Vessev’s VS–9 electric hydrofoiling boat begins passenger operations [Video] - Related to vs–9, will, fsd, affordable, tesla

Tesla FSD will ‘go ballistic’ next year, says guy who said that last year

Tesla will “go ballistic” next year on the back of its autonomy efforts says Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who expressed the same thing last year about this year – and many years before.

Tesla held its Q4 and full year 2024 earnings today, missing expectations on revenue and earnings. The business had its first down sales year since 2011, despite a rising EV market.

The market initially responded poorly to the numbers, but recovered as Tesla guided a return to growth.

Part of that return to growth includes Musk’s prediction that Tesla’s autonomous offerings will drastically improve, leading to an “epic 2026 and a ridiculously good ’27 and ’28.” He stated that Tesla is “really going to go ballistic next year, and really ballistic in ’27 and ’28.”.

But these statements echo things that Musk has mentioned before, even up until a few months ago.

Last year, in Tesla’s Q2 earnings call, Musk described no less than 6 ways that the firm would change the world in 2025.

Those six ways were: Tesla Semi, a new “affordable EV,” the next-gen Roadster, unsupervised full self-driving, Robotaxi, and Optimus robot.

Those last three all fall under the umbrella of autonomous operation, which Musk has pivoted increasingly towards promising on short timelines (“next year”) and with ridiculous valuations (~$20-30 trillion market cap) in an attempt to pump the stock that the vast majority of his wealth is held in.

Those promises were supposed to come this year, in 2025, when they were promised last year, in 2024.

But today, during 2025, Musk seemed to move back that promise to next year, 2026.

It’s something that has happened many times before, as Musk has continually promised fully autonomous operation for several years now. Going all the way back to 2014, we’ve heard promises that Tesla’s cars would be able to drive themselves, even across country with no driver, as early as 2017. Many of these promises included the phrase “next year,” just as today’s did, despite Musk’s earliest timelines now being 8 years ago.

In today’s call, Musk spent a lot of time highlighting recent progress Tesla has made towards large-scale unsupervised FSD, by pointing out that Tesla’s vehicles are now able to operate themselves at low-speed on well-marked private property by driving themselves around a factory parking lot. It is, at least, an improvement from being unable to drive themselves through a one-way tunnel.

Musk also went on to say that fully autonomous robotaxis would be in operation within 5 months in some US cities, and in all US cities by the end of next year. Tesla will start off in Austin, two-and-a-half years after Cruise started operation there (and later ended it), and after Waymo has already started testing in the area.

He expressed that FSD would come later in Europe, mostly due to disparate regulatory regimes in the region, which he expressed need to be fixed (and yet, he is lobbying to make regulations even more disparate in Europe, through advocating for parties that want to break up the EU, like the neo-Nazi AfD party in Germany, and others).

On the back of these autonomy advancements, which are coming after other companies have already started doing the same thing, Musk revealed that Tesla has the potential to become “the most valuable organization in the world” and “worth more than the next five companies combined.”.

But, , you shouldn’t be skeptical of his timeline. Despite the fact that he has continually been wrong, and expressed that it’s hard to predict the future (and yet he keeps doing so), he claimed today that “the only people who are skeptical are those who haven’t [tried FSD].” So, sound off in the comments if you’ve tried FSD and yet are skeptical of Tesla reaching full autonomy next year.

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Vessev’s VS–9 electric hydrofoiling boat begins passenger operations [Video]

Nascent electric hydrofoil boat builder Vessev shared another key milestone this week, putting its first electric hydrofoiling boat into commercial operations. Ferry transport business Fullers360 is now operating the ultra-efficient VS–9 vessel to transport tourists and other passengers.

Vessev is a young, eco-friendly boat builder founded in Auckland, New Zealand a few years ago. The organization currently operates there and has been conducting sea trials of its flagship vessel, an electric hydrofoiling boat called the VS–9, since coming out of stealth mode in May 2024.

We have been following the marine startup as it moved closer to reaching commercial operations and tourism with its unique electric hydrofoiling boat that “flies” above the water. Last year, we learned that Vessev has lined up its first customer in NetZero Maritime – the green technology team at Fullers360 – New Zealand’s largest ferry operator, who signed on to help commercialize the hydrofoil technology.

This past September, Vessev shared images and footage of its first completed VS–9 electric hydrofoiling boat build alongside news that it would begin transporting passengers in New Zealand as soon as certification was complete.

Last we heard, the VS–9 had entered the last phase of sea trails before beginning commercial operations and had even started selling ride tickets to the public. Today, Vessev confirmed that electric hydrofoil rides are operational in New Zealand and shared some video footage of the experience.

Vessev’s first hydrofoiling boat transports tourists in NZ.

