Glamping, a word that combines the terms, glamour and camping, refers to going to campgrounds but having the amenities normally present in a hotel.
Tesla has an interesting Cybertruck trailer concept. It's a large trailer about the size of a tiny house. It’s a nice looking trailer and it reflects the angularity and aerodynamic shape of the Cybertruck. In Cybertruck patents, Tesla shows the Cybertruck pulling a weight of 20,000 pounds, however the official Cybertruck specs say it can tow more than 14,000 pounds. I interpret that as a max weight of between 14,000 pounds and 15,000 pounds.
Now, remembering what we learned in high school physics, you’ll recall that how much weight a truck can tow has three components. The truck has to overcome rolling resistance, air resistance, and gravity. Now rolling resistance increases gradually depending on both the weight of the trailer and the speed you’re trying to tow it. It’s a linear increase. While there’s more rolling resistance at highway speeds than there is at parking lot speeds, it’s not all that much more.
Then there’s air resistance. That’s not related to the weight of the trailer at all. Air resistance is related only to the cross sectional area of the trailer, the aerodynamic shape of the trailer, and the speed of the tow. Air resistance increases as the square of the speed, so that’s a much more significant factor at highway speeds than at low speeds, but it has absolutely nothing to do with the weight of the trailer.
A few months ago, Ford came out with a publicity stunt involving a prototype electric Ford F-150 Lightning towing a million pounds of railroad cars when they were empty. Then they loaded one and a quarter million pounds of pickup trucks into the railroad cars, and the electric Ford towed all that, too (you can watch the full video below).
It was supposed to demonstrate something. All it demonstrated is that Ford likes to lie to people who don’t remember the physics they learned in high school.
The tow was done at slow speeds on steel rails with steel-wheeled railroad cars. Of all the land vehicles currently in use in the US, trains have the least rolling resistance. Maglev trains have less rolling resistance, but they’re not in use in the US. And anyway, maglev trains don’t roll. They float on a magnetic field. So all the electric Ford had to do was overcome a certain small rolling resistance. Admittedly, you or I would have been unable to start those train cars rolling by pulling or pushing by hand, but probably any pickup truck could have done it. It didn’t have to be a Ford.
The reason there’s a weight limitation for towing a trailer is that roads aren’t level. On hills, there are two considerations. The truck needs to be able to tow the trailer up any hill it might come across, and it has to be able to control the trailer when going down any hill it might come across. So if Tesla says the Cybertruck is rated for 14,000 pounds, then it really shouldn’t try towing 20,000 pounds even if that seems possible on level ground or mild hills. But there is a way around this limitation in the era of electric vehicles.
What I’m going to tell you does not come from Tesla, or any knowledgeable source. It comes strictly from my imagination so take it with a grain of salt.
The way the Cybertruck can safely tow a load that’s higher than its rated maximum towing weight is if the trailer has its own batteries and its own electric motor(s). There would, of course, have to be coordination. The trailer would have to respond to the truck driver’s control input, but that’s not difficult to arrange. If the trailer had batteries and motor(s), the range between recharges would not be degraded by towing. If the trailer could be recharged separately from the Cybertruck by a second Supercharger stall, then the length of time to recharge wouldn’t be prolonged.
Now let’s talk about what the trailer could include. I looked up the weight of a standard 30-foot travel trailer. The weight averages around 5,800 pounds. So that leaves plenty of room for amenities. The trailer could expand, for example. It could expand upward when parked, or sideways. Lots of travel trailers do that. So instead of being 30 feet by 8 feet, it could be twice that. Perhaps it could expand sideways on both sides, That would make it 30 feet by 24 feet.
Add to that interior room, an extra roof to cover an outdoor patio, another 8 feet by 30 feet. Cover all that roof with solar panels, and you’d have lots of electricity while you were at the campground. Excess solar electricity created in the daytime would be stored in the trailer’s batteries at night.
