Hey everybody RobMower here, happy Friday today we are going to be talking about the comments from Elon Musk yesterday on X and some backlash from that today. We also got some Tesla updates and some pretty big news from OpenAI that I think is worth discussing as well.
Right, looking at the stock Tesla today up about a third of a percent closing at $234.30 while the NASDAQ I think for the third day in a row up about a tenth of a percent again today.
Right, so we'll save some of the comments stuff for later. Let's get to the Tesla updates first. We do have some news here potentially on the Cybertruck delivery event from Millennio. They are reporting that Tesla's design director Javier Verdera. I'm not sure if I'm saying that correctly so sorry Javier if I'm getting wrong but during a keynote in Monterey in Mexico did say that apparently they are going to deliver the first 10 Cybertrucks at the event in a couple of weeks. So we've heard rumors of 70. We've also heard rumors that they're maybe delivering some to multiple different locations around the country. No one really knows exactly but this would be presumably the most accurate information that we have so far. It would be a little bit surprising though because we have seen on multiple occasions including today from Jeff Roberts drone flower video instances of more than 10 Cybertrucks sitting at Gikit Texas. Here we can see 11 in this particular photo. So it would be a little bit odd I think in terms of that count if this is accurate certainly seems like Tesla would have the capacity to deliver more. It could still be producing sort of release candidate versions but with the amount that we have seen so far that would seem to be you know quite a few probably quite a few more than I would expect. So we'll see but nevertheless that is sort of the report that we have at least to work off of for now.
And then following up on a topic from yesterday which was advertising we had seen the first YouTube advertisement video advertisement from Tesla that was showing a crash test and talking about Tesla safety. Ben-Alex Tesla on X had noticed in their YouTube account that they had seen a different YouTube advertisement from Tesla. This one I don't have the full video of but was a little bit more standard I think yesterday it looked like Tesla kind of spliced out some of their previous promotional content I think kind of the same case with this ad but a little bit more focused on sort of the family experience with the electric vehicle particularly with the Model Y and highlighting some details like range and of course price. So a little bit more traditional I would say versus what we had talked about yesterday but shows that Tesla is trying at multiple different angles. Again I think this is probably something that Tesla put together pretty quickly from previous promotional videos that they have made and just trying to quickly convert that into a new video ad campaign without really developing it from the ground up. It has been normally see Tesla do but nevertheless interesting to see you know a little bit of a divergent strategy with the content of these different advertisements. So that should give Tesla some you know at least a little bit of information on what's resonating more with people and again they'll take that opportunity and learn learn and grow their strategy from there.
We've also got an update on X today from L.E. Messo looking at the strike that we have talked about in Sweden on a couple of occasions. So Tesla sent an email about this and L.E. sharing the email here so just a translated section that we'll look at. It looks like 90% of Tesla's employees in Sweden have chosen to remain in their positions again in Sweden during this strike effort. So I would say that's very good retention rate for their employees basically they're just saying that they have chosen not to enter into a collective agreement and so far a majority of vast majority of employees seem to be supporting that stance and continuing to work. Now we have also talked about how this could expand to other businesses and could affect Tesla's ability to get vehicles into the country to serve its vehicles. Those are challenges that Tesla will have to work through if they continue with the strategy which seems very likely but it does seem like it's a challenge that Tesla is willing and prepared to work through. So we'll continue to keep an eye on that but that is the sort of update that was sent out by Tesla today on the strikes in Sweden.
Then we've got a couple updates on Tesla in China here first from Tesla Chan saying that rumors are spreading in China that Tesla China will raise vehicle prices once again. Normally I might not mention this because again it is just a rumor but we have seen the previous price changes of which there have been a couple in China pre-polluted by rumors just like this. So I think that adds credibility that this could also end up being the case. Obviously the price increases previously were pretty small as well so there would presumably still be room for Tesla to continue those marginal levels of increases. So we'll keep an eye on that and then following the Elon Musk meeting with Xi Jinping it looks like there's been a report on Weibo that the previous topic that we had talked about of Tesla vehicles not being allowed on certain government locations or government properties in China due to concerns about surveillance and things like that. It looks like those prohibitions are potentially being removed in China following again the meeting between Musk and Xi Jinping. Maybe coincidental in terms of timing but certainly it wouldn't seem that way. Nevertheless I think probably a good sign for Tesla and the relationship in China if this ends up being accurate. So another one that will keep an eye out for any more details on there.