As promised, Vessev’s first electric hydrofoiling boat has begun commercial ferry operations in Auckland, New Zealand, with Fullers360. The quiet, sustainable vessel has been dubbed “Kermadec” and is now transporting passengers on tourism trips across Auckland’s waterways.

, this is the first time in the world that a certified electric hydrofoiling boat has entered a commercial fleet for transport services. Vessev CEO Eric Laakmann elaborated:

We are incredibly proud to see the Vessev VS–9 enter service with Fullers360. The VS—9 is the first electric vessel to enter the Fullers360 fleet and represents an enormous step on their path to being net zero by 2040. For the public, we’re thrilled that they can now also share in what we’ve been experiencing since the launch of the VS—9 in May. Traditionally, larger vessels are required to deliver a comfortable passenger experience as they can handle the impact of waves and wake. By flying above the waves, the Vessev VS–9 delivers a large vessel experience on an agile platform that can be berthed and charged in nearly any marina. In the future, we are going to see many different use cases made viable by technology like this.

The VS–9 will transport its passengers at speeds up to 25 knots (~29 mph) and can travel up to 50 nautical miles (57 miles/[website] on a single charge. With its first electric hydrofoiling boat in operation, Vessev will look to deploy additional sustainable vessels, but that’s not all.

The business has shared plans to continue its collaboration with Fullers360 and eventually introduce a new vessel into service called VS–18 – a 100-seater electric hydrofoiling commuter ferry. While we await that model, here is some footage of the VS–9 in action:

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Volkswagen's New EV Is The Affordable Car Tesla Won't Build

Volkswagen revealed a new plan on Wednesday that signals a broader shift towards building affordable EVs.

A new entry-level model positioned under the [website] is coming to Europe by 2027, the automaker expressed.

The plant in Wolfsburg is on track to become Volkswagen's "capital of our new all-electric compact class."

Beyond the first and second waves of early adopters, electric cars have been somewhat elusive to the masses due to their high costs. Volkswagen, the world's second-largest automaker by sales volume, presented plans today to change that. The brand will launch a new entry-level EV that will be part of a wave of new affordable model launches over the next few years.

At its works meeting in Wolfsburg, Germany on Wednesday, Volkswagen showcased it has a new three-stage plan to remain competitive in the EV race, an area where it has struggled so far. Stage one is "catch up," followed by "attack" and "lead." The new affordable EV, presumably called the [website] (that name is unconfirmed) would be central to that plan.

It would start at €20,000 ($20,800) and be produced in Wolfsburg, which the brand noted would now become the "capital of our new all-electric compact class." It will be revealed in March and go on sale in Europe in 2027. It would be a model "from Europe, for Europe," so it's unclear if Volkswagen has any plans for a release in North America.

The teaser demonstrates a conventionally shaped compact hatchback with a clean front end. The headlamps are united by a thick black horizontal surround with an illuminated VW logo at the center, and vertical fog lamps housed in the bumper. VW didn't share any technical details, but logic points to it will ride on the modular electric drive (MEB) platform that underpins its current slate of ID series of EVs.

“We set the largest future plan in Volkswagen’s history in motion," VW CEO Thomas Schäfer expressed. "We are pursuing an ambitious path to ensure we achieve our shared goals with full commitment. A key step in this is making e-mobility attractive for everyone—that is our brand promise.”.

Before the new affordable EV goes on sale, Volkswagen will first launch the production version of the €25,000 [website] hatchback in Europe in 2026. It also plans to launch the next-generation electric Golf based on the scalable systems platform (SSP) by the end of the decade.

The Volkswagen [website] would be launched in Europe next year at about €25,000.

The list of Volkswagen's problems is lengthy and complicated. The German automaker has been facing severe headwinds amidst the broader electrification of the car market. Its sales have been falling, and it has struggled to keep up with the burgeoning Chinese EV brands—both in Europe and China, which is Volkswagen's largest market by sales volume.

The organization also faces competition from Tesla, which has been largely successful in Europe so far. Although, the American automaker's sales there have only slowed down in the recent past due to myriad reasons.

VW also narrowly averted what could have been historic plant closures in Europe after its workers went on prolonged strikes last year. Above all, its EV sales in the [website] have been lackluster after the [website]'s production stopped in mid-2024 to fix a faulty door issue. It's now back on sale and has plenty of catching up to do.

The brand has no new EV launches planned for the [website] this year. Even the [website] has been canceled for our market. But it has inked several strategic deals that could help revive its EV business. It revived the iconic Scout brand in the [website] and the fruits of that are expected to arrive by 2027. VW also has a $5 billion partnership with Rivian to build electric architectures and software suites for its next-generation EVs.

If the automaker brings this new affordable EV to the [website], it could have a genuine shot at turning things around.

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There are no Chinese brands in the [website], and seven brands from the [website].

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