Episode 524: New Patent Suggests Next-Gen Roadster Might Be 'Fan'-tastic

On this week's episode of Ride the Lightning, the Tesla and EV podcast, a new patent applied for by Tesla suggests that the next-gen Roadster might be doing some extra crazy stuff to make it outperform other supercars.

Plus, the Cybertruck's off-road armor package finally arrives, a near future timeline and big expectations arrive for the upcoming version 14 of FSD Supervised and more.

What's happening friends, I'm Ryan McCaffrey and I'm joined directly at my feet here, lying on the floor under my desk by Lily, the silly Labrador puppy, and to my left chilling out on the couch is Daisy the Boxer.

Welcome to episode 524 for August 17th, 2025 of Ride the Lightning, your weekly Tesla and EV podcast.

I want to start by saying that I hope all of you enjoyed last week's vacation episode as I call them because when I go on vacation, I prepare what I call the vacation episode.

But that was fun. That was fun with Sawyer Merritt. I hope you enjoyed it. I am back quote-unquote live this week talking about the most up-to-date Tesla and EV news.

But I had a really, really great time unplugging from everything last week, so I once again just want to thank all of you for allowing me to do that for tuning back in this week and tuning in last week to the vacation episode with Sawyer.

Speaking of travels, it turns out I will indeed be zipping down to Los Angeles on another brief business trip this week.

So for those of you in the Los Angeles area, I would love to invite you to what I'll very clearly say is a quite informal listener meetup.

Nothing fancy, no RSVP list, nothing like that.

But a very informal Ride the Lightning listener meetup at the Tesla Diner in Hollywood on Monday at 7pm, which I realize might be after some of you listen to this episode, or I should say before.

It'll have happened. You won't hear the episode until after it's happened, but it might be before some of you actually hear this.

I apologize that I couldn't give you more notice, but just with the way it worked out on this one.

That's how it is, so I'm hoping maybe I might see a couple of you down there.

If not, I won't take any offense and I'll try to give you some more notice the next time I happen to find myself in or near the Tesla Diner.

By getting warmed up with Tesla news this week, the company has revamped their loyalty program right within your Tesla app.

So if you open your Tesla app and you tap the hamburger icon in the upper right corner, you will see that a new loyalty benefits section has been added.

And if you go in there, you will see current offers for existing Tesla owners on each of the cars.

Now, these will no doubt change over time, but what I wanted to call particular attention to here was the inclusion of FSD transfer as a loyalty benefit.

And specifically, I wanted to read you the fine print on this because I do think it's interesting.

I think there's some optimism about the long term plans for FSD transfer sort of hiding in plain sight within the fine print.

So it says loyalty benefits are available if you currently own a qualifying Tesla product and you are purchasing another qualifying Tesla product using the same Tesla account.

Loyalty benefits are also available if you've previously owned a qualifying Tesla product and you're purchasing another qualifying Tesla product using the same account.

Tesla customers can receive loyalty benefits up to 10 times over the life of the account.

Terms apply.

And then the second paragraph of fine print is this.

The full self-driving supervised transfer program is subject to change or end at any time and cannot be applied retroactively.

FSD supervised cannot be transferred from a foundation series Cybertruck, Model Y launch series, or a vehicle under an active lease.

Used vehicle, business and commercial orders are not eligible.

The transferring vehicle cannot be the subject of a pending cancellation or buyback request or have any delinquent leans or balances additional terms and conditions apply and will be provided prior to delivery.

So while yes, it does say that FSD transfer is subject to change or end at any time.

This to me sure seems like it's here to stay because this loyalty benefit program itself seems like it's here to say now to stay pardon me.

So why do I say that based on that bit of fine print?

Well, your ears might have perked up at the Tesla customers can receive loyalty benefits up to 10 times over the life of the account.

10 times is a lot because I think you'd agree most people are not going to buy a new car more than every two to three years at the most.

So we're talking about a long term situation here or at least it seems like Tesla intends for this to be a long term program.

And plus now this is me just giving an opinion with the tax credit ending for good or at least for the foreseeable future.

Tesla is probably going to need to give more reasons for existing owners to keep coming back.

I know I've been saying that I feel like FSD transfers been unofficially permanent for a while now.

And my point here is I think this this new loyalty program loyalty benefits situation.

I think this is Tesla making it more or less official that FSD transfer is here to stay.

And if I'm right about that and I do feel pretty confident in that statement, thank goodness because as I've said over and over and I know all of you feel the same way.

It should be permanent FSD transfer. It should be tied to our accounts or maybe one car at a time.

But it should be something that we do not lose when we purchase or lose value on when we go from one Tesla to a new one.

So good stuff there. I am very, very optimistic that FSD transfer is now more or less officially here to stay even if Tesla won't put it in stone and say, yes, this is going to be the case forever.

Next up as we have another appetizer here, the Cybertruck is finally getting its armor package for those of you who are serious off-roaders and rock crawlers.

I know you're out there. I saw this on the official at Cybertruck account on X and they posted, Cybertruck terrestrial armor package is here.

Coated steel rock sliders and aluminum under-body battery shield, pardon me, provide greater protection from rocks and debris when off-roading on rough terrain.

It is available now for Foundation Series, expanding to all owners next month, meaning September.

And then the online Tesla Shop page for it describes it as such, quote, get extra terrestrial.

The Cybertruck terrestrial armor package includes enhanced rock sliders and an under-body battery shield to provide greater protection from rocks and debris when off-roading on tough terrain.

Rock sliders are constructed from coated steel and the under-body battery shield is constructed from aluminum for greater protection against scraping.

Ways 185 pounds and includes one under-body shield, one left side structural rocker, and one right side structural rocker.

The price, if you're curious, $3,500 and that includes installation at a Tesla service center.

Now, it's fair to say there are absolutely plenty of aftermarket rockers that you could get for quite a lot less,

but there definitely are not aftermarket under-body shields, battery shields, and presumably this one is warranted by Tesla on top of that.

And I have to guess, being honest here, this probably will not appeal to, I don't know, 90% of Cybertruck owners, maybe more,

but the ones that want this are going to really put it to use, so it's going to be super great for them.

And I'll say this, maybe they had a small allocation, but seems like a good sign anyway you slice it,

that it's already sold out, at least for now, on the online Tesla shop.

Speaking of the Cybertruck, here's a weird story this week.

The US government wants to wreck some Cybertrucks for science or, well, for military defense purpose training at the very least,

which is kind of science.

I saw this on TeslaRati who wrote,

They include the acronym there of SOPGM.

Are they using that acronym in speech to each other?

I don't know, anyway.

The Cybertruck was specifically chosen because of its durability.

The Air Force states in filings that are public,

Redacted intends to use specific Tesla manufactured vehicles for target vehicle training flight test events.

In the operating theater, it is likely the type of vehicles used by the enemy may transition to Tesla Cybertrucks,

as they have been found not to receive the normal extent of damage expected upon major impact.

Testing needs to mirror real-world situations.

The intent of the training is to prep the units for operations by simulating scenarios as closely as possible to the real-world situations.

End quote.

Well, I have to say, that is a new one.

You know, going all the way back to the original unveiling in 2019 of the Cybertruck,

where Tesla said it's bulletproof, and then they later actually did it.

When the truck was coming out in 2023, they went ahead and did it,

and there have since been Cybertruck owners that have shot their trucks as well.

And now to one up that is the military that's going to do more than shoot at them.

Let's put it this way, they're going to do more than shoot bullets at them.

The military taking steps to study how to destroy Cybertrucks in case we ever find ourselves in a military conflict in which an enemy is using Cybertrucks against us.

I mean, heck, that's TV commercial material that the ad writes itself.

Cybertruck, a truck so tough that the military had to study them in case they ever get used in a war against us.

Oh man, that marketing copy needs some punching up, I admit, but that was a story that I couldn't help but get a little bit of a chuckle out of

and just goes to show you, I mean, the Cybertruck really is unlike any other truck that's publicly for sale to regular consumers.

A quick pause right here before I get into this week's big news stories to tell you about this week's Lightning Round mini-episode

for those of you kindly supporting the podcast over on my Patreon page.

