Farzad: Thank You BenSchafferUP for an UNFORGETTABLE Night + 2 Roadster Physics Checks + ethanmckanna Tracks a Record Day for Cybercab Sightings in Austin + Elon Says Grok Bot Got Much Faster

The morning after Tesla's Roadster event, Farzad posted "I still can't believe this is real lol" and thanked BenSchafferUP for an UNFORGETTABLE night. Early Friday evening CT, Farzad posted two Roadster physics checks. Elon said Grok Bot got much faster, and ethanmckanna's Austin camera count had Friday's Cybercab sightings at a record.

"I still can't believe this is real lol"

larsmoravy, Oct 16 at 3:06am CT: When someone builds a mountain, don't back down. Climb it, and see what happens. What the SpaceX and Tesla teams did tonight shows what throwing doubt to the wind and ego aside can do.

Farzad quoted it Oct 16 late morning CT: I still can't believe this is real lol

BenSchafferUP, Oct 16 at 3:08am CT: What an evening! Thanks Tesla for always inspiring. Great to see so many friends and long time supporters of both Tesla and UP tonight. I can't believe what I saw. Surreal. Farzad RTd it at 9:38am CT, three minutes after the larsmoravy quote.

Check larsmoravy here. Farzad's quote here. BenSchafferUP here. Farzad's RT here.

"UNFORGETTABLE night"

BenSchafferUP, Oct 16 late morning CT: Was awesome to share the Roadster experience with my homie @farzyness. Awesome memories bro! The post also gave shout outs to MattHolm3, XanderSky, JoshWest247, teslaownersSV and a bunch of Tesla and SpaceX folks. It said the TX trip would wrap after a couple more meetings.

Farzad liked the post. Five minutes after it went up, Farzad quoted it: Thank you @BenSchafferUP for an UNFORGETTABLE night!!!

BenSchafferUP, Oct 16 afternoon CT: Still buzzing from last night having witnessed pure engineering magic. This lock screen goes so hard! Farzad liked it.

Check BenSchafferUP here. Farzad's thank you here. Lock screen here.

A podcast on the drive back to Austin

davelee, Oct 16 late afternoon CT: Saw the Roadster demo last night and on drive back to Austin recorded a podcast with @emmetpeppers. We talk about our impressions on the Roadster, possible SpaceX merger, Optimus and where AI is headed.

Farzad liked the post and RTd it 23 minutes after davelee posted.

Check davelee here. Farzad's RT here.

ESPN, golf carts and Sputnik moments

SawyerMerritt, Oct 16 evening CT: When you've created a vehicle so insane that even ESPN wants to show it on their sports networks/social channels. Farzad liked it.

RonDeSantis, Oct 15 at 9:58pm CT, answering ryanvogel's question "Will this be street legal in Florida?": We will make sure that it's legal. The post continued: at a minimum could be used to leapfrog golf carts in the Villages. Farzad RTd it Oct 16 late morning CT.

Neither SawyerMerritt's post nor DeSantis's names the vehicle in its text. Making it legal is DeSantis's statement, and the post doesn't say how that would happen.

dhh, Oct 16 early morning CT: Starship, Starlink, Grok, and Roadster. These should all have been Sputnik moments for Europe. Farzad RTd it at 11:27am CT. The Sputnik framing is dhh's.

Check SawyerMerritt here. RonDeSantis here. Farzad's DeSantis RT here. dhh here. Farzad's dhh RT here.

Two Roadster physics checks

Farzad posted two Roadster videos a minute apart, Oct 16 early evening CT.

Check Tesla's 330 mph Roadster Target: "It's Just Gearing"? The Physics Check here. Tesla Says 0-60 in 0.81 s: That's 3.4 g, and No Street Tire Can Grip It here.

As both titles say, the 330 mph target and the 0.81 second 0-60 time are Tesla's claims. Lars Moravy gave Top Gear the 330 mph target, and Tesla's public spec lists a top speed over 230 mph. The 3.4 g figure and the point about street tires come from Farzad, in the second title.

For more on the Roadster, read the site's Exclusive: Tesla Roadster flies with SpaceX thrusters.

