Robotaxi

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Elon is sometimes unrealistically optimistic about when those big goals will happen. But he was right that Tesla's robotaxi would launch finally in Austin, Texas, in June (or just sort of right, because it was limited).

Robotaxi is a driverless ride hailing service that is geofenced, limited by the city to an approved area. 

It's not just Tesla's concept. Waymo has been operating with 100 vehicles in Austin since last year, with a bigger approved area than Tesla has so far. 

Eventually Elon plans that Tesla owners can use their full self-driving cars for this service, and he sees it bringing in huge profit for both owners and for the company. Ark Invest thinks it likely, predicting a possible future trillion dollar enterprise.

This science blogger (video) thinks Tesla's "first trillion" will come from China, where robotaxis are already active.

Elon interview

Big thinker Elon Musk goes after exciting goals. No, that's an understatement. Make that "impossible" or "near-impossible" goals. 

He wants to be inspired. As he's said before, "life can't just be about solving one miserable problem after another." He chuckles a bit as he mentions that he and staff acknowledge a "giggle factor" when they talk about these ideas that make you excited to get up in the morning.

Catching the "biggest flying object ever made" out of the air was one of those goals. Enabling space travel for colonization of Mars will be another (assuming that one is not actually impossible). Starship will need to be fully and rapidly reusable, able to be refueled in space at an orbital re-filling depot.

But there's much more than space. He sees a huge future for Tesla's robotaxi service, Optimus robots, Neuralink, Grok AI. 

Big ideas, all addressed in this video.

 

DOGE discovers

DOGE leader Elon Musk gets some staff together once a week at 10 p.m. They each answer the question, "what did you get done this week?" A media guy got to sit in on one of these meetings and discovered more absurdities that our taxes have been paying for:

• Investigation found that a $4 billion covid fund was used to rent stadiums for parties, with no explanation. Correction: now any drawdown must be identified as to purpose and receipts must be uploaded.
• Alpaca farming in Peru
• Marketing of peas in Guatamala
• GAO also found that only 10-15% of the money for these causes was actually getting to the stated destination. 
• So it's possible that "no one got a sex change in Guatemala" (a worthless expense discovered months ago)
• Grants may go to a cause that sounds good theoretically, like "save the baby pandas," but no evidence is forthcoming that any panda was actually saved. 

Raptor explained

(cont'd from yesterday's post) 

While currently using version #2 of the Raptor engine on Starship tests, the third is in testing phase, and SpaceX is already working on version #4. Innovation does not stop.

If you're interested in the engineering, go here for the strategies they use in the design of Raptor 3. Here's Elon Musk himself explaining Raptor design elements:

Innovation doesn't stop, and neither does testing. As Elon puts it, "Oh we blew a lot of engines up." To keep up that pace, he says "A high production rate cures many ills. If you have a high production rate, you can have a lot of iterations. You can try lots of different things." You can risk failing because you have a lot more engines in the pipeline.

Five years ago, Jim Bridenstine of NASA put his finger on this distinctive of SpaceX: "SpaceX has something NASA has been lacking, a willingness to fail." They fly, test, fail, fix -- over and over again.

It's still that way at SpaceX.

Crash test

Organized demonstrations against Tesla are designed to put pressure on Elon Musk to back off on cleaning up the federal spending mess. Protests have been part of American life for a very long time and they're considered legitimate free speech.

Keying, protests and firebombing take their toll on their target, as they're intended to do. Though still the world's biggest maker of EV's, deliveries of cars dropped in the first quarter (Q1 2025) by 13% compared to last year's first quarter.

Model Y was the most popular passenger car in the world in 2024. It's safety rating is outstanding. It was "near-perfect" in crash tests conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Hopefully, not everyone interested in EV's will be intimidated by the "Tesla Takedown."