This week's Lightning Round was about the need, in my humble opinion, for Disneyland to electrify three specific attractions.

Spoiler, that's where I was with my family last week.

So I came back and couldn't help but make some Tesla content out of it because that's just how my brain works.

So if you would like to hear that, you can sign up for my Patreon in which case you'd be supporting what I'm doing here

week in and week out with Ride the Lightning.

The support tiers start at just five bucks a month, but the Lightning Round mini-episodes that I do each week on Patreon

are at that $10 per month tier or higher.

So you can jump in on that at patreon.com slash Tesla podcast or click the link in the episode description.

And there are now 155 Lightning Round mini-episodes up there.

Gosh knows how many hours of content that is. It's a lot.

So if you do want to join the Patreon at that $10 per month tier, you will instantly get access to a whole bunch of extra Tesla and EV content up there for you.

I would be very humbled and grateful if you would consider a pledge because as you all know and you've seen it week in and week out,

I put this thing up every single week. I put my heart and soul into it.

A lot of research, a lot of time.

I'd be so grateful if you wanted to join the Patreon.

And I'll just mention too, if you wanted to just sign up once for an annual pledge once a year, there's a 10% discount on the annual pledges as well.

So again, patreon.com slash Tesla podcast.

Next up this week, those of you who either have purchased or subscribed to FSD Supervised know that it has been many, many months now.

Whether you have a hardware 3 car or an AI 4 car, since we've had anything but a minor fixes update on any of our cars,

the good news is that weight is winding down, at least for the AI4 folks, and it sounds like it might be a big update once it finally arrives.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk took to X to respond to a post by someone annoyed at the nagging that the car does on FSD Supervised

if you take your eyes off the road for more than a couple seconds.

Elon responded saying quote,

The FSD release in about six weeks will be a dramatic gain with a 10x higher parameter count and many other improvements.

It's going through training and testing now.

Once we confirm real world safety of FSD 14, which we think will be amazing, the car will nag you much less end quote.

Now, before you break out your calendar and start eagerly taking a red marker and xing out each day on your calendar,

ticking down to six weeks, just waiting for six weeks to go by,

let's all politely remind ourselves that Elon's timelines tend to be a tad optimistic.

So could we get this FSD version 14 in about six weeks?

Of course we could, it's certainly on the table, they are testing it now, that's a good sign.

And in fact, I'll say this just very selfishly if you allow me a quick moment,

my birthday is almost exactly six weeks from when he posted this at the beginning of the week.

So I would very happily take version 14 as a birthday present to me and also everybody else from Tesla.

But if it turns into eight weeks or 10 or 12, don't be surprised.

The good news is that we know the Tesla AI team will deliver.

We've all seen the progress and version 14 sounds like it's going to be a big one.

Elon himself calls it a dramatic gain and while I don't think we really have any context

or at least my puny non-programmer, non-engineer brain has any context for how a 10x parameter count

will translate into real world improvements that we can see in the system as we're using it,

Elon also notes, quote, many other improvements.

In fact, in another post, Elon responded to somebody by saying, quote,

the FSD software update next month will be a major step change improvement for rare conditions, end quote.

Now I presume that Elon means edge cases versus rare weather conditions like a hurricane or a tornado or something,

which is great. Edge cases are just that. They don't pop up very often.

We don't know what the car is going to do on FSD when we encounter them.

And I'll tell you, I still have, I don't know if I would call this spot near my house.

I've talked about it before, so I won't linger for more than a moment here.

There's a spot near my house where there's a, it's a red light that I need to turn right at,

but there's a no right on red sign, which FSD usually will just blow through after it comes to a complete stop

and checks to see if it's clear. It'll just go. So that's mistake number one that it makes in that spot.

And then it makes the right, there's two lanes, a right turn lane and a left turn lane,

because the, it's only like 50 feet. It's like two car lengths.

And then that little street stops and it becomes a three way stop and you either turn left or turn right at the three way stop.

And my car on either one, AI3 or AI4, will blow through that stop sign.

It will just go. Like when it makes the right turn off of the red light,

it does not stop at the immediate stop sign, it just goes.

So I would consider that something of an edge case, because it's, it's definitely not a road scenario that I encounter very,

I mean, I encounter it regularly, but it's not something I really see anywhere else in, in with any sort of regularity at all.

So the fact that version 14 is going to address these rare conditions, that's great.

That's, I would love, I'll be curious to see if my particular edge case that's, that I frequent near my house is,

if it's, if it's changed at all, if the behavior by the car has changed.

And then more tangibly than just being better at, at rare conditions, less nagging.

Now how much so remains to be seen, but if you're able to go eyes off for even 10 seconds, heck,

maybe even five, because I actually haven't measured it to see how long you can keep your eyes off now before,

before it yells at you, but let's say 10 seconds.

Well that would even be enough to maybe do something on the Tesla screen, like figure out something on the map

or pull up a different audio, you know, podcast or whatever you want to listen to,

but 10 seconds would be enough to do something on the screen or maybe even glance at a text message on your phone

and still have the full self-driving supervised system be safely in control for you.

Now as to where we are relative to the Robotaxi branch of the software, what's running in Austin,

Elon also posted about that saying, quote,

the Austin Robotaxi FSD build is about six months more advanced than what is available in cars in America

and there are some additional breakthroughs in Tesla AI that will make the car feel eerily human, end quote.

Well six months makes sense, right, because that's about how long it's been since we've had a substantial software update

to the production branch of FSD supervised.

Now the term breakthroughs, that is a bold choice of words there by Elon.

Maybe I shouldn't parse his words quite so specifically there, but that's a term that gets me hyped up.

I mean using the term breakthroughs, that's, alright, I'm eager to see it.

So I hope we get to see it soon.

I mean heck, I would very selfishly settle for getting to experience it as a not a Robotaxi ride hailing service user

here in the San Francisco Bay Area, but as of yet, I still don't have an invitation to use

the not a Robotaxi ride hailing service here in my neck of the woods.

I know it'll come in due time, I'm not trying to get on here and beg for one, but it'd sure be fun to try it out.

Whenever that day comes, I look forward to that not only as somebody that is in the Tesla ecosystem pretty deeply here,

but so then I can share my impressions of it with those of you who are not in the San Francisco Bay Area

or Austin and thus don't have access to this as of yet.

Next up this week, Tesla has applied for a new patent that could be a big factor in helping the next gen Tesla Roadster

achieve some of the insane performance metrics that Elon Musk has teased.

Another tip of the cap goes to Tesla Roddy, that's where I first saw this story, and they wrote,

A new patent from Tesla has now outlined a technology that could be a perfect fit for the upcoming all-electric supercar.

Tesla's patent is for a multi-mode active aero system that uses fans and deployable skirts to generate controllable downforce.

This should pave the way for optimal vehicle grip and performance across varying conditions from the track to the drag strip.

Tesla describes the patent's technology as follows,

The system operates by creating bounded, e.g. sealed or partially sealed, regions beneath the vehicle

through the selective deployment of skirts that interact with the ground surface.

Fans positioned in airflow pathways that extend to these bounded regions generate low pressure within these areas by extracting air,

creating downforce that enhances vehicle grip and stability, e.g. by creating a vacuum or partial vacuum in the bounded regions.

Now, I'm certainly no engineer, nor do I speak patent particularly well, but if I'm interpreting this correctly,

it sounds very similar in a lot of ways to what the McMurtry spiraling is doing.

If you've never heard of that car, I completely understand because for now, that car is just a prototype,

but it absolutely works and I wholeheartedly recommend that anybody curious about that car or about this fan vacuum technology,

go watch the Top Gear video on it from earlier this year over on their YouTube channel.

Now essentially, the McMurtry spiraling is a pretty small one-seat sports car.

It's electric and it uses fans on the underside of it to create, to do exactly this, to create suction, effectively, a vacuum,

to keep the car stuck to the ground.

And if you go watch the Top Gear video, you'll see exactly what I'm talking about.

It is wild because this car, with these fans, absolutely flies around the Top Gear test track,

cornering like literally, no exaggeration, like literally nothing, no other car that anyone has ever seen before.