And then finally before we get into you I guess maybe we've got a couple more things here but yeah I think this is the last one before we get into those comments. So Green the Only posting as he tends to do some information on that's being discovered in the firmware talking about how the 2024 base models are showing up and then more probably interestingly front heated seats and heated wipers he says are turning into paid features says for new cars with a question mark by it indicating that maybe that would not apply for vehicles that already have these features which wouldn't make a lot of sense but maybe for new cars this could be unbundled and turned into a separate software update feature similar to the acceleration boost or the rear heated seats that we have seen Tesla add as a software option in vehicles in the past. So it's not unprecedented I think when people see this they kind of assume or maybe have the connotation that this could be a subscription feature because we have seen companies like BMW try to try to do that with heated seats. I wouldn't take it that way that's not something that we have seen from Tesla before like we have seen just the one time purchase option. So we'll see it just appearing in the firmware also doesn't mean that this is necessarily something that Tesla is going to do could be there for any number of reasons but nevertheless some interesting details there. He also says that there is user interface design for electronic toll connectors looks like this would be mostly relevant in Asia according to some of his other comments. So I'm not super well versed on how that would be beneficial you know obviously that's a little bit intuitive but how important that is rather in in China for this to be integrated with the interface but could be a nice feature if that is something that is quite beneficial. And then finally the FCW gets our 152 mode it's a little bit unclear exactly what that is I think FCW would be for collision warning our 152 mode from another post that green shared seems to be a UN regulation relating to the emergency braking system. So I don't want to spend a ton of time to read through this and fully understand that but if this is something that may be applicable for you or something you're interested in you can find a little bit more information on that.
我们在进入主题之前,可能还有几件事要提,这应该是讨论评论部分之前的最后一件事。Green the Only如常公开一些信息,他发现在固件中,显示2024款基础型号已经出现,而更为有趣的是,他说,前座椅加热和加热雨刷正变成付费功能,旁边加了一个问号,暗示可能并不适用于已有这些功能的车辆,这似乎有点说不通,但对于新车来说,这可能会被拆分出来变成一个单独的软件更新功能,类似于我们之前看到Tesla将加速提升或后排座椅加热等功能作为车辆的一个软件选项。所以我并不认为这是前所未有的,当人们看到这个消息时,他们可能会立即想到这可能是一个订阅功能,因为我们已经看到像宝马这样的公司尝试将加热座椅作为付费服务。我并不认为Tesla会这样做,因为我们在之前的经验中并未看到这样的例子,比如我们只是看到了一次性购买选项。只是在固件中出现并不意味着Tesla一定会实施,可能有其他原因。他还提到,有一种用于电子收费连接器的用户界面设计,根据他的其他评论,这在亚洲可能最相关。我并不非常熟悉这可能有什么益处,显然这是相当直观的,但并不清楚在中国这种集成在界面上会有多重要,但如果这真的有益,那将是一个很不错的功能。最后,FCW获得了我们的152模式,这是什么有些不清楚,我认为FCW可能是指碰撞警告,根据Green分享的其他帖子,152模式似乎是一个与紧急刹车系统相关的联合国规定。所以我不想花太多时间来仔细阅读和理解这个,但如果你对这个可能有所应用,或者你有兴趣,你可以找到一些相关信息。
Alright, let's get into these comments from Elon so obviously I didn't discuss these yesterday for those that had asked in the comments no problem discussing it there. When I had read this yesterday and my interpretation of these comments at the time I didn't think it was going to rise to the level that we would need to discuss it. To me it seemed like a continuation of things that he on a set before but that was again my interpretation of it and clearly today it has risen to level of definitely needing to discuss it with impacts to the business. So we'll try to do that it is a delicate topic obviously this is a live stream so I'll do my best no matter what I'm going to face criticism on it for things that I do say or things that I don't say but we'll try to you know address some of this topic today.
So first off there was some criticism from the White House on these comments from Elon so you can see the reply here he said you have said the actual truth to a post here talking about Jewish communities pushing the exact kind of dialectical hatred against the whites that they claim to want people to stop using against them. So again normally a topic that would be a little bit outside of the scope obviously of Tesla Daily but some you know as the title here says backlash on these comments today.
First from the White House so the I believe the press secretary press secretary here shared some comments just saying that this was anti-Semitic from Elon these comments from from Elon on X says he's pretty proud of his pushback I think sharing this pretty vitriolic or maybe not probably not the right word there but you can see White House excoriates Musk for endorsing message pretty significant thing there that he is re-sharing on X so I think pretty proud of of those comments and then specifically to business impact Apple pausing advertising on X after this and then following that looks like Disney and also Lionsgate have reportedly paused advertising on X which we have seen before these people have returned these companies have returned to advertising on X but for the time being at least they have been paused.