Teslas tend to do well in crash tests. Here's a Model X from six years ago, not rolling over as many SUV's tend to do:

 from Electrek

DOGE backlash 1

Americans were strongly in favor of the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) earlier this year, of course. We don't want to pay for fraud, waste and abuse of this country's financial resources. It's been going on for decades and it's tough to rein in.

Now surveys seem to indicate more people disapprove. What happened? In addition to single "keying" events of random Teslas, there have been fire-bombings and protests (photo) of Tesla facilities. It's a way to sour public opinion and reduce Tesla's value, thereby inflicting pain on Elon Musk.

These events weren't spontaneous outbursts of outraged citizens. A few may have been inspired just by press reports ramping up fear, but there's also sophisticated organization. 

The nationwide protests were all posted and scheduled by Action Network. They originally identified The Disruption Project as the host or co-sponsor, which was founded by an experienced left-wing activist.

from City Journal

DOGE staff

Six young men, quirky computer wizards, may have started this endeavor to make our government more financially sound, but DOGE staff is now professional. Their credentials from the private sector are impressive. Seven of them were interviewed with leader Elon Musk regarding their mission and their methods. 

They are working to take a trillion dollars out of the government's spending this year by eliminating fraud and abuse. Here's an example of fraud: over $300 million in loans was given to people under the age of eleven by the Small Business Administration, and another $300 million to people over the age of 120. 

The loans would have been questioned if the computer systems "talked to each other," that is, if the SBA system had been able to access the ages of those loan applicants in the social security system. It's clear to these DOGE staff what needs to be done: link up the computer systems.

One of these professionals was running his five businesses in Houston when he left to come help. Another is a CEO. Another is a co-founder of Airbnb. They're implementing, in Elon's words, "elementary financial controls." 

Stranded?

Follow-up to this post

As you know, two astronauts (photo) have been at the International Space Station for nine months instead of their original assignment of eight days. Now a small controversy has blown up around it because maybe they didn't have to be there all these months.

 

Elon Musk says he made an suggestion to the U.S. government last fall, offering to send SpaceX up to the ISS to get them and bring them home. But the president at that time would not allow it.

Elon speculates that they wouldn't allow it because of the political "optics" of the thing: he was aiding the rival political party during the presidential campaign, and they didn't want him and his company to look like a hero. 

Astronaut Wilmore says they knew nothing about the offer, but he believes it. A article different article says ten times that the astronauts never felt "stranded", so they never needed rescuing--so Elon and the current president are spreading false claims.

Almost everything these days is political drama. 

Sleep pods

No doubt, you've heard about DOGE (the Department of Government Efficiency). It officially started operating under the new U.S. administration on Inauguration Day with a mandate to make the federal government more efficient.

Its leader, entrepreneur Elon Musk, is working from the time he wakes up until the time he sleeps, he says. His young staff (age 19-25) may be sleeping at the office, as Musk does.

Founder (photo) and owner of Eight Sleep is apparently a big fan of the concept. He shipped "bed pods" to the office: "I hope this will supercharge @elonmusk and the incredible team to shape the future of America. Let's go."

Not permanent 2

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

What hope is there for our skyrocketing debt (image) and spending?

Maybe there's some chance that it can be slowed down and a pending catastrophe delayed.

The presidential candidate that Elon supports has asked him to trim the size of the federal government. He estimates that he might be able to cut expenses by two trillion dollars. He has a track record (cutting the size of Twitter after he bought it).

All in

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Elon has been on a learning curve. After losing his son to the "woke mind virus," he's been waking up to left wing politics. What he found out about the woke political party drives him in his new MAGA role, as he explains in this interview with Tucker Carlson:

 

Freedom to speak is important to him, as is clear from what he's done at X (formerly Twitter). Free speech is, as he says, the "bedrock of democracy." If no disagreement with the government is permitted (censorship), then Americans are sheep who simply do as they're told and never discover a new idea. What if the government is wrong? 