It also helps, the fans I mean, those fans help that car, the McMurtry, go from 0 to 60 in about 1.5 seconds.

So the point is, if the Roadster is using some version of this, obviously Tesla's own, let's call it interpretation of it,

based on the wording of this patent, if they're using some version of the same thing that the McMurtry million dollar prototype is using,

as well as the Roadster using these deployable skirts to help direct that air and specifically target those downforce vacuumed areas,

that, plus the horizontal thrust of the SpaceX cold gas thrusters that'll come out from the rear license plate,

could combine to allow the Roadster to do some absolutely wild stuff,

which is exactly how Elon has been hyping this thing up, particularly in recent months,

and by the way, wild stuff that none of which would ever be usable on public roads.

I don't think the cold gas thrusters are going to be able to fire off on a public road,

nor do I think you're going to be hitting the vacuum, the fans, I don't think you're going to be hitting the fans,

maybe you could run the fans on a public road, I guess if it's not bothering any other cars or endangering any other vehicles or anything,

maybe you could fly around the corners, it's probably not a safe thing to do on public streets,

but in any case, I guess even if you're not allowed to use these technologies on public roads in the new Roadster,

it'd still be an extremely quick, sexy supercar 99% of the time,

but for that 1% of the time that you'd have it on a private course somewhere, a track,

with all the safety protocols in place, you know, helmet, fire suit, prepped track, all that stuff,

it might truly be a sight to behold performance-wise, and I can't wait.

Next up we go into the not fun block of news, there's a couple stories here that are not particularly fun or positive,

and they're certainly worth talking about. This first one is that Tesla's Project Dojo is now Toast.

This was first reported by Bloomberg and later confirmed by Elon Musk, saw the write-up on Tesla Roddy again originally Bloomberg.

As per Bloomberg, Peter Bannon, who led Project Dojo, will be departing Tesla following Elon Musk's decision to shut down the initiative.

Bloomberg claimed that Tesla's Project Dojo team had lost about 20 members recently,

and the remaining members of the initiative would be reassigned to other data center and compute projects within Tesla.

And then Elon later confirmed the report posting on X, quote,

It doesn't make sense for Tesla to divide its resources and scale two quite different AI chip designs.

The Tesla AI5, AI6 and subsequent chips will be excellent for inference and at least pretty good for training.

All effort is focused on that. In a supercomputer cluster, it would make sense to put many AI5 or AI6 chips on a board,

whether for inference or training, simply to reduce network cabling complexity and cost by a few orders of magnitude.

One could call that Dojo 3, I suppose.

The difference in real-world performance between AI4 and AI5 is far more than any chip version I've ever heard of by a lot.

It's real good, end quote.

Well, again, more hype for AI5, which we know is still a little ways away, it's over a year away here,

but Elon did always say in his defense on this, he did always say that Dojo was an experiment

and not necessarily a path that they were definitely going to fully go down and commit to.

And it seems like AI6 in particular, looking further down the chip roadmap,

is going to do a good enough job for what Dojo was designed for that, as he said,

it just wasn't going to be worth splitting resources and efforts, no doubt both internally but also externally

with regard to suppliers and chip fabs.

AI6, again, AI6 sounds like it is going to be a pretty big deal and also pretty important to Tesla.

And once again, I'm left somewhat marveled that we are hearing, or at least we have been hearing quite a lot about AI6

even though AI5 is still pretty far away.

It's not only not out yet, it's over a year away, but we continue to hear about AI6.

Just an interesting story there about Tesla merging its chip making efforts.

And to round out the block of bad news stories this week, Tesla is going to appeal a jury verdict that held it partially liable for a fatal crash.

Saw this one on Tesla Roddy too, and they wrote an 8 person jury ruled that Tesla's driver assistance technology was at least partially to blame for a crash when a vehicle driven by George McGee

went off the road and hit a couple in Key Largo, Florida in 2019, killing a 22 year old and injuring the other.

The jury found that Tesla's tech was found to enable McGee to take his eyes off the road despite the company warning drivers and vehicle operators that its systems are not a replacement for a human driver.

Tesla attorney Joel Smith said in court, and this comes via the Washington Post,

He said he was fishing for his phone. It's a fact. That happens in any car. That isolates the cause. The cause is he dropped his cell phone.

In total, Tesla is responsible for $324 million in payouts. $200 million in punitive damages. $35 million to the deceased's mother.

$24 million to their father and $70 million to their boyfriend who was also struck but was injured and not killed.

The family of the deceased, Nibele Benavides Leon, also sued the driver and reached a settlement out of court.

The family opened the federal suit against Tesla in 2024, alleging that Tesla was to blame because it operated its technology on a road quote,

It was not designed for the report states.

Well, I'm not going to pretend to know what really happened here, nor do I want to take one side or another.

However, the couple of thoughts that I can't help but have are, one, this was a jury verdict, meaning, and it was recent.

And I bring that up to say, as I think most of us would agree, there has been a lot of anti-Tesla sentiment around the world,

but particularly in America over the past year or so, with it arguably peaking earlier this year.

So I can't help but wonder if that might have factored into the jury's decision.

It's not supposed to, right? And I hope it didn't, but people are human beings and we are influenced by various things.

So I'm not saying I'm not accusing the jury of anything, but I'm saying, I think it's fair to bring up in the context of this decision and the timing of it.

And then, two, my other thought here is, every other time that somebody's blamed Tesla for their car accelerating on its own and the car ends up put through a wall or something,

it's always been proven that, no, it was in fact the operator of the vehicle that pressed the accelerator.

Now I know, and we're not talking about unintended acceleration here, we're talking about a full self-driving or autopilot mishap.

So in this case, if Tesla can prove that the driver was fishing for his phone and disengaged the system in doing so,

then I'm no lawyer, but I think Tesla should have a pretty strong chance to win the appeal there.

If the system didn't disengage, but he still took his eyes off the road going for his phone, is that enough to still absolve Tesla of the responsibility here?

Because, again, as is clear, when you activate the system for the first time or really every time you turn it on,

it is a level two, especially back in 2019 as well.

You've got to remember, we've got to bring ourselves back in time.

The lawsuit was from 2024, but the incident was in 2019 long before FSD.

So that was just autopilot, at which point you had to have your hand.

There was no eye tracking then, you just had to have your hand on the wheel.

And there technically were roads that, I mean, you could activate it on pretty much any road,

it wasn't going to take any turns for you, or at that point in time, I don't believe it responded to stop lights or stop signs.

Boy, I'm not comfortable, or I'm not confident in my memory on that, but just the point is,

the capabilities of the system were very different in 2019 than even in 2024 when this suit was filed.

But at the time, it was a level two system that requires driver attention, again,

as is stated when you first activate autopilot at all in the car,

and in fact, every time you turn it on, every time you activate it as well, it does say,

you know, keep your eyes and hands, you know, pay attention.

So ultimately, if Tesla does remain at fault here in the eyes of the appellate court,

as they go through the appeals process, then I hope that Tesla is able to learn something valuable

that can be used to make the system better and safer in the future.

Again, I get that they've already made the system better and safer in the five years, six years since this incident,

but I do hope that even if Tesla is ultimately held liable in the appeals process,

that there can be some sort of benefit to it in the sense of improving the system, making it safer

so that we don't have another incident like this again.

I mean, I want to make clear this, I know this is a Tesla podcast.

I don't want to overlook, you know, a life was lost here,

and regardless of who ultimately is proven through the appeals process to be at fault,

a life was lost, and that's horrible.

I don't want to lose sight of that, and it's tragic that a life was lost,

and I hope that this just does not happen again through the improvements to the system

and anything that Tesla may be able to take from this case

and this incident that can help them make the system better and safer moving forward.

In much better news, a Model 3 front bumper camera might be imminent.

Saw this via the Tesla Newswire fan account on X

who posted pictures of a Shanghai built Model 3 with an image showing a lower front bumper camera,

and that image comes from an official government source.

They wrote, quote, Tesla will soon add a front bumper camera to the Model 3.

The images confirming this upgrade were leaked on the official website

of China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology,

and again, they provided the pictures to prove it.

So, as long as the images really came from the MIIT website,

then yeah, it seems pretty definitive.

