Tesla reveals design inspiration behind Cybercab’s gold color

Posted on


An interview with Tesla’s lead designer this week has revealed why the company went with the color gold for its recently unveiled autonomous ride-hailing vehicle.

In a video shared on Tuesday, Tesla Chief Designer Franz von Holzhausen was hosted by Petersen Automotive Museum for an interview about the Cybercab, which is currently on display at the Los Angeles, California location. The longtime Tesla executive shares a handful of details about the two-seat autonomous vehicle in the video, including that it has no steering wheel, pedals, back window, and more.

Perhaps surprisingly, however, von Holzhausen also says that Tesla chose the color gold to represent the yellow of New York City’s classic yellow taxis—but with a more futuristic look.

“We chose the color gold, and it’s really a special color,” von Holzhausen says in the video. “It really reflects kind of a future version of the idea of a New York City yellow cab. It’s a future idea of that where we’ve taken that iconic yellow and created something more expressive, and more up to date.”

The video runs a little under 10 minutes, and von Holzhausen also shares a handful of other details, noting that you’ll someday be able to purchase or lease the car, for the amount of time you want, effectively revolutionizing transportation.

You can watch the full video with Tesla’s Franz von Holzhausen below, courtesy of the Petersen Automotive Museum below.

READ MORE ABOUT THE TESLA CYBERCAB: Tesla Cybercab to be showcased in multiple U.S. cities this weekend

Tesla Cybercab’s design: autonomy from charging to driving

As one Tesla engineer recently revealed, the Cybercab is set to have roughly half the parts of a Model 3, and it’s set to include more autonomous elements than just driving. Tesla has introduced a highly-anticipated inductive wireless charging system with the Cybercab, along with a self-governed cleaning system, essentially making the vehicle entirely autonomous.

Tesla initially shared the design for the Cybercab on October 10 during an event dubbed “We, Robot.” The company says it’s aiming to begin production of the vehicle in late 2026, and it hopes to reach a volume production of two million per year.

Teslarati was in attendance at the unveiling event, and we managed to catch one of the first rides in the Cybercab, as can also be seen below.

During the same event, Tesla also unveiled a design for the bus-sized Robovan, which Elon Musk has said features design elements inspired by Art Deco trains, but with a more futuristic touch.

What are your thoughts? Let me know at zach@teslarati.com, find me on X at @zacharyvisconti, or send us tips at tips@teslarati.com.

Tesla’s plan for added Cybercab safety measure revealed

Tesla reveals design inspiration behind Cybercab’s gold color





Source

Tesla trade secrets case ends with two-year prison sentence

Posted on


Tesla has completed yet another lawsuit over trade secret theft, with a top U.S. legal agency this week sentencing one person to two years in prison after he started his own battery business using proprietary information from the U.S. automaker.

After German-Canadian dual citizen Klaus Pflugbeil was arrested in the U.S. earlier this year and pleaded guilty to stealing trade secrets in June, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) said on Monday that it has officially sentenced Pflugbeil to two years in prison, according to a report from Reuters.

“In stealing trade secrets from an American electric vehicle manufacturer to use in his own China-based company, Pflugbeil’s actions stood to benefit the (People’s Republic of China) in a critical industry with national security implications,” said Matthew Olsen, U.S. Assistant Attorney General.

Pflugbeil, a resident of China, was charged in March after prosecutors said he conspired with business partner Yilong Shao to sell a Tesla battery manufacturing secret to undercover FBI agents who claimed to be businesspeople from Long Island. Shao met with the agents in Las Vegas in 2023, and Pflugbeil sent them a business proposal specifically listing the Tesla trade secrets.

RELATED: Tesla reaches ‘conditional settlement’ in Rivian trade secret suit: report

Prosecutors said the two built their electric vehicle (EV) battery business on trade secrets from a “leading U.S.-based electric vehicle company,” without disclosing the company. Despite not name-dropping Tesla, the suit said that the U.S. company had acquired a Canada-based battery production line manufacturer, fitting the description of Tesla’s 2019 acquisition of Hibar.

