On Thursday, Tesla denied media reports that it fired employees who chose to stay at home during the coronavirus pandemic, rather than expose themselves to possible infection at Elon Musk's California factory. Read the rest

Tesla CEO Elon Musk says Septeber 15 is the tentative date for the electric car company's shareholder meeting, and “Battery Day,” at which it Musk is expected to show off advances in battery technology. Read the rest

On Twitter today, Tesla and SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk called for the federal breakup of Amazon. Read the rest

In a tweet posted around midnight, Alameda County officials said that they've been in talks with Elon Musk's Tesla, and authorities have agreed the electric carmaker can take steps “in preparation for possible reopening as soon as next week.” Read the rest

Tesla worker: 'We’re extremely frustrated, angry, scared, that Elon is putting his cars before his workers.'

Tesla's chief executive said he reopened production at the company’s Fremont, California factory Monday, which Musk said he knew was a violation of public health orders. Read the rest

Elon Musk just said he was planning to break the law. Read the rest

Elon Musk told employees at Tesla's California factory that they are back to normal in a company email. Governor Gavin Newsom says he's looking into the electric car company's reopening as a potential violation of a public health order. Read the rest

Elon Musk's electric car company plans to reopen its one and only factory in the United States as soon as Friday, for 'limited operations,' in a county where coronavirus lockdown is ongoing. Read the rest

A fatal Tesla Model X crash involving a "dozing driver" is blamed on the car's autopilot feature in a new lawsuit against the electric vehicle company led by Elon Musk. Read the rest

IMAGE: A weird Elon Musk tweet earlier today.

Cleanup on aisle Elon Musk!

The Tesla CEO seems to be very anxious about something. I wonder what it is? He went way off-script during a Tesla earnings call today. Way, way, way off script. Meltdown time. Sounds like they cut his audio off to shut him up. Read the rest

From Ars Technica:

Late on Sunday night, SpaceX completed a critical cryogenic test of a Starship prototype at its launch site in South Texas. […] The vehicle, dubbed SN4—which stands for Serial Number 4—was pressurized to 4.9 bar, or 4.9 times the atmospheric pressure at the surface of the Earth. This pressure is not as high as Starship's fuel tanks and plumbing system are designed to withstand, but it is enough for a basic flight.

This marks an important moment in the Starship program. Since November 2019, the company has lost three full-scale Starship prototypes during cryogenic and pressure tests. The most recent failure came on April 3. This is the first time a vehicle has survived pressure testing to advance to further work. Such tests are designed to ensure the integrity of a rocket's fueling system prior to lighting an engine.

SN4 passed cryo proof! 😅 pic.twitter.com/EJakThZRGF

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 27, 2020

So it's been chilled, but also highly pressurized, and is somehow still holding it together. Which is also how I feel every day of quarantine.

Starship chilled. Starship pressurized. And for the first time, it didn’t explode. [Eric Berger / Ars Technica]

Image: Public Domain via Stuart Rankin / Flickr Read the rest

Tesla has agreed to cut down on the number of active workers inside Elon Musk's electric vehicle factory in Fremont, CA, but authorities say they have yet to comply with other coronavirus lockdown measures, like not making more cars right now.

“Tesla needs to comply with the health order,” said a county spokesman Wednesday. Read the rest

A Tesla driver in California died in a March 2018 crash while using the Autopilot driver-assistance system.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) disclosed in documents made public Tuesday that Walter Huang, the 38-year-old Apple software engineer killed by his Tesla, previously reported that on prior trips his car steered away from the highway by itself. Read the rest

Shares of Tesla Motors were down 19% on Wednesday after a senior executive with the electric vehicle company warned of delivery delays for Model 3 cars made at its Shanghai plant, because of the ever-worsening coronavirus outbreak in China. Read the rest