And if it's not imminent, like I said a moment ago,

particularly for the North American market,

which as we've seen in the past, could lag a bit behind Shanghai,

again, we've seen this with upgrades and changes to the cars before

where Shanghai gets them before Fremont does,

but it should at least seem pretty inevitable here in North America.

And remember, too, that Tesla's engineering boss,

friend of the podcast Lars Moravy, said just a couple weeks ago

at the Tesla Takeover event.

He said, and I'm paraphrasing here,

if you follow what we've done with the other cars,

when he was directly asked a question about the front bumper camera on the Model 3,

and that at the time, which I said on the podcast,

seemingly confirmed it without explicitly saying,

yes, we are doing this.

So, this is more evidence, first we had Lars' statement,

now we have this image from the China Ministry of Industry

and Information Technology website.

So, it's looking really, really good that this is happening very, very soon.

Now, I personally am very much praying for a retrofit option

for my 2024 Model 3, if in fact, as it almost certainly will,

this ends up finding its way to North America.

And as I've said before, I am willing to pay a reasonable amount.

I understand, I don't expect it for free,

and I understand that there's some labor involved.

The parts cost should be cheap.

It's just one 5 megapixel camera and the wiring,

but then there's a good bit of labor.

To get enough to physically install it, run the wiring,

get at it, you know, plug the thing into the FSD computer,

which is located in the front passenger foot well,

then there's probably a little software flash that needs to happen

to tell the UI that the front camera is there.

I get that there's going to be some labor and some time involved in this.

So, hey, charge me $1,000 and I will happily cough that up

in exchange for being able to see things that are right in front of my car,

like parking curbs.

When I am pulling into a parking spot,

if it's like an angled one that I can't back into,

that I need to come in forward,

I really want to be able to see exactly where that curb is.

So that I can make sure I'm not just going to grind my front splitter

right over the top of it.

So, as the classic Futurama meme goes,

shut up and take my money, Tesla, please.

I want to pay money to you for a retrofit on this.

Now, I was curious if it's just me.

Like, is this one of those things where I'm really passionate about it,

but the majority of folks out there don't really super care.

So, I made this the subject of this week's Patreon poll,

which a whole bunch of you voted in.

I'm seeing more and more votes every week,

which I'm so grateful for.

I'm glad more and more of you are stopping by the Patreon page to vote.

Now, again, I know I talked about the Patreon a little while ago.

The poll is free to everyone.

It's just open to the public.

You do not have to be giving me a cent to vote in the poll on my Patreon page each week.

Just stop by and cast your vote on each week's new Patreon poll question.

Website's the same, patreon.com slash Tesla podcast,

or click the link in the episode description.

And the new poll usually goes up on Tuesday evenings, typically.

So, the poll question was simply,

how important is a front bumper camera to you on your Tesla?

And let me put it this way.

So, I gave four choices, plus a fifth, no opinion, just show me the results choice.

18% of you said you weren't really interested.

So, just 2% of you said,

my Tesla has a front bumper camera and I don't use it much.

It's not important to me.

Just 16% of you said my Tesla doesn't have a front bumper camera

and I don't care that it doesn't have one,

which left a whole bunch of you that want one or have one and love it.

So, 57% of you voted my Tesla doesn't have a front bumper camera,

but I really wish it did.

And then another 18% of you voted my Tesla has a front bumper camera

and I love it, it's very important to me.

So, overwhelming support for a front bumper camera there.

And the comments by the way on this, a lot of great comments in here.

I always appreciate when people take the time to leave a comment.

A lot of people citing,

if FSD is going to use this, then absolutely I want it.

Plenty of other people saying, yep, it would be great for parking.

Just all around, people want it.

So, especially since none of the cars are probably ever going to have ultrasonic sensors ever again.

The toothpaste is out of the tube on that.

Horse is out of the stable.

Whatever, genie is out of the bottle.

Whatever metaphor, whatever saying you want to use,

we are probably never going back to ultrasonic sensors.

But with the camera on the lower front bumper,

you probably don't really need the ultrasonic sensors,

but it sure would be great if Tesla were to offer a retrofit

for hardware for AI for cars that should,

mostly all of them have the open port for it

that just needs a camera to get plugged in there and let's go.

So, I mean, I just got my car in December,

so presumably my car has an available port for this

and boy would I love for Tesla to wire up a camera into that port.

Let me take a quick pause here to remind you, as I do every week,

about my friends at XCare.

Your car is getting older, right?

If you've got a Tesla, it's older than it was when you heard the podcast last week.

Same thing's happening to my car.

And if you plan on hanging on to your Tesla or other EV for a while,

you might want to consider an extended warranty.

Now, we know that Tesla is now offering their own extended warranty,

but as I've talked about, the XCare option from my friends at Accelerate Auto

is as good and I would argue even better because it's customizable.

You can tailor it to what you want.

If you want to cover the high voltage battery and drive unit,

you can do that.

Teslas will not cover that.

That is a separate warranty for Tesla or from Tesla, I should say.

You could do another two years, three years, five,

up to 10 extra years, up to 125,000 extra miles.

The customer service experience is great.

I've used mine a couple times.

Filing a claim has been super easy.

Reimbursement has been quick and painless.

I really do believe in these guys.

They're former Tesla employees themselves and they're Tesla owners as well.

So they're very much one of us.

They've been on both sides of the Tesla fence as both employees and customers.

And they are now offering XCare and they've been doing so for a while.

They just celebrated their 10th anniversary not too long ago.

So if putting together your own custom tailored to you extended warranty

for your EV sounds good, go to xcare.com.

That's X-C-A-R-E.com.

Configure whatever you like.

And because you're a ride-the-lighting listener,

you get $100 off when you select XCare's one-time payment option.

Just use the discount code lightning.

So again, go to xcare.com.

And I've got another fun story for you to finish off the Tesla news

before I move to one good other EV news story.

Newer Teslas look like they might be getting a visual upgrade to the NCAR UI.

This comes via white hat Tesla hacker Green the Only

who posted this on X saying, quote,

I did not notice it at first, but it looks like Tesla is adding

Unreal Engine based AP visualization, the one you see today is Godot based.

The binaries are already shipping starting from firmware 2025.20

only on AMD based SNX cars for now.

Time to see if that could be activated somehow with a winky face.

And then he made a follow-up post with a video showing that he got it to work

on a Model S or at least a Model S UI.

And he spun the car, you know, spun a Model S render around the same one

that, you know, we can do in our cars right now

or you can take your finger and just spin the car around, look around it.

And if you're wondering, well, what, why does this, why do I care about this?

What do you mean in car, Unreal Engine, what's that?

So Unreal Engine is a very powerful

and also at this point very ubiquitous video game technology

that has even moved outside of video games.

For instance, Unreal Engine, oh my goodness puppy, of course you have to,

she has to use a squeaky toy.

Why, why does she do this while I'm recording?

She just, she knows.

All right, I gotta take, we gotta pick, find another toy.

I gotta take this, any other toy that doesn't squeak will be just fine, pups.

Okay, so Unreal Engine, getting back to the podcast,

it's a fairly ubiquitous, very powerful video game technology

that is, is now even in use outside of video games.

And for instance, it is what powers Lucasfilm's The Volume.

What, if you've ever heard about, about The Volume at Lucasfilm,

which is what they shoot the Mandalorian on,

basically it's like a next generation green screen

where it's very, very high fidelity rendering

that with Lucasfilm makes it, it looks very real.

So the actors are up against it

and it looks like they're actually in the scene.

Like it's pretty crazy stuff in terms of what Lucasfilm is doing with it.

And with video games that you're actually interacting with,

it is, again, a very high fidelity rendering package

that creates very realistic or whatever style you're going for,

visuals, graphics.

And on the development side, it's known for having very,

very flexible, very easy to use development tools

and a lot of programmers out there,

at least in the video game space I can confidently talk about

since that's my day job,

a lot of video game programmers are familiar with Unreal Engine.

So it has a lot of built-in advantages is what I'm trying to say

to potentially save time on a big, high budget,

multi-year video game development project.

So why Tesla would want it?

