Tag: elon musk

Tesla Begins Production of Electric Semi Trucks, PepsiCo Confirms First Deliveries to Start in December

PepsiCo confirmed on Friday it would take delivery of Tesla’s Semi trucks on December 1, becoming the first company to receive its orders of the much-delayed electric vehicle.

PepsiCo said in a statement that the trucks would be used at its Frito-Lay plant in Modesto, California, and its PepsiCo beverages factory in Sacramento. PepsiCo has been aiming to reduce fuel costs and emissions, and reserved 100 of the trucks in 2017.

US companies have pledged to take action to reduce their impacts on the environment, with PepsiCo aiming to achieve net-zero emissions by 2040.

Transportation accounts for roughly 10 percent of the Mountain Dew maker’s greenhouse gas emissions, PepsiCo’s CEO, Ramon Laguarta, has said. Its company-owned fleet travelled 1.2 billion miles (around 2 billion km) last year.

Tesla Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk announced the start of production of the Semi truck late on Thursday on Twitter, saying the vehicles have a 500-mile (805 km) range and are “super fun to drive.”

Musk initially said the trucks would be in production by 2019 but the timeline has been delayed by years due to parts shortages.

Other companies including United Parcel Service, Walmart Canada, and food service distributor Sysco had also placed preorders for Tesla’s Semi trucks.

Walmart, UPS, and Sysco did not respond to requests for comment on the status of their orders or delivery timings.

Neither Musk nor Pepsi disclosed the number of Semis that would arrive at the packaged food company in December. On its website, PepsiCo said it expects 15 of its trucks to deploy by the end of this year.

Tesla, on the other hand, has been struggling to deliver as many electric vehicles as it produces, which has hurt its share price. Musk is also trying to close his $44 billion (roughly Rs. 3.6 lakh crore) takeover of Twitter, which has Tesla investors worried that the billionaire was spreading himself too thin.

© Thomson Reuters 2022

Affiliate links may be automatically generated – see our ethics statement for details.

Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

Elon Musk blames ‘neo-Marxists’ for poor relationship with daughter

Elon Musk said that “neo-Marxists” who have taken over elite schools and liberal universities are to blame for the fact that his 18-year-old daughter wants nothing to do with her uber-wealthy dad.

“It’s full-on communism . . . and a general sentiment that if you’re rich, you’re evil,” Musk told the Financial Times on Friday when discussing his estranged daughter, Vivian Jenna Wilson, who recently changed her legal name to avoid being associated with the Tesla CEO.

The mogul did not single out any particular college or reveal which one his daughter is attending.

“It [the relationship] may change, but I have very good relationships with all the others [children],” the father-of-nine said. “Can’t win them all.”

In June, Vivian, who was born Xavier Alexander Musk, announced her decision to change her gender and famous surname.

“Gender Identity and the fact that I no longer live with or wish to be related to my biological father in any way, shape or form,” Vivian wrote in court papers filed in Los Angeles County.

Vivian, 18, is one of five children Musk had with his first wife, Canadian author Justine Wilson. She has a twin brother Griffin, along with triplets Kai, 16; Saxon, 16; and Damian, 16.

Musk lamented the fact that he is estranged from his 18-year-old daughter, Vivian Wilson, who recently changed her name and gender.
MEGA

All five attended an ‘experimental’ private school in California funded by Musk called Ad Astra — Latin for ‘to the stars.’

Musk has said that while he supports transgender rights, he has been critical of the sensitivity surrounding pronouns for nonbinary and trans people.

 “I absolutely support trans, but all these pronouns are an esthetic nightmare,” he once tweeted.

In another tweet, he wrote: “Pronouns suck.”

Vivian Wilson, née Xavier Musk, is seen in the arms of Musk’s second wife, Talulah Riley, when Tesla went public in 2010.
Reuters

Musk, who has frequently spoken of the need for humans to have more children in order to combat birth declines, recently welcomed twins with one of his subordinates, Neuralink director of operations Shivon Zilis.