Millions (10+) of illegal immigrants have been allowed to pour over our national borders since this administration took over in 2021. Loyal to the government which enabled this invasion, they may ensure that every swing state votes left wing in the future. It scares Elon and it scares me. California has even criminalized showing your ID to vote 😟

Elon says he is all in. What if his candidate doesn't win? "I'm f--d! How many years in prison do you think I'll get?!"

Attacking Elon 2

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

How gullible are people? Some completely trust those in power to tell them what is true and what is "dis/mis/information" -- so they approve of government censorship.

The White House today, like tyrants everywhere, is afraid of free speech so they must suppress and control public opinion. What a contrast to President Kennedy (assassinated in 1963) who trusted the public (us Americans) with our constitutional right to free speech.

Elon is not one to humbly submit to coercion. He bought Twitter and let go of over half the staff since "content moderation" or censorship would no longer be their goal. He published documentation that Twitter had been bowing to government pressure. 

Elon's businesses make him vulnerable. This White House and its left wing political party really don't like him, and it shows (yesterday's post). So he's gone from having little interest in politics to . . joining the other political party and its presidential candidate (photo). 

As he has said in the past, Game On.

Attacking Elon 1

Our current government administration is "all-in" for policies that promote the trend away from internal combustion cars and toward electric vehicles. They sponsored a "summit" meeting in 2021 to celebrate EV's in America, inviting legacy car makers . . but snubbing Tesla.

Why would they leave out "the company that sells more electric cars [image] in the US than all competitors combined?" (Clue: unlike Tesla, those legacy car makers are all unionized and the union has advocated for the current president's political party for many years.)

 

In 2020 about $900 million in federal funding for rural broadband internet was designated to Elon Musk's Starlink after they competed for it. But the FCC withdrew the funding when the current administration took over, saying they didn't meet the requirements. SpaceX was “deeply disappointed and perplexed," and claimed "Starlink is demonstrably one of the best options—likely the best option—to accomplish the goals" of the program. 

And there's more: "The White House is attacking Musk’s business empire . . throwing everything it can find at Musk, hoping that the endless barrage of regulatory, reputational and legal attacks will cause the world’s wealthiest man to kneel." 

"The viciousness of the investigations being conducted by the DOJ, the FAA, the FTC, the SEC, the NLRB . . against a successful American business leader is unprecedented."

(cont'd tomorrow)

The catch

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

To remind yourself why they would try to do something as monumentally difficult as catching a rocket in mid-air, go here. 

What a moment that turned out to be. After boosting "Starship" through the thickest part of the atmosphere, seven minutes after launch "Super Heavy" disengaged from it and came hurtling back to earth. 

Precision firing of its raptor engines slowed the 250-ton rocket down til it hovered right over its target. It slowly descended into the "chopstick" arms of the "mechazilla" launch tower, back into the position where in the future it will be readied for the next flight in as little as one hour. 

This process will help attain the goal of the rapid reuse of Starship, essential to Elon's vision. He posted on X: "Big step towards making life multiplanetary was made today."

Resisting 5

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Nicolas Maduro still holds power in Venezuela, in spite of losing July's election (in the view of many countries) and in spite of massive protests. We know his tactics include accusations and threats against his opposition, but that's not all.

A dictator cannot be too careful of allowing influencers to speak. So he has ordered X (former Twitter) to be blocked from the country for ten days as a punishment for X owner Elon Musk. Why? Because--shock--Elon has made mean statements about him, like calling him a dictator and a clown.

(Actually, I call him a dictator too, but for some reason Maduro's not coming after me 😄)

 

from Seattle Times

Wait, donates?

It's been reported that Elon Musk is donating millions of dollars to the non-leftist candidate for president. But that's not exactly accurate. As my post of last week says, the donation is going to an organization, not to the campaign itself.