I'm not necessarily entirely sure,

but I can deduce that they must think that it will bring

a better-looking UI for the same APU overhead

compared to what they're using now,

and or it's just gonna look better,

even if it's the overhead is the same.

So it's basically, they clearly see some benefit

to switching to Unreal Engine in the cars

if in fact they are gonna move forward with it.

I mean, the fact that it's showing up buried in the firmware

as Green the only likes to dig into is a pretty good sign.

It's not a guarantee that it's gonna roll out to all the cars,

but if Tesla does go forward with this,

they in fact will not be the first car maker

to use Unreal Engine in their cars UI.

There are several, Rivian is using it,

Lotus is using it,

Volvo has it in their cars,

and GM in the Hummer.

The Hummer EV has it as well.

So either way, it's another win for Epic Games.

And Epic, if you're not familiar,

they are the developers of the Unreal Engine.

And also, by the way, if you've not heard of Epic,

you've not heard of Unreal Engine,

you've probably heard of Fortnite.

That game is made by Epic Games,

Makers of Unreal Engine.

So that hopefully helps tie it all together for you.

So, funny enough, by the way,

just as a little bit of a non-Tesla but Unreal Engine aside here,

back in the late 90s and the 2000s,

there was really kind of this Coke versus Pepsi battle

in the video game space between Unreal Engine

and what was at the time referred to as the Quake Engine.

It's now known as idTech, made by idSoftware.

Those are the people that made Doom and Quake and still make Doom.

And the programming genius John Carmack,

Tesla owner, by the way, John Carmack,

I have tried to get John Carmack on this podcast.

Because I've asked him on X and sadly have never gotten a response.

I did interview him once in my career.

He's not in video games anymore,

but Carmack's a legend and he made,

he was always like kind of the engine guy, the engine guru.

But when he left and idSoftware still, idTech still good

if you play any of the new Doom games,

Doom, Doom Eternal or Doom the Dark Ages,

that's built on idTech.

And so is the Indiana Jones,

the new Indiana Jones game, which was my personal game of the year last year.

Anyway, the point is many, many big games

back in the late 90s and early 2000s

would use one or the other as the basis for their game

because it was cheaper to just license that engine and build off of it

rather than build their own game engine from scratch,

which would just take longer and thus cost more money, right?

So you had Half-Life, legendary game Half-Life,

that was built on the Quake engine originally.

More recent example, Borderlands.

If you've played Borderlands, any of the three of them

and the fourth one's coming out next month,

that was and still is an Unreal Engine game.

So after Bethesda bought id and then Microsoft later bought Bethesda,

they kind of all but stopped licensing idTech out.

But what's, which means these days Unreal Engine,

they're not the only game in town,

but it is by far the most dominant core gaming engine technology

in the AAA gaming space.

And now, again, they're doing movies and TV shows

and Unreal Engine is in cars

and possibly even it's coming very soon to our Teslas,

which is pretty cool, especially given my day job.

So maybe this story was more for me than for you guys,

but hopefully some of you out there got a kick out of hearing

about Unreal Engine possibly coming to your Tesla.

And then lastly this week in other EV news,

Ford is making a big investment in an entire new EV platform.

I saw this on Drive Tesla Canada who writes,

Ford has officially revealed plans for a $30,000 midsize electric pickup

that will debut in 2027.

The yet unnamed model will launch alongside

a new manufacturing platform and assembly process

that CEO Jim Farley describes as a quote,

model T moment for the company.

Unlike Ford's current EV lineup,

which includes the F-150 Lightning with a large 98 kilowatt hour battery,

the new pickup will use a pack roughly half that size

around 51 kilowatt hours of usable energy.

This smaller battery strategy combined with aerodynamic improvements

and efficiency gains is designed to reduce weight and lower costs.

The electric truck will be built on Ford's new universal EV platform,

a flexible architecture capable of supporting sedans, SUVs, vans and trucks.

The company claims vehicles on this platform will have 20% fewer parts

and 25% fewer fasteners compared to current models.

A redesigned wiring harness will be 4,000 feet shorter

and 22 pounds lighter than the one in the Mustang Mach-E,

cutting both complexity and cost.

The automaker's new universal assembly process

will play a central role in making the truck profitable from day one.

Instead of a traditional linear assembly line,

Ford will use an quote,

assembly tree where three major sub-assemblies,

the front, the rear and the structural battery pack,

are built in parallel before being joined together.

Large single piece castings will further streamline production

and the process will require 40% fewer workstations

while speeding up assembly by 15%.

And then our friend Sawyer Merritt adds on his account that quote,

Ford says it is going to deliver a family of affordable,

adaptable electric vehicles that offer multiple body styles

for work and play including for export

and whose LFP batteries will be assembled in America

not imported from China, end quote.

Well, if a lot of that sounds familiar,

it is of course because it's a very Tesla-like approach, right?

Structural battery pack, LFP,

shortening the wiring harness, cutting parts.

You know, it's a very Tesla-like approach

and I'll tell you this, this is maybe a little bit of a random aside,

maybe I shouldn't give in to the urge to comment on this,

but I saw a lot of people that call themselves Tesla fans

in the comments to Sawyer's post,

a lot of Tesla fans dunking on this

and it just rubbed me the wrong way

because again, it's like I try to be positive,

I try to be optimistic and I get that you love Tesla,

you want it to do well,

but you just have to look at the bigger picture here.

The bigger picture is this initiative by Ford

is a good thing for the EV movement.

You have one of the largest automakers in the world

making a massive commitment to building a big new EV-only platform

that they're gonna use to build affordable EVs.

You know who currently isn't doing that?

Tesla!

There's nothing on the roadmap,

as I've worriedly talked about on the podcast in recent months,

there's nothing on the Tesla roadmap

for regular consumers in the $30,000 price range.

There's a CyberCab, there's a Tesla Semi,

which yes, the Semi is its own very important category,

not trying to speak ill of the Semi at all,

or the CyberCab for that matter,

or the Roadster,

but there is like, let me put it this way,

I wish Tesla were doing exactly what Ford is doing.

I wish they had said,

we're gonna take our unboxed manufacturing strategy

and we're gonna use it to really affordably build

and affordably sell an entire new line of cars on a platform.

That's what I, so I applaud the heck out of Ford here.

You know, yeah, it's gonna take time to do,

we're not gonna see it for at least a couple years,

this first vehicle.

But I would just love to see Tesla say,

yep, we're gonna do a mid-size pickup truck,

a compact, or I guess, I don't know,

is it compact pickup truck?

What's the smallest size pickup truck?

Is it called compact? I don't actually know.

But we're gonna do, you know, smaller pickup trucks,

we're gonna do a hot hatch,

we're gonna do a minivan,

we're gonna do a delivery van,

we're gonna do all these things

and use our unboxed strategy and do it.

But Tesla, from what we've been told directly,

they're not interested in that.

They're interested in autonomy and robots.

And that's awesome. There is nothing wrong with that.

But like I've said, I don't want to just rehash the stuff

I've already said in a recent podcast,

but they have the resources and the talent to do all of it.

They don't have to leave consumer passenger vehicles behind

in favor of autonomy and robotics.

They can do autonomy and robotics

and keep doubling down on their world-class manufacturing talent

and capability to keep making more cars,

which is what they said they were gonna do at Battery Day

five years ago, almost exactly.

Almost exactly five years ago,

I was lucky enough to be there,

whereas you all know they laid out, they said,

by 2030, we wanna be making and selling

20 million EVs per year.

And that strategy has changed

and I just think they can do both.

I get the high ceiling of Optimus.

Huge high ceiling, not just stock price-wise

or revenue-wise, business-wise,

but of quality of life-wise, like societal impact.

I get it. It has a huge high ceiling, a sky-high ceiling.

Same thing with autonomy.

It's not just a stock price booster.

It's not just a revenue generator.

It is something that can have a hugely positive societal benefit.

But we also still need a lot more EVs

at prices that are more affordable

than what Tesla's got now.

As great as the Y and the 3R,

and I know there's the basic Model Y coming

and we'll see how much that's gonna cost,

but I don't wanna make this...

I'm just trying to attack Tesla here.

I hope it doesn't come off that way.