The billionaire also revealed earlier this year that he fathered a second child with on-again, off-again girlfriend, the Canadian pop star Grimes.

Vivian, 18, is one of five children that Musk shares with his first wife, Canadian author Justine Wilson.
Justine Musk

The couple’s children are named X Æ A-12, a son born in 2020, and daughter Exa Dark Sideræl, who was born late last year.

Justine Wilson, the 49-year-old sci-fi author, said she was “proud” of her 18-year-old daughter’s decision to change her name.

Musk said his daughter “hates rich people.”
Getty Images

She shared the exchange with one of her twins on Twitter earlier this year, writing: “‘I had a weird childhood,’ my 18-year-old said to me’.”

She also quoted her daughter as saying: “’I can’t believe I’m as normal-seeming as I am.’”

In the wide-ranging interview with FT, Musk — who has again agreed to buy Twitter — said he was driven to acquire the social media site because of the need to preserve free speech in the US, which he says has been curtailed by the political left.

“I’m not doing Twitter for the money,” Musk told FT.

“It’s not like I’m trying to buy some yacht and I can’t afford it. I don’t own any boats.”

He added: “But I think it’s important that people have a maximally trusted and inclusive means of exchanging ideas and that it should be as trusted and transparent as possible.”



Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

Jack Dorsey’s Conceptualisation of ‘Blockchain Twitter’ Tickled Elon Musk, Leaked Texts Tip

Elon Musk is currently in a legal process involving his refusal to buy micro-blogging site Twitter. In the backdrop of this case, a bunch of leaked messages between Musk and Twitter founder Jack Dorsey indicate that the duo had been dabbling in the idea of moving Twitter to blockchain, eliminating its dependency on government controlled, centralised systems. The messages were exchanged before Dorsey stepped down as the CEO of Twitter in November 2021.

Discussing how ideal Twitter should be, Dorsey suggested an ‘open source model’ that is handled by a foundation, that contributes to the protocol without having any owning rights on the platform.

At the time, Musk had validated Dorsey’s proposal calling it a “super interesting idea”, the leaked messages have tipped.

“I think it’s worth both trying to move Twitter in a better direction and doing something new that’s decentralised,” the Tesla CEO had noted.

Dorsey has also expressed reservations against Twitter having transformed into an advertisement hub these recent years.

One of his main goals with shifting Twitter to the blockchain will be to rid it of its position as an advertising model.

Dorsey had highlighted that advertisements give companies and governments a ‘surface area’ to control social networking platforms.

Twitter becoming a ‘company’ is Dorsey’s biggest regret, he had claimed in a tweet earlier in August.

In April this year, Musk purchased a 9.2 percent stake in Twitter and two weeks later he offered to buy the company for $44 billion (roughly Rs. 3,59,855 crore).

Musk however, began reneging on the Twitter buyout, claiming that the company hadn’t levelled with him about the number of spam and bot accounts among its more than 230 million users.

Twitter says Musk has buyer’s remorse and his concerns are a pretext to get out of a deal.

A trial on October 17 in the case will most likely finalise if Musk, the richest man in the world, can or cannot walk away from buying Twitter out.

Affiliate links may be automatically generated – see our ethics statement for details.



Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

Elon Musk Set to Unveil ‘Optimus’ Humanoid Robot After Delay on Tesla Day: All Details

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said a robot business will be worth more than its cars, and on Friday investors, customers and potential workers expect to see a prototype at Tesla’s “AI Day” that could prove whether the bot named “Optimus” is ready for work.

The robot will be the star of the AI show, but Musk is also expected to discuss Tesla’s long-delayed self-driving technology. In May, Musk said that the world’s most valuable carmaker would be “worth basically zero” without achieving full self-driving capability, and it faces growing regulatory probes, as well as technological hurdles.

“There will be lots of technical detail & cool hardware demos,” Musk wrote on Twitter late on Wednesday, adding the event was aimed at recruiting engineers.

Tesla’s live demonstration record is mixed. Launches typically draw cheers, but in 2019 when Musk had an employee hurl a steel ball at the armored window of a new electric pickup truck, the glass cracked.

