Ever the showman, Elon Musk never fails to surprise. Between Tuesday’s Battery Day event and a shareholder meeting, the CEO of Tesla unveiled new products, new features, and news galore, including an unbelievably fast new Model S car, revolutionary updates to electric battery technology, a better self-piloting system for the company’s cars, and more. Here’s a recap of all the highlights from the most interesting car company on the planet.
Tesla announced a new Model S Plaid car Tuesday that can go from 0 to 60 mph in under 2 seconds and has a range of more than 520 miles.
The vehicle — which is listed for $140,000 on Tesla’s website — is available to order now and will be shipped by the end of 2021.
According to a brief teaser video, the new model features some eye-popping specs for a production car. In addition to the speedy 0-60 time, the Model S Plaid has a top speed of 200 mph and over 1,100 horsepower. In a video from the event, Tesla showed the vehicle hitting 147 mph at the Laguna Seca Raceway in California.
Tesla also announced development of a new energy storage technology for its batteries during Tuesday’s Battery Day event. The tech can cut production costs by more than half, store more energy, and lead to a more affordable electric car.
Overall, the new battery would increase vehicle range by up to 54%, the company said. Musk touted the energy cell as “truly revolutionary,” adding it will push Tesla’s goal of making sustainable energy more efficient and widespread.
Tesla will sell an affordable electric car for $25,000 within the next three years, Musk also announced Tuesday.
The new vehicle model has no name yet. Musk said an electric passenger vehicle with a more affordable price that could compete with fossil-fuel-powered cars has long been a goal. “This has always been our dream from the beginning of the company,” Musk said.
During Tesla’s annual shareholder meeting before its Battery Day event on Tuesday, Musk said the company’s cars would soon get a redesigned version of its Autopilot feature.
Teslas have had the Autopilot feature for a while, but improvements started to plateau a couple of years ago, Musk said. “We had to do a fundamental rewrite of the entire autopilot software stack and all of the labeling software as well,” he said. Instead of using still images from the cars’ eight cameras, Tesla is now labeling 3D video.
By pulling from all cameras simultaneously, the video captures how images change over time, making for more accurate labeling of objects. Musk called the difference “profound.”
Apple won the PC market’s worst quarter, but that’s not the entire story. It won the race by stumbling less than everyone else.
PC makers shipped just 57 million computers worldwide in Q3, which might look good, but it’s a 21% year-over-year plunge (via Counterpoint Research). And despite Apple’s Mac shipments falling by 11%, to 5.6 million, its market share rose from 8.7% to 9.8%. How did that happen?
Update (October 22 23:54 PT): In response to our query, GM clarified that offline recording support is already available on eligible vehicles. Like Tesla's Sentry Mode, it requires owners to connect a USB drive to save incident recordings, which can be viewed on the vehicle's infotainment screen. The upcoming Connected Cameras feature will build on this by giving owners remote access to these recordings via the revamped OnStar app, allowing them to check footage without walking out to their car.
General Motors has announced plans to add a new Connected Cameras feature to its OnStar service starting next year, giving drivers a way to monitor parked vehicles remotely and capture footage of certain incidents.
Missing out on the self-driving future is a tough pill to swallow, especially as a car enthusiast. But that is what Tesla handed us on Wednesday, without a hint of mercy.
During its October 21, 2026 earnings call, Elon Musk told investors the Cybercab is meant mainly as a ride service. Further, nearly all of them will be owned and managed by Tesla.