I'm applauding Ford and saying,

as a car guy and somebody that's rooting for Tesla

and Tesla's mission,

which, by the way, what Ford is doing

is working towards accomplishing Tesla's mission

of accelerating the world's transition

to sustainable transport and energy.

Which Tesla were also doing

what Ford has announced that they were doing.

But in any case, bravo, Ford.

I look forward to seeing what new EVs they debut

on this new platform

over the next 5 to 10 years,

starting with this mid-sized pickup truck

in two years from now.

Alright, that'll do it

for another super-busy week of Tesla and EV news,

but I'm not done yet.

I have got the Ride the Lightning hotline

right around the corner.

Your phone calls queued up, ready to go.

I'm gonna hear from all of you guys

coming up right after this.

Hi, this is Frans von Holthausen

and you're listening to Ride the Lightning

with Ryan McAfrey, the Tesla unofficial podcast.

Welcome to the Ride the Lightning hotline,

your chance to potentially be featured

here on the podcast.

If you've got a Tesla or EV-related question,

or discussion topic,

I welcome and invite you to call in.

There are two easy ways to do that.

Either use your smartphone's built-in voice recording software,

record your question,

please try to keep it to 90 seconds or less

so that I can get to as many callers each week as possible.

And then email that file to me

at teslapodcastatgmail.com

Or you can take that same 90 second or less question

and just call in anytime

and leave a message on the Ride the Lightning hotline.

It's a toll free number, call it anytime.

It's 1-888-989-8752.

That number again is 1-888-989-TSLA.

And if you know someone special out there

with an upcoming birthday, anniversary, graduation

or some other special occasion,

you can give them a unique gift of recorded voices

from friends and family telling them why they're special.

The recordings can be podcasted

and recorded onto a keepsake.

Visit lifeonrecord.com to learn more.

First up this week is Mike from Florida.

Hi Ryan, this is Mike from Florida.

I drive a 2022 Model Y Performance

and absolutely love it.

I've been a $99 a month FSD subscriber for a while now

and I use it almost exclusively.

It's completely soiled me.

After experiencing a rental last week at Tesla without FSD,

I realized I'll never own another car without it.

It's that good.

That said, I have a quick question and observation.

As amazing as unsupervised FSD is and will become,

I'm one of those drivers with an AI3 car

who likely won't see it on my current vehicle.

And honestly, I'm okay with that.

I actually like driving sometimes, rare as that is.

And I'm genuinely content with what FSD can do today

on my Model Y.

If this is as far as it goes for my hardware,

so be it.

It's still light years ahead of anything else on the road.

So I'm curious, are there others like me

who feel no urgency to upgrade

just to get access to unsupervised FSD?

I'm sure it'll be amazing,

but I'm perfectly happy with what I have now.

Thanks Ryan, look forward to hearing your thoughts.

Always enjoy the podcast.

Thank you for the kind call Mike

and I am thrilled to hear that your Model Y

has treated you so well.

There are no doubt plenty of fellow Tesla owners out there

who feel the same way that you do.

Now what do I base that on?

My answer is the low take rate on FSD purchases

which Elon even commented on a couple quarters ago

when he acknowledged that the AI3 cars

aren't gonna be able to do full self-driving unsupervised

and would need to be upgraded.

I recognize though that my fairly sweeping general statement

doesn't cover everyone including you

since you mentioned that you're an FSD monthly subscriber

rather than somebody who paid for it outright

but I would still confidently say

that you're far from alone.

I would be curious though

if you've had a chance to try version 13

on an AI4 car at all.

As you know I have the very great privilege

of having two Teslas, an AI3 car

and an AI4 car

and I do find that the AI4 car

drives noticeably smoother on FSD supervised

but anyway I am glad you're happy with what you've got

and if you ever decide to trade in that car down the road

you know that you'll be in for an even better experience

and as I was talking about earlier in the podcast

you'll hopefully have that loyalty benefit

of FSD transfer available to you

as it sure seems like Tesla is setting in place

for the long haul.

Thank you again for your call.

This is Robert from Texas.

Hey Ryan it's Robert from Texas

just making a comment on your analysis

on the stripped down Model Y

and the $35,000 price point

I thought it was excellent

good way to think about it

I do think that you're right

35k is the right price

not 37 or 38 or 40

there's one thing you didn't mention

which I understand why

because it doesn't change at all

but I think it's important to note

the actual computer hardware

and the software doesn't change

from the higher level models

in fact obviously that software and computer hardware

is the same as a Model X, Model S

Performance Model Y etc etc

so even on the stripped down car

you get all the best hardware and software that Tesla has

and I think that's worth a lot

but that's not as easily

kind of talked about as the actual doors

and the fixtures and everything

but it is a very important part

and that also means that if you pay for FSD

or subscribe to FSD

you get the same quality

of full self-driving that you'll get

on even the more premium cars

so that's worth a note

for people thinking about buying a Tesla

and I think once they get to unsupervised FSD

there's going to be a lot of people

who like that $35,000 stripped down car

who have hour commutes, hour and a half commutes

who can now free up that time

to do email and read the paper

and make phone calls and things like that

which some of them are trying to do anyway

in the car which as you know is not safe

so just a thought

take care, love the show

You're absolutely right Robert

that is a valid and good thing to point out

that the lower price point

won't mean that you get a lesser UI experience

or a lesser FSD experience

should that customer opt in to FSD

So good stuff, thank you so much for that call

I don't really have much to add to that

I just think it's made a good point there

Good stuff Robert, appreciate it

Next is Jay from Los Angeles

with a suggestion for an FSD feature

Hi Ryan, this is Jay from Los Angeles

I wanted to suggest a feature

that would make a big difference

for my daily commute usage

Right now the default

or fastest route chosen by FSD

often is an ideal

It might exit the freeway unnecessarily

take twisty or turn heavy roads

go through areas I'd rather avoid

for safety reasons

or even drive over poorly paved streets

There are also specific turns

I know are particularly challenging

and I prefer to avoid them all together

But I'd really love is the ability

to customize the route

either by copying the drive I've already done manually

or by setting waypoints

to guide the car through certain roads

and avoid others

That kind of feature would greatly improve

my day to day FSD experience

and make it even more useful and enjoyable

Thanks for everything you do with the podcast

Hope this suggestion makes it on to Tesla's radar

Jay, thank you for your call

I know this idea has come up before

but I would like to once again

give it a full-throated endorsement

here on this podcast

for what little that might be worth

I have the same experience you do

There are plenty of times

on a regular basis

that the car wants to take a route

that I don't prefer

So a remember my route button

similar to how the car can GPS tag

your mirror folding

and your lift gate height

to remember your preferences for those

in a particular location

A remember my route button

using that same GPS thing

GPS, you know, tagging

would be awesome

I haven't heard the idea of

giving the car waypoints

but I do like that suggestion, Jay

You could maybe do it

just trying to think through your idea

like maybe you could do it

via your Tesla app ahead of time

if you wanted to also

and I'm just thinking out loud here

Either way, good stuff Jay, thank you so much

From your lips

to the Tesla software team's ears

let's hopefully make this happen

Next up is Dave

in Raleigh

Hey Ryan, it's Dave in Raleigh

Huge congrats on 10 years of ride to

Lightning without missing a single week

That is amazing

I've been listing since 2017

when I was researching a Model S

Your show became my go-to

and with your guidance, I took the plunge

on a 2018 Model S

even pre-paying

for FSD

That car turned out to be

not just the best car I've ever owned

but the best consumer product of any kind

The iPhone

is a distant second

I'm also a Tesla shareholder

and your coverage of the products, the earnings calls

and the market Scuttlebutt

has been invaluable to my research

I'm a proud Patreon supporter

too

Bravo brother, keep it rolling

Quick Tesla story, my Model S

Bebo has been phenomenal

at 98,928 miles

she's used lots of tires

but the only work has been

under warranty

a hardware 3-upgrade and a 12-volt battery

Until last February

she refused to go into gear

turned out the high-voltage battery

was near failure

Luckily, I was 7 years into the 8-year warranty

Tesla replaced

both the big battery

and the 12-volt battery

again under warranty

I just paid the tow bill

Even when she failed

she did it safely in my garage

so technically, she's never stranded me

and even better

while she was in the shop

Tesla gave me a Cybertruck

loaner for a week

hardware 4 is a big leap

the truck feels strong

nimble and huge all at once

and I went from skeptical

to loving the look of that beast

it was frustrating

to have to go through the app

for the initial diagnostics

but once I was dealing with humans

it was first class all the way

kudos to Tesla for the products

and service

I'm a Tesla lifer

thanks to your family

and the puppies

Dave, you made my day

with this very, very kind phone call

thank you so much, seriously

I am so glad that your Model S

has treated you so well

and boy, thank goodness that your high-voltage battery

issue fell just within the battery warranty

that's a huge relief

and now

you must feel like you have

half a new car

at this point

with my wire and 4-wheel steering

on the Cybertruck for a week

while your car was at the service center

getting, I guess, what I would consider

a lung transplant

because maybe like the MCU

or FSD computer would be a brain transplant

swapping the motors

would be a heart transplant

the battery is like the lungs

am I off on that?