The key test for the robot is whether it can handle unexpected situations.

Musk announced Tesla’s plan for humanoid robots at its AI day in August last year and delayed this year’s event from August to have its robot prototype working, with a plan to start production possibly next year.

Tesla teased the unveiling of the bot on social media with an image of metallic robotic hands making a heart shape. But building human-like, versatile hands that can manipulate different objects is extremely challenging, said Heni Ben Amor, a robotics professor at Arizona State University.

Initially, Optimus, an allusion to the powerful and benevolent leader of the Autobots in the Transformers media franchise, would perform boring or dangerous jobs, including moving parts around Tesla factories or attaching a bolt to a car with a wrench, according to Musk.

“There’s so much about what people can do dexterously that’s very, very hard for robots. And that’s not going to change whether the robot is a robot arm or whether it’s in the shape of a humanoid,” Jonathan Hurst, chief technology officer at Agility Robotics, a humanoid robot firm, told Reuters.

Musk has said that in the future robots could be used in homes, making dinners, mowing the lawn, and caring for the elderly, and even becoming a “buddy” for humans or a sex partner.

He is due at Friday’s event to give updates on Tesla’s much-delayed plan to launch self-driving cars, and on its high-speed computer, Dojo, which was unveiled last year and the company has said is integral to its development of self-driving technology.

Musk has said he expects Tesla will achieve full self-driving this year and mass produce a robotaxi with no steering wheel or pedal by 2024.

At an “Autonomy” event in 2019, Musk promised 1 million robotaxis by 2020 but has yet to deliver such a car.

© Thomson Reuters 2022

Affiliate links may be automatically generated – see our ethics statement for details.

Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

Elon Musk Fake Accounts Claim Not Backed Up by Data Scientists’ Findings, Twitter Lawyer Tells Court

Twitter and Elon Musk sparred in court on Tuesday, each digging for evidence to prevail in a high-stakes trial next month over the billionaire’s bid to break his buyout deal.

Musk has been keen to find evidence to back his accusation that Twitter misled regulators and investors about what portion of accounts are actually spam or software “bots,” as well as its key measures regarding growth.

Twitter, which has sued Musk to force him to complete the $44 billion (roughly Rs. 3,60,140 crore) buyout deal, seeks material or testimony to prove he is contriving excuses to walk away because he changed his mind.

A Twitter attorney told the judge it was a struggle to get documents from data scientists Musk used to estimate the portion of fake accounts on the social network, and that what they finally got did not back his accusation about it being much higher than five percent.

Attorney Brad Wilson contended that Twitter has encountered a “pattern of delay and obfuscation” when it comes to what Musk learned from data scientists he had study Twitter data.

Musk attorneys, in turn, pressed the judge to make Twitter hand over more messages or other material, particularly regarding “monetisable daily active users” and “user active minutes.”

The hearing came during a discovery phase in which rival sides seek documents, emails, depositions, and more to back their positions.

The long list of those called on to provide documents or to answer questions in the case includes Twitter co-founder and former chief Jack Dorsey.

Tesla chief Musk will be deposed under oath over the course of two days next week in sessions that are to be recorded by “stenographic, sound and visual means,” according to a filing.

Musk’s deposition is set to take place privately in law offices ahead of a five-day trial scheduled to begin October 17 in the Court of Chancery in the state of Delaware.

Musk, the world’s richest man, said in a letter in April that he was canceling the deal because he was misled by Twitter concerning the number of bot accounts on its platform, allegations rejected by the company.

He later added accusations made in a whistleblower complaint by a former head of security at Twitter to his reasons for walking away from the deal.

Twitter has stood by its assessment of user numbers, and portrayed the whistleblower as a “disgruntled former employee” whose allegations are without merit.

“There are a range of possibilities that can come from the Delaware court including settlement, breakup fee paid, deal enforced, and a myriad of other outcomes,” Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said of the trial.