"Just merge SpaceX and Tesla already"

davelee, Oct 15 late evening CT: Come on, just merge SpaceX and Tesla already. Farzad RTd it Oct 16 late morning CT.

That's davelee's opinion. A possible SpaceX merger is also one of the topics davelee listed for the podcast. Nothing in these posts says a merger is planned.

SawyerMerritt, Oct 16 morning CT: SpaceX has announced that they will release their Q3 earnings on October 20th (next Tuesday). Tesla's Q3 earnings will be on October 21st (next Wednesday). Farzad liked it.

Check davelee here. Farzad's RT here. SawyerMerritt earnings here.

Cybercab sightings

ethanmckanna, Oct 17 at 12:58am CT: Cybercab sightings per 1,000 Austin traffic-camera snapshots. The 7-day average has gone up every day since Oct 3, from 4.7 to 6.5. Friday hit a record 8.4, above both ACL Saturdays.

Farzad liked it and RTd it Oct 17 morning CT. The numbers come from ethanmckanna's own count of traffic-camera snapshots, not from Tesla. The record Friday was Oct 16.

Farzad also posted a video Oct 16 early evening CT: Autonomous Cars Give You Time Back. That framing is Farzad's.

Check ethanmckanna here. Farzad's RT here. Autonomous Cars Give You Time Back here.

"Grok @Bot got much faster"

The bot account, Oct 16 afternoon CT: Grok Bot is much faster. Computer tasks finish 3x sooner on average, and replies to everything else arrive in less than half the time. Elon quoted it Oct 16 early evening CT: Grok @Bot got much faster. Farzad liked Elon's post.

The 3x and half the time figures come from the bot account's post.

0x_kaize, Oct 16 early afternoon CT: SpaceXAI just opened up the Grok Bots their OWN team uses. For example, Haggle Bot saved the team over $100K in its first week.

Elon replied 48 minutes later: We are putting a lot of effort into a specialized Hagglebot for business use, as we think it could improve enterprise cost-efficiency by 5% or more. Applied to the global GDP, this could be up to $6 trillion/year in savings, delivering an immediate and measurable advantage to any company using Grok @Bot. Farzad liked Elon's reply.

The 5% and $6 trillion figures are Elon's projection. The $100K first week savings comes from 0x_kaize's post.

Check Elon on speed here. bot account here. Elon on Hagglebot here. 0x_kaize here.

X ads and Threads

Elon, Oct 16 late morning CT: Going forward, all advertising on X will be subject to a reasonable esthetic standard. Advertisers who post ads that are ugly, shrill, strident or overstate claims about their product will be barred from advertising. Farzad liked it. The post doesn't say who decides what counts as ugly or shrill.

nikitabier, Oct 16 late evening CT: Last year I thought Threads was an existential risk to X. The post went on to say the opposite turned out to be happening and Threads was strengthening X. It said Threads and Bluesky have effectively quarantined some of the worst people on the internet, and it ended with an epiphany: those apps are X's anti-abuse systems.

Farzad liked it and RTd it 83 minutes after nikitabier posted. The take is nikitabier's.

Check Elon on ads here. nikitabier here. Farzad's RT here.

"American-made products are not impossible"

PalmerLuckey, Oct 17 at 2:30am CT: American-made products are not impossible. Stories about iPhones costing $37,000 or laptops costing $100,000 are psy-ops, sometimes pushed by foreign adversaries but more commonly by American corporations that want anything but an upset to the status quo.

PalmerLuckey was quoting garrxttt, who posted that Palmer Luckey says companies are exaggerating the cost of American manufacturing to justify staying in China. Farzad liked PalmerLuckey's post and RTd it Oct 17 morning CT. The psy-ops claim is Palmer Luckey's.

Check PalmerLuckey here. garrxttt here. Farzad's RT here.

New videos

On Oct 16, in the late morning CT, Farzad posted Nobody Talks About Human Slop. He thanked DavidCarbutt_ and team for the edit and maticrobots for sponsoring the video. On Oct 17, in the morning CT, Farzad posted The Insane Physics Behind Light.

Check Nobody Talks About Human Slop here. The Insane Physics Behind Light here.