anyway, Dave

here is to another 100,000 miles

of joy from that

Model S for you

cheers, appreciate the call

I've got time for one more caller this week

it's from another Dave

Dave David T

specifically from Syracuse, New York

responding to my thoughts

on the summer update and specifically

the light sync feature

hey Ryan

this is David T from Syracuse, New York

gosh man, fifth or sixth time caller

but long time listener

so hey, I was listening

to your recent episode regarding the new

light sync update with the new software update

so I had a few bodies

ride along and check out the new

update since those updated light

features came out for the new Juniper

I have a 26, felt gray

love it

my friends love it too by the way

anyway, I do have a few friends in the medical

field who have them too

and they mentioned

a cool unique suggestion

I guess this wouldn't matter if you had

an FSD enabled or not

but let's say you're driving

and you may be cruising with music

on, vibing, enjoying your day

and you have

an ambulance, maybe a police car

fire department

creeping in your rear view with lights on

how cool would it be

down the road or something if Tesla

facilitated a new update where

if it detects emergency lights

your new light sync feature

or ambient lights maybe

or a red and blue

or in general turned red and blue

or gave you some sort of warning

I think that would be really a nice touch

just a couple bodies of mine in the medical

field suggested that

I think that would be a really cool little addition

maybe you can toggle on or off

in those light sync settings

hope you and Daisy and the rest of the family

are doing well, thanks Ryan

I love that idea David

more awareness

of emergency vehicles around you

is a really bad thing

I think we've all seen plenty of people

on the road at some point or another

who don't pull over to the side

because they're either jamming to music

and lost in that

or lost in thought or on their phone

etc

so I think your idea here would be a good way

to help alert people

I'm happy to co-sign on this one

again hopefully the Tesla software folks are listening

thank you David

for your call

I'm fine enough to take some time

to record a call

to call in and participate in the podcast

I promise I will get to more

of your ride the lightning phone calls

on next week's podcast

but now

we move to the soul of

adventure what's going on with my car

and well

honestly not much so I guess I can just keep

moving because we already

we're well past the 75 minute mark

here of this week's episode

you know what I'm going to give you an entertainment

recommendation though

and I believe it was

long time listener and patreon backer

Michael Gallo that had suggested this to me

I think I hope I'm attributing this

correctly I watched it

on a recommendation

super super enjoyed it

it's on Paramount Plus

and it is a documentary called

Casa Bonita Mi Amor

and it is about

the creators of South Park

Matt and Trey Parker

buying this famous

Denver area restaurant

that's like half Mexican restaurant

and half Disneyland

that opened in the 70s

and generations of

kids have grown up like having

birthday parties there and loving it and having a great time

there was a South Park episode about it

because Matt and Trey are from that area

and grew up with it

and it's about them

buying Casa Bonita out of

the and the insane

scenario

that unfolded when they got in there

and saw like how bad

the situation was with the building

and everything they did

to eventually reopen it

I mean maybe you're not going to care

if you're not a South Park fan

I'm a big fan of everything Matt and Trey do

I am of the opinion

you know comedy is very subjective

I think they're the two

most brilliant satirists

of our time

I mean the Book of Mormon was hilarious

Team America

was hilarious

South Park I just

I adore I've loved it since the very beginning

everything those guys do

I've been a big fan of

and this documentary was really neat

it was kind of a neat thing

I'm glad they shot it

I'm glad they filmed this whole thing

so anyway Casa Bonita

Mia Moore on Paramount Plus

if you want to check that out

back to Tesla stuff though

here is your pro tip of the week

it comes from Jonathan in Georgia

I mean it connects to drive the car

but it doesn't connect necessarily

your contacts from your phone

or to answer your phone

and things along those lines

from the car

it doesn't automatically connect

I have to manually connect nearly every time

but I think I figured out

a hack or a workaround

not necessarily a solution

but the suggestion that I have

I've noticed it works almost 100% of the time

if I get into the car

and I shut the door

I put my foot on the brake pedal

and then shut the door

my phone connects almost 100% of the time

but if I get in the car

and I don't put my foot on the brake pedal

and I shut the door

the screen turns off and then of course

to turn the screen back on

I put my foot on the brake pedal

when that happens the phone is not connected

but if you put your foot on the brake pedal

before you shut the door

like I said nearly 100% of the time

and this is Jonathan from Senoi, Georgia

I'm going to count this

as a pro tip, Jonathan

because this will certainly

help other owners out there

who are having this issue

I am lucky to say that this hasn't

been a problem for me in either

Model 3

so I'm not sure if it really is

a Model Y specific issue

or just a random bug

of sorts

but regardless I am so glad to hear

you found a simple workaround that's effective

and I am happy to share it

with everybody listening to this podcast

thank you so much, Jonathan

appreciate you calling in with that pro tip

and as I

like to remind you here I play a pro tip

every single week

so sometimes the well

runs a little dry I'm doing okay right now

but if you've got a good

Tesla or EV pro tip

boy would I love to hear it

so that I can learn from it

and I can share it with everybody listening

so if you have a Tesla pro tip

of the week please call

in with it also

try to keep it to 90 seconds or less

and you can submit it the same way

that you send in a regular ride

the lightning hotline call and I gave you

the two methods

to do that a little while

ago

before I scoot out of here I want to mention

some friends of ride the lightning that can hopefully

be useful to you at some point

in the interim future maybe it's something you just file away

in the back of your head

abstractocean.com

they have so many great aftermarket accessories

not just for all the Teslas

but for the Rivians as well

and plenty of other vehicles

you got to check them out

maybe you like the custom fit

fourth generation tempered glass

screen protector that they've got

which is made using gorilla glass

the good stuff that's hard to break hard to scratch

maybe you want to grab

one of their many lighting kits

for the interior or exterior

of the car to either

add some extra lighting or change

the color of the lighting in the cars

there's just so much good stuff

for you Cybertruck owners

they sell the

expel custom

cut

protection film pieces

for the non-stainless parts of the car

so your wheel arches

the tailgate top just the rails

like all the different pieces that

if you want to keep that Cybertruck

looking as good as it possibly can

you're going to want to check that stuff out

at abstractocean.com

and whatever you like after you've browsed around

the site you've added everything

you like to your online shopping cart

you get to check out

you put in the code

RTLpodcast

and you'll get 15% off of

your first order that coupon code

again it's all one word

it's RTLpodcast

so check them out

abstractocean.com

the snap plate meanwhile

and the new snap plate

plus as an extra option

which is a stronger

custom reinforced version

but the snap plate is available

for again all the Teslas plus the Rivians

including by the way

the new Model Y

and it's been redesigned to accommodate

the front bumper camera

which was a big topic of discussion

earlier on this show

so they've got you covered as the short version

I really

prefer the snap plate versus

the front license plate

bracket that Tesla gives you

with your car because

the one that Tesla gives you

sticks to the car with automotive

tape with adhesive

and it is not

going to be fun to get off

if you ever want to take it off for any reason

good luck

doing so without damaging the paint

the snap plate will go on

securely but come off

easily and leave no unsightly

anything behind