Then there are other amenities. In addition to the normal water tanks for drinking, bathing, and other cleansing purposes, there could be a hot tub for two. That would hold 150 gallons of water, 600 pounds. Tesla is good at making heat pumps. Heat pumps can be used to heat or cool the trailer depending on the outside air temperature. If the trailer is parked near a stream or a lake, the heat pump might be able to exchange heat or cooling with the body of water if that would be more energy-efficient than exchanging heat or cooling with the outside air.
While traveling, there should be enough outside video cameras so that the driver would not have blind spots next to or behind the trailer. These should sync with the Cybertruck’s display screen.
The Ford F-150 Lightning has a helpful feature for hooking up the truck to a trailer. The driver first cranks up the trailer’s hitch to the proper height. Then he drives the truck to the front of the trailer so he can see the trailer hitch in the rear camera display. At that point, the truck itself backs up until the truck’s trailer hitch is properly aligned with the trailer’s hitch receptacle. Tesla should do that for the Cybertruck in a software update.
Finally, there should be Internet access via Starlink.
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Following customer requests, Tesla has once again returned FSD Transfers for North America. This comes after some new details we received on FSD Supervised and Unsupervised at the recent Q1 2025 Earnings Call.
Vox Populi, Vox Dei … FSD Transfer is back
All countries (in NA), all S3XY + @cybertruck (excl Foundation Series & Launch Series)
This latest round of FSD transfers doesn’t have a specific time limit - so if you’re in the market for a new vehicle and were worried about transferring FSD from a HW3 vehicle - now is the best chance.
This transfer opportunity is applicable for any new vehicle purchases, including the Model S, 3, X, Y, as well as the Cybertruck. The only vehicles it doesn’t apply to are the Foundation-Series Cybertruck or a Launch-Series Model Y, which already come with FSD included.
If you’re conducting an FSD transfer, you’ll need to reach out to your Tesla delivery coordinator through the Tesla app to confirm you’re eligible and to get the process started.
Note that once you take delivery, FSD access is removed from your older vehicle, regardless if you plan to trade in your vehicle or keep it.
Canada and Mexico
For those in Canada and Mexico, there’s some good news. This opportunity is available for customers in those countries as well, however, new vehicle orders are currently paused in Canada and Mexico for unknown reasons.
Running Offers
There are also several other offers running in North America, with the country flags indicating which countries their available in:
0% Financing on new Model 3 Orders (60mo, 0.99% for 72mo) 🇺🇸
Deep Blue Metallic and Pearl White are currently free on a new Model 3 Performance 🇺🇸
Original Model Y Owners are receiving $2,000 off the purchase of a Refreshed Model Y 🇺🇸 🇨🇦 🇲🇽
Free Supercharging on the Model S and Model X 🇺🇸 🇨🇦 🇲🇽
Free Supercharging on the Foundation-Series Cybertruck 🇺🇸 🇨🇦 🇲🇽
Tesla’s long-awaited ambitions for a fully autonomous Robotaxi network powered by the futuristic, control-less Cybercab have finally started to take shape.
During their Q1 2025 earnings call, Tesla shared new details about its Robotaxi network, including that the network will start with new Model Ys. The Cybercab will join the network in 2026.
Robotaxi Plans
Tesla confirmed during the Earnings Call that it is on track to conduct the pilot launch of its Robotaxi network in Austin in June 2025. The first vehicles deployed for this service won’t be Cybercabs, as production for those is still in the prototyping stage.
However, Tesla did outline part of their plan for the Robotaxi network rollout. The initial aim is to begin driverless operations in Austin and then expand the service to other cities within the United States by the end of 2025. Interestingly, Tesla is also testing in California - albeit with safety drivers at this time.
Not a Tesla App
Looking further ahead, there are ambitious plans to ramp up operations to have millions of vehicles operating autonomously within the network by the end of 2026. While substantial revenue generation won’t be immediate, Tesla anticipates that the Robotaxi network will start to “meaningfully move the financial needle” in the second half of 2026.
Tesla also highlighted the current real-world benefits that FSD is already offering today—and will be able to offer to many more people in the near future.
These include reducing effort and time spent on daily commuting or transit, as well as improving mobility for customers with disabilities. Tesla plans to emphasize some of these community stories and wants to highlight the advantages and capabilities of FSD to improve people’s lives.