“We also continue to believe there is a possibility behind the scenes both parties look to attempt negotiations before stepping into court in a few weeks.”

Affiliate links may be automatically generated – see our ethics statement for details.

Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

Grimes shares pic of bandaged face after wanting ‘elf ear’ surgery

Grimes has done “smthn crazy!”

The singer, 34, shared a photo of her face all bandaged up via Twitter on Saturday after previously telling fans that she wanted to go under the knife for “elf ear” surgery.

Fans quickly took to the replies section of her post to ask for confirmation about whether she actually went through with the procedure.

“I hope she got them, I would be so excited!” one person wrote, with another adding, “YOU DID THE EARS???”

“Omg whos your surgeon u look amazing,” a third chimed in.

Others poked fun at the selfie, writing things like, “Turned into an egg?,” “Is she craving 4 attention?” and “mother what have you done…?”

Based on a series of tweets dating back to mid-August, Grimes (real name: Claire Elise Boucher) appeared to be at least somewhat seriously considering getting the surgery. The operation involves surgically sculpting the cartilage of a patient’s ears into the pointy-topped shape widely associated with elfin creatures across the fantasy genre.

She initially brought up the idea on Aug. 15, soliciting insight from followers who’d undergone the quirky transformation.

“Also, has anyone done elf ear mods with a good outcome? Im scared about ear cartilage having a hard time healing,” she tweeted at the time. “Especially as a musician this surgery seems risky but I’ve wanted it my whole life. Curious about peoples experiences !”

The following day, her ex Elon Musk popped into the thread with a bit of literal-minded snark.

“The downside of elf ear surgery probably outweighs the upside,” the SpaceX CEO, 51, argued.

The singer’s ex Elon Musk previously weighed in on her interest in the surgery.
Getty Images for Vogue

Grimes wistfully chimed back in. “Tbh this sounds like a job for crispr. Sad to be born just a few generations too early 🧝🏻‍♀️😪🧝🏻‍♀️,” she tweeted, referencing the revolutionary gene-editing CRISPR biotechnology that’s capable of strategically modifying a human individual’s genetic code.

Later, replying to a fan’s tweet showcasing a series of elfin-eared digital avatars in her likeness on Aug. 17, Grimes wrote, “Wow i love these damn.”



Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

Twitter Shareholders Approve Elon Musk’s Takeover Deal Ahead of Upcoming Legal Battle

Twitter shareholders on Tuesday voted in favour of Elon Musk’s deal to acquire the microblogging service for $44 billion (roughly Rs. 3,49,800 crore) according to a report. The outcome of the shareholder vote, which was announced on Tuesday, comes a month before the upcoming legal battle between the Tesla CEO and Twitter, which will begin on October 17 at the Delaware Chancery Court. Musk agreed to purchase Twitter earlier this year, but attempted to back out of the deal in July.

On Tuesday, Reuters reported that Twitter shareholders voted to approve Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s deal to purchase the microblogging service. Musk had agreed to purchase Twitter at a price of $54.20 (roughly Rs. 4,300) per share, much higher than Tuesday’s price of $43.20 (roughly Rs. 3,400). The deadline to vote on the deal was Tuesday, and the result clears the way for the world’s richest man to acquire the company.

However, the Tesla CEO has repeatedly stated that he does not want to go ahead with the takeover deal, and has sent multiple letters to Twitter to terminate the deal. The most recent of these communications was last week, when Musk’s lawyers notified Twitter that he was not informed about money paid to a former employee, believed to be whistleblower Peiter Zatko. Twitter has denied the claim that the payment breached the terms of the deal.

Ahead of the trial, which begins on October 17 at the Delaware Chancery Court, Musk has been permitted by the court to include Zatko’s allegations against the company. Twitter’s former security chief has alleged that the firm misled the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) about the company’s security measures as part of an agreement in 2011. He has also alleged that Twitter has serious security flaws affecting the platform, and that one or more employees were working on behalf of foreign governments.

