Calvin's Updates

Daily AI briefs, Tesla automotive updates, and Latchkey Club blog drafts in one dated archive.

Tesla daily briefFriday, August 28, 2026

Tesla Update — 2026-08-28

Tesla News & Deals

Confirmed deals

  • Tesla’s U.S. Current Offers page no longer displays the Model 3, Model Y, or Cybertruck lease examples that were visible in yesterday’s check. The page retrieved at 3:00 AM HST still lists 1.99% APR for up to 72 months on Model 3 Premium RWD, Premium AWD, and Performance, and 0.99% APR for up to 72 months on Model Y RWD, AWD, Premium RWD, and Premium AWD (3.99% for Performance). Both require at least 5% down plus taxes and fees, qualified credit, and exclude used and enterprise vehicles; Model 3 RWD and Model Y L Premium are also excluded. Tesla gives no fixed expiration and does not state combinability. What changed: the previously published lease illustrations—$419/month Model 3 RWD, $499/month Model Y RWD, and $1,129/month Cybertruck Premium AWD—are absent from the current page. That confirms a page/offer-listing change, not that leasing has ended; verify a ZIP 96825 quote in the configurator before ordering. Confidence: confirmed. Tesla Current Offers

  • No new U.S. purchase incentive appeared overnight. Tesla continues to offer 2,000 free Supercharging miles with a completed gas- or hybrid-vehicle trade-in toward a new custom-order or inventory Tesla; used vehicles and B2B sales are excluded, the miles expire two years after delivery, and congestion or other charging fees still apply. The standard 30-day FSD (Supervised) trial and $500 American Heroes discount also remain listed. These are continuing offers, not new August 28 promotions. Hawaii eligibility was not separately confirmed. Confidence: confirmed. Tesla Current Offers

Important Tesla news

  • A documented FSD v14.3.7 near miss at an active railroad crossing adds a concrete safety warning. Electrek published dashcam footage from auto journalist Lei Xing showing a Tesla approaching flashing signals and a visible/audible train while FSD remained engaged; Xing says he braked manually before the car entered the tracks. Electrek says this is at least the third railroad-crossing failure it has documented this year and cites an existing NHTSA investigation into broader FSD traffic-control failures. This is not a Tesla or regulator finding about this specific incident, but the owner takeaway is immediate: FSD remains supervised Level 2 assistance, and drivers should be ready to take over at every grade crossing. Confidence: credibly reported. Electrek

  • Software 2026.26.6.5 with FSD (Supervised) v14.3.8 has started a narrow North American rollout. Not a Tesla App’s tracker showed 81 sampled cars, about 0.6% of its fleet, when checked. The build combines the 2026.26 Summer Update with v14.3.8 on newer hardware and v14.1 Lite on eligible older hardware; the tracker did not identify a new Tesla-published driving-stack capability versus v14.3.7. Treat this as staged distribution, not broad availability, and do not assume it resolves the railroad-crossing behavior above. Confidence: credibly reported, based on a third-party fleet tracker reproducing release notes. 2026.26.6.5 release and rollout data

Rumors and early signals

  • A community tracker says 79 additional Model Y robotaxis were registered in Texas, raising its count from 191 to 270. Not a Tesla App correctly notes that registration does not prove a vehicle is active, unsupervised, or carrying passengers; Tesla has not published a fleet total, and the underlying registration list was not independently reproduced in this run. This is therefore an expansion signal, not a confirmed operating-fleet count. Confirmation would require the underlying Texas records, a Tesla disclosure, or independently observed commercial deployments. Confidence: unconfirmed/early signal. Not a Tesla App

Deal watch

  • Offers approaching expiration: Tesla publishes no fixed end date for the current APR programs, trade-in Supercharging miles, or the lease programs that were listed yesterday. Their removal from the Current Offers page makes the configurator—not yesterday’s examples—the only safe authority for a new lease quote.
  • Meaningful inventory discounts: Tesla’s public inventory page exposed several reduced 2026 Model Y units, including demo/repaired vehicles discounted roughly $670 to $1,590, but the retrieved page did not expose a location and did not verify any unit within ZIP 96825. Do not treat those examples as Hawaii availability. Tesla new inventory
  • Stronger-promotion signal: modest. Removing public lease examples only four days after their August 24 refresh may indicate another program adjustment, but there is no confirmed replacement offer yet. Third-party CarsDirect cards still conflict with Tesla’s live terms and should not be treated as orderable quotes. CarsDirect Tesla lease snapshot
  • Buy now or wait: evidence favors waiting for a non-urgent lease shopper until Tesla republishes lease terms or the ZIP 96825 configurator produces a firm quote. A well-qualified financing buyer still has a clearer case to act under the unchanged 0.99% Model Y or 1.99% Model 3 programs, but should verify exact trim, 5% down, Hawaii eligibility, taxes and fees, inventory status, and combinability before paying an order fee.