Robotaxi App and Robotaxi Vehicle UI
Not a Tesla App
After the call, Tesla AI also shared a video showcasing the Robotaxi interface in the Tesla app, as well as some footage that included the in-vehicle UI, at least as it currently stands.
The video shows Tesla employees using and testing Robotaxi features, although there are safety drivers in place. It looks like there is already a set of well-integrated UI mechanisms for both the front and rear screen when in Robotaxi mode.
Tesla is testing this today, and this network has already completed 1,500 trips, totaling approximately 15,000 miles. The system is being tested for vehicle allocation, mission control, and remote assistance operations.
Remote Operators
Inevitably, edge cases or unique situations will come up, and they will be difficult to handle. For these cases, where a Robotaxi vehicle gets stuck or requires assistance, Tesla will likely implement remote support.
While they didn’t completely confirm remote support operators on the Earnings Call, Tesla has previously posted positions for Teleoperator Engineers for Robotaxi, and an AI T=team member posted on LinkedIn about testing for remote assistance operations.
Scaling Up
Tesla initially intends to deploy a relatively small fleet in Austin, with its pilot beginning with about 10 to 20 vehicles on day 1. They will scale up gradually as the systems are validated and operations are refined, and the target is for anyone visiting Austin to be able to hail a robotaxi by the end of June or early July 2025.
Scaling Out
Not a Tesla App
Tesla’s confidence in scaling out stems from its generalized approach with FSD. The team believes that once FSD is thoroughly verified and capable in a few diverse North American cities, deploying it to any other North American city should be technically feasible. After all, driving regulations don’t vary much from one major city to another, except for things like no right turns on red lights.
The primary limitation with scaling out geographically is expected to be securing regulatory approvals in different regions and jurisdictions. While the principles of Tesla’s FSD are expected to apply globally, as with the China rollout, regulation will continue to be a considerable hurdle.
Cybercab
FSD Supervised ride-hailing service is live for an early set of employees in Austin & San Francisco Bay Area.
We've completed over 1.5k trips & 15k miles of driving.
This service helps us develop & validate FSD networks, the mobile app, vehicle allocation, mission control &… pic.twitter.com/pYVfhi935W
Tesla’s fully autonomous, two-seater vehicle, the Cybercab, is also being developed. While volume production for the Cybercab won’t begin until 2026, Tesla is already undergoing sample production validation. The first actual Cybercab builds are expected to be completed near the end of Q2 2025, and we’re excited to see if anything changes from the prototypes shown at We, Robot.
Tesla intends to build Cybercab at Giga Texas, and the production line is on schedule, according to Tesla. Cybercab production will not require a new building and will be built inside the existing Giga Texas factory.
Unboxed Method
Tesla's Shareholder Deck for Q1 2025 is now out, and we're 40 minutes away from the Earnings Call.
It seems Tesla won't be using the unboxed process for its more affordable model - which is a new vehicle.
The Cybercab’s production and low-cost methodology heavily rely upon Tesla’s innovative new unboxed manufacturing method. Tesla’s executive team mentioned that progress and implementation with this new manufacturing solution was going well, and it will be key to lowering the cost of production while considerably raising the level of automation.
Tesla has already achieved key milestones with this method, including successfully integrating large sub-assemblies and resolving challenges related to connecting portions of the vehicle's ceiling during the process. They have also successfully completed corrosion testing related to the new assembly method, as well as begun initial crash testing for the Cybercab.
All of that and more will eventually be incorporated into other vehicle production lines, and the Cybertruck is already benefiting from some aspects of these developments. With a final ambition of achieving a 5-second cycle time per Cybercab, Tesla has come a long way—but it still has quite a bit to go. They’ve managed to meet a 33-second cycle time for the Model Y at Giga Shanghai between two production lines, but 5 seconds per vehicle is quite ambitious.
Not a Tesla App
With all that said, between Robotaxi and Cybercab, there is a lot of interesting news coming from Tesla. We expect this to continue throughout the year as Tesla launches its network and then aims to release FSD Unsupervised to customers, with a potential price increase.
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