Elon Musk has committed about $366 million to the 2026 election cycle across more than 40 races, with at least $276 million flowing to Republican groups and his America PAC since July, according to CNBC's analysis of FEC filings. Meanwhile SpaceX has secured $6.78 billion in federal contracts through October 1, nearly double its 2024 total, per research firm FedScout, as Tesla, SpaceX and Musk's AI ventures face pending government decisions on defense spending, launch licenses, spectrum, autonomous vehicles and data centers.
Elon Musk said on SpaceX's latest earnings call that there is
Tesla CFO Vaibhav Taneja said on the company's Q3 earnings call that its Cybercab service will launch in Dallas next month and expand to additional cities by year-end, with sales to fleet operators also starting by the end of 2025. Tesla currently runs robotaxi versions of its Model Y in Dallas, Houston, Miami, Orlando and Tampa, while CEO Elon Musk said the robotaxi business won't meaningfully affect financials until mid-2027.
A 71-year-old man was struck and killed early Thursday while crossing I-80 in Vallejo by a Tesla operating in Full Self-Driving mode, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. The California Highway Patrol said dashcam footage showed the vehicle braking and steering left to avoid the pedestrian, but its right front still struck him; at least one other vehicle is believed to have hit him afterward, though only the Tesla driver stopped at the scene.
On Tesla's Wednesday earnings call, Elon Musk said the company is 'aiming for' 5 million vehicle deliveries annually by around 2030, calling it achievable. Tesla's deliveries have actually declined recently, from a 2023 peak of 1.81 million to 1.64 million in 2025.
Tesla's third-quarter results topped estimates but shares fell after lower average car prices, a battery supply crunch, and Elon Musk's comment that Robotaxi expansion won't accelerate this quarter. Meta initially rallied on a sales beat but turned negative in premarket trading, while separately offering Mark Zuckerberg a new stock class tied to an eight-year California residency commitment. Broader futures declined alongside chip stocks as Asian and European markets also traded lower.
Days after demonstrating a Tesla Roadster fitted with SpaceX cold-gas thrusters, Elon Musk announced on SpaceX's third-quarter earnings call that the boards of Tesla and SpaceX are forming special committees to explore merging the two companies. Musk cited 'synergies' between the firms as the rationale.
On Tesla's earnings call, Elon Musk said the company has started early production of its Optimus humanoid robot on a high-volume line in Fremont, California, calling them the first 'production-quality bots.' He acknowledged significant remaining work on the robot's hands, safety, reliability, durability, and the AI needed for open-ended tasks, and said outside deliveries might begin around the end of 2027. Tesla did not disclose how many robots have been built or what tasks they can currently perform without human help.
Tesla VP of engineering Lars Moravy said during the company's Q3 earnings call that it aims to deliver Cybercabs to customers by the end of 2026, starting with a small rollout to entities able to help build its robotaxi network. Elon Musk said most Cybercabs will remain Tesla-owned for its own ride-hailing operations, while AI Director Ashok Elluswamy said Unsupervised Full Self-Driving could be enabled on early customer vehicles around Q2 2027.
During Tesla's Q3 earnings call, VP of Autonomous Driving Ashok Elluswamy said the company aims to let some Model Y owners enroll their vehicles in the Robotaxi network by around the second quarter of 2027. The plan requires the V15 software update and integration into Tesla's geofenced service areas and fleet-management system before private cars could earn fares.
Tesla executives said on the company's third-quarter earnings call that it plans to start selling its steering-wheel-free Cybercab to customers by the end of 2025, starting with a small volume. Currently all Cybercabs produced are going into Tesla's own robotaxi fleet, according to engineering VP Lars Moravy, with outside sales to scale gradually as the company learns about delivery and fleet management. The vehicle is also under federal safety review.
Tesla reported Q3 2026 revenue of roughly $28 billion, nearly unchanged from a year earlier, as automotive revenue dipped 3% and solar/storage revenue dropped 16% to $2.9 billion. Services revenue grew a third to $4.6 billion, but operating expenses jumped 39% to $4.8 billion, pushing operating margin down to 2.6% from 5.8% a year earlier, with net profit falling 43% to $787 million.
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