A little more clarity is provided in this interview below. He says that the America PAC (political action committee) was formed to support some core values of America:

• Meritocracy - "you get ahead as a function of your hard work and skill," not because of nepotism (favors/payback) or aristocracy (your privileged family/dynasty)
• Freedom - "the least amount of government intervention possible"

Peterson goes on (12:00) to call the medical professionals who support transitioning of minors "contemptible cowards" who should go to prison. "This is the worst medical and psychological malpractice I've ever seen anywhere." 

Why, he asks, does Elon agree? Elon was persuaded ("tricked") into allowing one of his sons to transition to a girl, told the boy might otherwise commit suicide. "I lost my son, killed by the woke mind virus."

CA vs family

Speaking of the political views of Elon Musk, a new one popped up a few days ago. A new California law triggered him to pull the headquarters of both X (former Twitter) and SpaceX out of the state, as he puts it in an X post:

"This is the final straw. Because of this law and the many others that preceded it, attacking both families and companies, SpaceX will now move its HQ from Hawthorne, California, to Starbase, Texas."

California governor photo

They call it the "Safety Act." But:  this law deprives parents of the right to protect their own children from secret transgender manipulation by blocking school districts and teachers from notifying them about changes in a student’s gender identity or sexual orientation unless the child voluntarily consents.

Why is Elon outraged by California's "Safety Act?" He says, "The goal of this diabolical law is to break the parent-child relationship and put the state in charge of your children."

(cont'd tomorrow) 

Elon donates 1

Giant personalities that dominate technology industries tend to support leftist politics. But Elon Musk, one of them, has changed political sides. He's promised to donate $45 million per month to the non-left side. It is very significant, though not nearly what Mark Zuckerberg donated back in 2020.

Like Zuckerberg's, Elon's donation will go to a political action committee (PAC) that leans in the direction he prefers. "America PAC" was formed in May to "get out the vote" among sympathetic potential voters. 

Another tech leader supporting this PAC is entrepreneur Joe Lonsdale, founder of multiple companies including Palantir as well as a non-profit, the Cicero Institute. Regarding the Institute, he says "we seek to partner with . . courageous policymakers and public-spirited entrepreneurs who oppose special interests and uphold the common good."

While Musk has always been free with his opinions, he's made more political statements since 2020. He really doesn't like what's going on in California.

from MSN

(cont'd tomorrow)

Compensate

Elon Musk is one of the richest people on earth, having been wealthy since he was young. So when it looked like Tesla was going to pay him up to $56 billion, some people were outraged.

Yes, it's a huge sum, and it would go to someone who's already rich. A judge struck down that payout agreement between Musk and Tesla shareholders, agreeing with the critics. 

But there's more to the story. 

His personal wealth helped make Tesla possible in this way: Elon took no compensation from Tesla until 2019, apparently living on his own resources until he could somehow make Tesla a success. He worked extraordinarily hard, to the point of sleeping on a mattress in the factory at times.

Shareholders voluntarily chose to make this agreement to pay him that sum if he could multiply the company's value by ten times, from $60 billion to $650 billion--and he did that. After the judge's ruling, in fact, they reinstated the plan.

Before judging a story, it's good to get all the relevant information. You might have heard only the "bias framing" version of the story.

High speed 1

It looks like the idea for "hyperloop" transportation is dead or nearly dead in this country. Projects proposed in Colorado and West Virginia have not followed through and the most prominent start-up has folded.

Elon Musk promoted the idea and encouraged others to pursue it, touting it as a better option than California's plan for high speed rail (HSR). But the high speed rail project is going ahead. In fact, billions of dollars are promised to it by the federal government.

photo

Brightline, which already runs trains between Orlando and southern Florida, will build the HSR between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. Federal money in the amount of $3 billion for this project was announced in December. It's supposed to be done in time for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles with an expected one-way ticket of ~$100.

There's another $3 billion for a route between San Francisco and Los Angeles, and $1 billion for a route between Virgina and North Carolina.

from TechCrunch

(cont'd tomorrow)