So in general addressing this as I mentioned reading this I think this is just a continuation of sort of the complaints that Elon has had with the ADL previously which we have I think discussed briefly before my personal opinion after listening to pretty much every single public word that Elon has stated over the last decade reading every single word that Elon has published over the last decade I'm quite confident that Elon is not anti-Semitic not racist so again that's why I didn't feel like this rose to the level of discussion however based on this reaction obviously it has
Elon clarified his comments a little bit more later on but I think in general here you know my main feedback would be like I have said before it would be great if Elon would be a little bit less divisive or integrate a little bit less in these topics that are so divisive
again it's a very delicate topic it's a very sensitive topic for very good reason right there's a lot of there are a lot of issues that are rooted in both sides of this discussion so Elon diving into this in a way that is perhaps liable to be easily misinterpreted is a problem so I definitely prefer it if Elon was a little bit more considerate of how his words could be misinterpreted whether those misinterpretations are intentional or unintentional
And I think when there are comments like this that are especially piling on to another comment from somebody else it leaves him liable again to be misinterpreted when he says his clear comments I don't think many people disagree with them you know he's he's clarified that he's against anti-Semitism of all types against racism of all types it's hard to disagree with any of those points of view but when you make a comment like this that again is a little bit more open for interpretation that interpretation can very easily be you know turned against you so hopefully there's something to be learned there hopefully this will be a situation where Elon can maybe be a little bit more considerate of those things in the future and again I know people are gonna have all sorts of different opinions on my comments here and on Elon's comments and that's okay but you know it is kind of is what it is hopefully the point of view that I've got there is something that is understandable we could of course spend time debating the merits of the comments and all the background of all of these divisive topics but just you know it's really again outside of the scope of the podcast so probably left better for a Twitter space or something like that that is a little bit more discussion based so we'll move on it we'll move on from that for now
Feel free to, you know, if you have any other questions or comments, post those in the comments today and I'll try to take a look at those things. But for now, we'll move on to some very interesting news from OpenAI, kind of out of nowhere. Today, they announced that Sam Altman is going to be departing as CEO of the company. He's been CEO of OpenAI for about three years now, also leaving the board of directors. They said that Mr. Altman's departure follows a deliberative review process by the board, which concluded that he was not consistently candid in his communications with the board, hindering its ability to exercise its responsibilities. The board no longer has confidence in his ability to continue leading OpenAI.
So again, kind of out of nowhere here, we don't really have a whole lot of other details. They did also say that Greg Brockman will be stepping down as the chairman of the board; he will remain in his role at the company. So a little bit of an unusual move and a move that was very short-lived, as Greg Brockman today posted an update on X saying, "After learning the news today, this is the message I sent to the OpenAI team: 'Hi everyone, I'm super proud of what we've all built together since starting at my apartment eight years ago. We've been through tough and great times together, accomplishing so much despite all the reasons it should have been impossible. But based on today's news, I quit genuinely wishing you all nothing but the best. I continue to believe in the mission of creating safe AGI that benefits all humanity.'" And this was a reply to Sam Altman's post on X earlier that day, saying, "I loved my time at OpenAI. It was transformative for me personally and hopefully the world a little bit. Most of all, I loved working with such talented people. We'll have more to say about what's next later."
So again, we don't really have a whole lot of other details right now. I'll refrain from speculation. I'm sure we'll continue to hear a little bit more about this, but this is a big move. And you might be wondering why we're talking about it, but obviously OpenAI, a company that Elon helped found and fund, doesn't have, you know, a role there anymore, but certainly related to Elon's world, especially, you know, with XAI now and of course with Tesla's AI efforts as well. So just generally interesting news in the AI space, and hopefully we'll learn a little bit more about this as that story develops.
All right, and then last couple of things for today, and on some-- I guess maybe not happier, but I don't know, I guess we can go with that on this one-- The Wall Street Journal reporting that Jim Janos, who of course has been a vocal short seller of Tesla for a long, long time, has decided to close his hedge funds. Those have declined to $200 million dollars in assets under management, down from $6 billion dollars in 2008. That can come both from market losses as well as withdrawal funds, which I'm sure that was a combination of both. So, deciding to close up shop after, you know, loud and vocal and wrong bets against Tesla. He actually had agreed at one point on X or formerly Twitter at that point to come on Tesla Daily and do an interview, provided that Tesla hit 500,000 vehicles delivered in 2020. He thought there was no chance of doing that, so he said, "Sure, I'll do it if they hit it." Tesla came up 450 vehicles short. They produced well over 500,000 now, and Janos said that that was not enough and he did not ultimately, obviously, come on the podcast. And he later blocked me for correcting a failure to see some logic in some comments from Elon on Bitcoin and their relation or their differences to fiat currency. So just kind of some fun background there. But nevertheless, Janos will be closing his hedge fund.
And then, of course, holiday week with Thanksgiving on Thursday, markets will be closed Thursday and they'll be closing early on Friday so just a half day for the US markets on Friday my schedule will most likely look like Monday and Tuesday having episodes I'm going to be traveling and seeing family on Wednesday and then through the holiday so most likely Monday and Tuesday next week.
And then finally for today we do have a second test flight as we've talked about scheduled for Starship tomorrow launch window opens at 7 a.m. Central time so fingers crossed that this will be a successful window for SpaceX definitely looking forward to that so should be an exciting weekend but that'll wrap it up for today so as always thank you for listening make sure you're subscribed and signed up for notifications you can also find me on x at Tesla podcast and we'll see on Monday for the November 20th episode of Tesla Daily thank you.