While a lot of the recent focus on Tesla has centered around the production of the Model 3, let's not forget that the company has a few other self-driving vehicles in the works – and one of those, the Tesla Semi truck, seems to be covering a lot of distance without any help.
After Electrek reported that the Semi had called in on trucking giant JB Hunt, none other than Tesla boss Elon Musk tweeted that the vehicle was "driven across the country alone" using the existing Tesla Supercharger network – which is quite a feat considering it's still early days for the Tesla Semi.
Musk doesn't actually mean the truck did everything by itself – a backup driver would've still been on board – but it means there was no escort, no backup vehicles, and no reliance on the still-to-come Megacharger stations that will give the trucks the necessary juice.
Tales of Tesla
In other words, even though the Tesla Semi is still at the prototype stage and a while away from production, it can already get across the US using the charging stations designed for cars, and without any other vehicles or teams there to provide assistance.
It's a welcome bit of positive news for Tesla as it struggles to make its Model 3 cars profitable and find the cash supplies that mean it will be able to press forward with more ambitious projects. The vehicles are pioneering both electric propulsion and self-driving technology, which means a lot of different pieces making up the overall jigsaw.
There's still no word on when the Tesla Semi will go into production, but it comes with a different set of considerations to the Tesla cars – managing a huge amount of weight, and being able to travel autonomously in convoy, for example.
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