Tesla Eyelid?? | Tesla Time News 629

The video recaps a busy week of Tesla and SpaceX developments, anchored by Elon Musk's relentless push on AI and autonomous driving. Key highlights include Tesla's new "eyelid" lens-cleaning patent to solve a final self-driving puzzle, the Boring Company's proposed Nola Loop tunnel in New Orleans, and first steel for an Optimus factory at Giga Texas capable of producing 10 million robots annually. SpaceX secured a $2.29 billion Space Force contract, expanded Starlink to American Airlines, and revealed a custom AI training stack for 220,000 GPUs that could dramatically speed up Grok V5 training, while Musk vowed to never give up on AI. He also clarified battery cost hype and tweeted about building a moon base, amid news of a CIA official's arrest. The episode closes with a lighter "Where in the World?" photo game revealing locations like Bologna, Portland, and Johnson City.

• ▶ 0:23 Tesla's new lens-cleaning patent acts like "eyelids" to keep cameras clean, which Zach calls one of the last pieces of the autonomous driving puzzle.
• ▶ 1:25 New Orleans Mayor Helina Moreno proposes a one-mile Boring Company tunnel called Nola Loop, with the Boring Company paying for the first phase.
• ▶ 2:42 First steel goes in for the Optimus factory at Giga Texas, which will be as long as the Gigafactory and capable of producing 10 million Optimi per year.
• ▶ 3:47 Starlink is coming to American Airlines, putting Starlink on three of the four major U.S. airlines, with rollout for most of American's domestic fleet expected to begin in early 2027.
• ▶ 4:04 SpaceX won a $2.29 billion U.S. Space Force contract to deliver the Star Shield Space Data Network by end of 2027, a jam-resistant military satellite network for fast battlefield communications.
• ▶ 5:03 A contributor tip reveals the Cybertruck wiper button cycles through manual speed levels and then bounces back down, offering an easier adjustment method than the scroll wheel.
• ▶ 6:23 Elon vows "never give up" on AI; notes SpaceX AI is only 3 years old vs. older rivals, and cites SpaceX being "written off as dead after 6" before succeeding.
• ▶ 7:23 Elon corrects Tesla battery patent hype: it will not cut battery costs in half, but will significantly reduce cathode production costs, with Gigafactory Texas already mass-producing cells.
• ▶ 8:07 Elon tweets "Time to build a major base on the moon"; later mentions leaving the SpaceX AI office at 2:45 a.m. while hinting at a possible breakthrough in AI training.
• ▶ 8:34 The FBI arrested a senior CIA official after discovering over $40 million in gold bars and $2 million in cash at his Virginia home.
• ▶ 9:48 SpaceX has almost finished writing an in-house AI training stack in C that exactly maps 220,000 GB300s with 800G NICs, potentially improving speed by over an order of magnitude versus JAX.
• ▶ 10:21 Elon Musk confirmed the new stack will be used for Grok V5.
• ▶ 10:35 They unveil new “Where in the World?” tech: photos now display on a distant, phone-sized screen instead of the teleprompter, making details like license plates much harder to see and reducing hint ability.
• ▶ 13:25 Neil’s mystery location is revealed as Bologna, Italy — not because the city smells like bologna, but because a passenger unwrapped a bologna sandwich on the train just as they arrived.
• ▶ 13:57 A guess of Washington State is corrected to Portland, Oregon, with the window tint from David’s BrightDrop photo cited as the key visual clue.
• ▶ 14:31 The BYD delivery van photo is revealed to be on Koh Phangan, Thailand, after guesses of Israel and Singapore.
• ▶ 15:21 A "super hard" road photo is solved by zooming in on a billboard and then a building sign revealing Philadelphia, surprising the hosts because of all the Teslas.
• ▶ 15:56 The final photo is a Cybercab spotted in Johnson City, Texas, described as halfway to Gainesville from Austin.

• ▶ 0:00 Introduction & Tesla News (0:00 - 3:43) - - Host intro, Tesla lens-cleaning patent, Nola Loop tunnel proposal, renewables milestone, Optimus factory tease, and Supercharger noise fix.
• ▶ 3:43 SpaceX News & Community Stories (3:43 - 6:07) - - SpaceX Starlink/Space Force contract, Cybertruck wiper contributor story, and Patreon bonus stories/giveaway.
• ▶ 6:07 Elon's Tweets & Space Plans (6:07 - 8:31) - - Tweets of the week, vehicle rollout/battery costs, Hungry Hippo Starship idea, moon base, AI training, and First Amendment joke.
• ▶ 8:31 FBI Arrest & AI Training Updates (8:31 - 10:25) - - CIA official arrest/gold bar jokes, patrons note, and SpaceX in-house AI training stack in C.
• ▶ 10:25 Community Mail Time & Photo Guessing (10:25 - 14:17) - - Community mail setup, nine EV photo guesses, reveals, and a Portlandia episode mention.
• ▶ 14:17 Final Geo-Guessing Game & Answers (14:17 - 16:56) - - Final BYD/Tesla location guesses and reveal in Point Loma, San Diego.