and it's a nice clean minimalist design

which I'm a big fan of

so go to

everyamp.com

slash RTL

or click the link in the episode description

choose whichever product you prefer

the regular snap plate or the stronger

snap plate plus

and when you get to check out

use the coupon code RTL

for a nice discount there

thank you to my friends at every amp

for continuing to extend

that coupon code discount

to my audience

Immaculate Reflections

super talented professional

automotive detailer

here in the greater San Francisco Bay area

so if you're here

or gonna be here

for a car that you love

actually as I record this

it's car week down in Monterey

so that's the greater Bay area

maybe you were coming through

for a car week in Monterey

but any case

whatever time of year it is

although at this time of year still summer

and the summer special

continues for my audience

at Immaculate Reflections

so if you get in touch

through the website which is

www.imaculatereflections.com

and you talk through it

with Jeff the owner there

and you figure out

what you want to do with your budget

whether it's paint correction

paint protection film on some of the car

maybe just the front

maybe the key like areas front and back

maybe the whole car

or maybe you want to do

ceramic coating

or some combination of those

whatever you want to do

and Immaculate Reflections

and make sure to mention

say hey Jeff I'm a ride the lightning

listener may I please have the summer

special and he will say yes

you absolutely may

and that means $200

off of any paint correction

service $500

off of any ceramic coating

package and 15%

off of any PPF

package so that is awesome

stuff again go to the website

www.irdetailing.com

my Patreon one more time

you can find it at patreon.com

slash Tesla podcast

that is where you can go

to support what I'm doing here

weekend and week out it's totally free

of course always has been always will be

but your support is

truly what allows me to

continue justifying

the time the energy

the care the passion that I put into this

It is because of you guys that I keep going.

I love doing it, don't get me wrong.

It's not like I'm only doing it for money.

That is definitely not the case,

but it takes up a significant enough chunk of my life

that your support on Patreon is sincerely appreciated.

Let me put it that way.

So if you see it in your heart to support me,

you can do so starting at just five bucks a month.

And for five bucks a month,

you'll get an ad-free episode every week

and you'll get that ad-free episode early.

If you step up to the most popular tier,

which is the $10 per month tier,

you get the early episode, the ad-free early episode,

and you get those weekly 155 and counting

lightning round mini episodes to listen to as well.

All that extra bonus content is right there for you.

So go to my Patreon page at patreon.com slash Tesla podcast.

If you're not already following the podcast,

but you use one of the big podcast services

like Apple podcasts or Spotify or tune in

or YouTube podcasts, I'm on all of those.

So I recommend that you follow me there,

which doesn't cost you a dime.

All you gotta do is just search ride the lightning Tesla

on any of those.

You should see this podcast pull up right away

and just click follow.

And what that's gonna do is every time there's a new episode,

which is every Sunday at 9 a.m. Eastern, 6 a.m. Pacific,

you'll get a push notification on your device,

letting you know about the new episode

so that you can go, oh yeah, okay, you're right.

New ride the lightning today, great.

You can just tap on it and immediately start listening.

You can also follow me on both X and or Instagram.

My username is the same on both of those

and that username is DMC underscore Ryan.

You can email me anytime about any Tesla

or EV related things at teslapodcastatgmail.com.

Lastly here, I wanna say a big hello and thank you

to the top tier Patreon backers,

starting with the newest Maximum Plaid tier member,

Matt Chinander.

Matt, thank you so much for upgrading.

Matt was already kindly backing me on Patreon,

but very generously upgraded to the Maximum Plaid tier,

which means that Matt will not only

not only get his name shouted out every week,

but he'll be invited to each month's

Patreon Zoom Hangout.

Next one will be coming up again in early September.

Looking forward to seeing you and chatting with you

on there, Matt, with the rest of the great group

that we always have every single month.

So the rest of the Maximum Plaid backers are

Jonathan Wales, Cameron Clark, Daniel Grummer,

Seth Capello, Nick and Tony, the Galpin family,

Ryan from New York City, Darren Nickel,

Cos Barnes, Patrick Wisnesky, Gil Cabrera,

Todd Badger, Joe Edgel, Kevin Yank,

the Tesla Owners Club of San Joaquin Valley,

Will Steadman, Justin Perez, Jeremy Harris,

Chris Beech, Tom Mills, Cory O'Donnell, Aaron,

John Cody, Joel Sapp, Paul Casarino, Chris Osborn,

KB, Adam Lavoie, Jason Chalukis, Travis Krenzel,

Bruce Otterstein, Tom Behan, Josh Pennington,

John from Cream Ridge, New Jersey,

Dustin Hart, Derek Finley, Charles Clement,

Damon Klein, Jeff Brown, Jerry Slinger,

Kenneth Corbett, Brian Bertoglio, Kim Bae,

Troy Sievers, Nick Jacoby and Chip Hooper.

Next up, the Roadster in Space tier backers

who get all that stuff, plus a one on one

hangout with me each month if they elect to choose it

as a few of them usually do

and it's always fun to chat.

So a big thanks goes out to Pete White, Lyle Austin,

Steve Radspinner, Fernando Cordero,

Lawton from Chicago, Sean Nidig, Neil Weaver,

Jackson Wallace, Rolf and Jennifer Evers,

Howard Anthony Smith, Victoria Ayacaveto,

Tesla Hitchhiker 42, Carol Weston,

Robert from Near Philly, American Home Contractors,

Doug Carey, Michael Gallo and Tony Figueroa.

And finally, the grandfathered in,

very awesome folks at the plaid tier.

This tier is officially not offered anymore,

but these very generous folks continue to support

the podcast and support what I'm doing here at that tier

and so they'll continue to get all the perks

and bonuses that they should get for that,

which includes their shout out each week here.

So hello and thank you to George Cascioppo,

Logan Willis, Peter Chalet, Eric Randolph,

Dory and Steve Guberman,

the Tesla Owners Club of Taiwan,

Ron Lee, Charlie Gillespie, Jeff Angwin,

Chase Cabaneas, the Lydia family,

Aaron Alschul, Jared Brown, Jerome Strack,

Jamie Dalton, Mike and Barbara from Louisville,

Matt Nixon, the Tesla Owners Club of Wisconsin,

Ish, not Elon Musk, who by the way,

saw him at the last hangout,

he is in fact, not Elon Musk, we learned.

It wasn't just a joke from Elon.

No, he's a real, he's really not Elon Musk

and it was great to chat with him.

Peter and the Bear Boys of Colorado.

That'll wrap it up here for Ride the Lightning Episode

524, ooh, Palindrome coming up next week, 525,

same number forwards and backwards.

That should be fun.

As always, there will probably be plenty

of interesting Tesla and EV stuff to talk about.

I look forward to that, but in the meantime,

I wanna thank you for your time.

Thank you for your attention.

If you made it this far, this was a lot of podcast

once again this week and your time is

your most valuable resource arguably

because we all only get the same 24 hours a day.

So thank you for spending a chunk

of your week here with me,

talking all things Tesla and EV and these cars

and this company's mission and what they're up to.

I appreciate it, I appreciate you.

Happy electric motoring and I'll see you back here next week.

["Pomp and Circumstance"]

Elon Musk, people don't like Elon Musk.

The guy found a PayPal and Tesla

and people are like, yeah, but he's a troll and a bad dad.

I'm like, so is mine, he did nothing to fight climate change.

Also, have you been in a Tesla?

Have you been in a Tesla?

My buddy let me drive a Tesla.

I laughed out loud at how fast it went.

Been clinically depressed my entire life

on dozens of medications in a Tesla for 13 seconds

cured forever.

I mean, I think a Tesla is the most fun thing

you could possibly buy ever.

That's what it's meant to be.

Our goal is to make...

It's not exactly a car.

It's actually a thing to maximize enjoyment.

It's maximum fun.

Episode 524: New Patent Suggests Next-Gen Roadster Might Be 'Fan'-tastic

Tesla Roadster

Ford F-150 Lightning

Tesla Cybertruck

Tesla Model Y

Lucid Air

Tesla Model 3

Tesla Model S

Hummer Ev

Ford Model T

Ford F150

Ford Mustang

Tesla Semi

Tesla Cybercab

Tesla Model X

About this episode

Original notes