12.4.2 will start rolling out to employees today.

FSD V12.4.2

FSD V12.4 initially launched with V12.4.1 to select customers on build 2024.15.5, bringing the much anticipated no-nag update alongside it. V12.4.1 had some issues according to Tesla’s early access customers who received the update in early June, with lane drifting and lane selection still being issues. On the flipside, V12.4 tends to be more assertive and less hesitant in intersections and parking lots.

Elon also mentioned that FSD 12.4.2 is much smoother, but the challenge is “keeping safety high, while also increasing ride comfort.”

Although v12.4 didn’t come with Banish Autopark and Park Seek, it did include the new vison monitoring that lets the vehicle not nag you under certain conditions.

Expected Release

We just need to confirm there are no safety regressions

-Elon Musk

So, now with the new confirmation that 12.4.2 is going to roll out to internal testers and employees soon, how far away is it for customers? It looks like it may be at least a few days away at the earliest for customers that are on FSD v12.4.1, and probably at least a week away from adding additional owners, assuming that testing goes well with this upcoming build.

When asked if V12.4.2 would come to customers on the July 1st weekend, Musk said “we just need to confirm there are no safety regressions”, which means it could be closer than we expect for ordinary customers.

FSD V12.5

So, with V12.4.2 on the horizon, what in the world is happening with V12.5? And what features will it bring with it?

In terms of features, Elon previously mentioned that V12.5 is supposed to bring Actually Smart Summon, along with fleet-based vehicle communications, and further reduce the likelihood of driver interventions. It’s also supposed to be the first iteration of Autopilot and FSD that the Cybertruck will be receiving.

It was previously supposed to arrive in early July, but that estimate is clearly out of the window given how delayed V12.4 has become. We could honestly expect FSD V12.5 to arrive alongside the 8/8 Robotaxi announcement, which would be fairly fitting.

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