Tesla's Wild Ride: Musk's $29B Payday, Robotaxi Drama, and the Elusive $35K EV cover art

Tesla's Wild Ride: Musk's $29B Payday, Robotaxi Drama, and the Elusive $35K EV

Tesla's Wild Ride: Musk's $29B Payday, Robotaxi Drama, and the Elusive $35K EV

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Tesla has been everywhere lately and not just on the roads. The past week had Elon Musk confirming that Tesla is training an upgraded Full Self Driving model, boasting ten times the parameters of its predecessor and improved video compression—he hinted on X that a public rollout could come by the end of next month if internal testing holds up. This development underscores Musk’s bet that autonomy and AI will drive Tesla’s next era, particularly with competition from Chinese EV makers driving pressure on all fronts. Musk’s ambitions don’t stop there. In a major compensation move, Tesla granted him $29 billion in stock as a sweetener—that’s to keep him at the helm through a high-stakes transformation to robotaxis and humanoid robots, a payment that partly makes up for his massive 2018 bonus struck down by a Delaware court last year. While this keeps the enigmatic Musk in charge for now, it comes amid wild volatility for Tesla’s bottom line; automotive revenue dropped 16% in Q2, and European sales are spiraling.

In Austin, Tesla’s robotaxi experiment is scaling up rapidly. The geofenced service area jumped to 85 square miles, quadrupling since its June launch, and Tesla’s eyeing similar expansions in Arizona, Florida, and more of Texas. But there’s drama off the road—Tesla and Musk are facing a shareholder lawsuit alleging they misled investors about the robotaxi’s safety in Austin. Videos circulating show robotaxis making some hair-raising moves—speeding, sudden braking, wrong lanes—though, so far, only one official safety incident has been logged in Austin since launch, which is fewer than rivals like Waymo. That’s not enough to shield Musk from the activist shareholder crowd, who see this as more risky spectacle than solid business.

Product news hasn’t stood still either. In China, the new Model Y L surfaced in government filings—a six-seater, stretched Model Y with fold-flats for ultra-flexible cargo or sleeping arrangements, aiming squarely at family buyers. Tesla’s also prepping a lower-cost Model Y—Project E41—targeted at $35,990, though shaggy production lines and looming expiry of US tax breaks have delayed things, with Q4 now the earliest realistic launch.

On the political front, Musk’s public embrace of Donald Trump tanked Tesla’s famous brand loyalty—down to under 50% per S&P Global Mobility, now trailing the industry. Tesla’s share of new household buyers is its lowest ever, as rivals like Rivian and Polestar lure loyalists away, citing Musk’s politics and a stale lineup. Activists, meanwhile, keep the Tesla Takedown protests alive—posting weekly outside showrooms to decry what they call authoritarian, anti-democratic drift as the company’s CEO tangles publicly with Trump over EV subsidies and policy. One final twist—the iconic Roadster may yet be making (slow) progress, as Tesla filed a new patent resembling the sci-fi SpaceX package Musk has teased for years though don’t expect it to fly any time soon.

On social media, FSD and robotaxi debates are hot, as is speculation about when that elusive cheap Tesla will finally hit the road. With dramatic boardroom moves, product teases, and a culture clash playing out as spectacle, Tesla’s August isn’t short on headlines or controversy.

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