Back in July, Musk attempted to back out of the deal to acquire Twitter, claiming that he had been provided incorrect information about the number of spam or fake accounts on the company. The company sued the Tesla CEO in July, calling his exit strategy “a model of hyprocrisy”. Twitter also previously claimed Musk was trying to “slow walk” the trial, which will begin next month.

Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

Dogecoin Pyramid Scheme: More Parties Hop Onboard $258 Billion Lawsuit against Elon Musk

Elon Musk is facing a lawsuit that alleges that the multi-billionaire has promoted a pyramid scheme around Dogecoin promotions. Seven new investor plaintiffs and six new defendants have joined the investigation, expanding the case. This time, Musk’s tunnel construction business Boring Co. has also joined the case as a defendant. This case against Musk was filed around June by complainant Keith Johnson in the federal court of Manhattan, US. The case is to investigate if Musk’s support for the meme-coin, which is currently priced at $0.060 (roughly Rs. 4.80), led to financial loses for its investors.

With the addition of more plaintiffs in the case, the original complaint against Musk has also been amended. The re-worked complaint now accuses Musk, along with his companies Tesla, SpaceX, and Boring for driving up DOGE prices over 36,000 percent in the last two years, before letting it crash, Reuters reported on Thursday, September 8.

The complaint alleges that Musk and other defendants in the case pocketed billions of dollars at the expense of DOGE investors because they knew that the meme-coin did not really have enough value, but they were also aware that their marketing could hype up the altcoin.

As of now, no official reaction from Musk or the Dogecoin Foundation has emerged on public domains.

Johnson, the first complainant in the case, is seeking $86 billion (roughly Rs. 6,71,300 crore) in damages, representing the decline in Dogecoin’s market value since May 2021, and wants it tripled.

He also wants to block Musk and his companies from promoting Dogecoin and a judge to declare that trading Dogecoin is gambling under federal and New York law.

The complaint mentions that Dogecoin’s selloff began around the time Musk hosted the NBC show Saturday Night Live and, playing a fictitious financial expert on a Weekend Update segment, calling Dogecoin “a hustle.”

Musk’s support for DOGE is nothing new. The tech mogul, at several occasions, has called DOGE the ‘people’s crypto’.

In May this year, Musk had said that SpaceX would soon start accepting DOGE payments for the sale of its merchandise.

Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

Elon Musk Goes on Wild Rant Against The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power Amid Feud with Jeff Bezos

Elon Musk on Monday embarked on a wild rant against The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, in an atttempt to criticise the series that recently made its debut on Amazon Prime Video. The Tesla CEO, who is set to face off against Twitter next month over his bid to acquire the microblogging platform, is in a long-running feud with Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. Musk’s complaints about the show revolved around the show’s characters, and are misogynistic while conforming with traditional gender roles. 

“Tolkien is turning in his grave,” Musk dramatically tweeted on Monday, in his rant against The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, which premiered on September 2, exclusively on Prime Video. It is worth noting that his comments came after Amazon announced that the series drew 25 million global viewers, within the first 24 hours, making it the biggest premiere on the service.

“Almost every male character so far is a coward, a jerk or both. Only Galadriel is brave, smart and nice,” Musk continued in a second, mysogynistic tweet. Galadriel, a warrier elf, is played by Welsh actor Morfydd Clark.

It is also worth noting that Musk has a long-running feud with Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, whose Blue Origin spaceflight services firm competes with SpaceX. Musk has regularly attempted to troll or rant against Bezos’ and his firms.

Musk’s Twitter rant was criticised by author Neil Gaiman, who tweeted: “Elon Musk doesn’t come to me for advice on how to fail to buy Twitter, and I don’t go to him for film, TV or literature criticism.” 

The LOTR prequel series, which is set thousands of years before Peter Jackson’s films, aims to correct the lack of strong female figures in The Lord of the Rings universe.

Amazon has already invested over $1 billion (roughly Rs. 8,000 crore) for its five-season commitment.

New The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power episodes air every Friday at 9:30am IST on Amazon Prime Video in India until the series finale on October 14.



Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

Exit mobile version