According to the DOJ, Pflugbeil and Shao had worked for the unnamed Canadian company prior to Pflugbeil joining Shao’s company in 2020. Prosecutors said that the company had locations in China, Canada, Germany, and Brazil, largely producing the exact same battery assembly equipment as their former employer.

Although Shao was also charged, he remains at large at the time of writing.

Tesla’s other trade secret lawsuits

Tesla has pursued quite a few trade secret lawsuits over the years, with the company last month coming to a settlement for an undisclosed amount with automaker Rivian, following a years-long case over claims that it stole intellectual property through poached workers.

The U.S. automaker also settled with Chinese EV startup Xpeng Motors in 2022, after filing a lawsuit saying that a specific employee had stolen Autopilot code to be used to develop similar software for the China-based manufacturer’s vehicles. Last year, Tesla also filed a lawsuit against Chinese chip designer Bingling, alleging that the company also stole “technical secrets” and other intellectual property from the company.

What are your thoughts? Let me know at zach@teslarati.com, find me on X at @zacharyvisconti, or send us tips at tips@teslarati.com.

Tesla Dojo trade secrets lawsuit officially settles out of court

Need accessories for your Tesla? Check out the Teslarati Marketplace:

Tesla trade secrets case ends with two-year prison sentence





Source

Tesla selling Cybertruck ‘Foundation Series’ units in inventory

Posted on


Tesla is currently selling the launch edition of its Cybertruck units in inventories around the U.S., as can be seen on the company’s website.

Within the past few days, Tesla’s “Foundation Series” Cybertrucks have appeared on the company’s inventory page in states across the U.S. At the time of writing on Sunday afternoon, Tesla’s website still shows inventory Foundation Series units in at least California, Colorado, Florida, Texas, Minnesota, and likely several other states.

As noted on listings for these units, they still include many of the initial launch features that have always come with the Foundation Series units, including the subtle “Foundation Series” badges near the side mirrors, the inclusion of Supervised Full Self-Driving (FSD), and lifetime premium connectivity, among other upgraded Tesla Cybertruck accessories still.

You can find the inventory units for both the tri-motor Cyberbeast configuration and the dual-motor, all-wheel-drive (AWD) trim, which are listed at $119,990 and $99,990, respectively. By comparison, U.S. buyers can now purchase non-Foundation Series units, which don’t include the aforementioned upgrades, for $79,990 (AWD) and $99,990 (Cyberbeast) through Tesla’s online order configurator.

Credit: Tesla

Florida-based X user Bearded Tesla said that there were 13 Foundation Series Cybertrucks at his local delivery center, as well as several non-Foundation Series units. He also confirmed that the Foundation Series models would still include FSD Supervised, as can be seen on the inventory page when searching for Cybertrucks.

Credit: Bearded Tesla | X

Tesla effectively ended the Foundation Series program for the U.S. market in October, going on to launch the non-Foundation Series units online. The program lasted around 11 months since Tesla initially launched the Cybertruck last November.

Currently, the Foundation Series is still the only Cybertruck option available in the Canadian and Mexican markets, and some have been speculating that Tesla could continue this for a while, eventually rolling out non-Foundation Series units, just as it did in the U.S.

Tesla also achieved a positive gross margin on the Cybertruck for the first time in October, after ramping up production of the electric vehicle (EV) at its Gigafactory in Texas throughout much of this year. A recent recall of the Cybertruck that was resolved with a software update revealed that there were approximately 27,185 units affected—likely a good estimate for the number of units that had been produced thus far by the tenth month of the year.

What are your thoughts? Let me know at zach@teslarati.com, find me on X at @zacharyvisconti, or send us tips at tips@teslarati.com.

Tesla completes Cybertruck regulatory filing in China just days after rumor denial

Tesla selling Cybertruck ‘Foundation Series’ units in inventory





Source