After years of taking the public for a ride, Elon Musk says he’s finally ready to deliver on making the ride fully autonomous.

The Tesla CEO unveiled the company’s long-awaited robotaxi last night at an event on the Warner Bros. film lot in Burbank, California. Dubbed the Cybercab, the futuristic-looking vehicle lacks a steering wheel and pedals but comes with a promise that it will arrive some time in 2026 and cost less than $30,000.

Musk also made the surprise reveal of a companion Robovan, an autonomous 20-seater that has no windshield and can be used for personal use (say, shuttling your little league team around) or for commercial purposes.

Tesla’s future is self-riding on autonomy

With the EV company losing ground to competitors in China and at home—its share of the US electric car market fell below 50% this year—and its stock down 40% from its record high in 2021, Elon Musk has staked Tesla’s future on self-driving technology and artificial intelligence.

• In April, he said, “If somebody doesn’t believe Tesla is going to solve autonomy, I think they should not be an investor in the company.”

Tesla is playing catch-up: Alphabet-owned Waymo has operated driverless taxis for years and says it provides more than 100,000 paid rides per week in San Francisco, Phoenix, and Los Angeles. GM’s Cruise has also deployed robot cabs, although the company had to put humans behind the wheel after a pedestrian was critically injured last year. Amazon-owned Zoox is testing a driverless van, with plans to start a paid service.

Why could Tesla win? Because it’s able to collect tons of useful data from millions of its cars already on roads. Plus, the self-driving technology it’s relying on is cheaper than that used by rivals like Waymo, so it could potentially undercut them on price.

What’s next? Tesla will need regulatory approval to operate its robotaxi on public roads instead of closed movie lots. Per Wired, the company has yet to contact the California Public Utilities Commission about applying for autonomous permits.—DD

Florida assesses the damage from deadly Hurricane Milton. The storm made landfall as a Category 3 near Siesta Key, Florida, on Wednesday night, killing at least 10 people and causing up to $75 billion in damages. The roof of Tropicana Field, the stadium of the MLB’s Tampa Bay Rays, was destroyed. A construction crane was toppled from a high rise in St. Petersburg, scattering debris. Officials said more than 18 inches of rain fell on the city, and more than 3 million Floridians lost power. Despite all the damage, it could have been worse: President Biden said “lifesaving measures did make a difference,” while Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Milton ultimately did not become the worst-case scenario.

Inflation continued to cool, but not as much as some hoped. The consensus on yesterday’s consumer price index report was “good, but not great,” as overall inflation in September fell to 2.4%—its lowest level in three years—but still slightly hotter than the 2.3% estimate. While some prices remained stubborn, observers were pleased that housing costs show signs of lasting moderation. Investors still expect another interest rate cut next month.

Rafael Nadal announced his retirement. The Spanish tennis legend will hang up his signature Nike headband for good following the Davis Cup in November. Known for his dominance on clay, the 38-year-old Nadal won 22 Grand Slam titles, including 14 French Opens. His aggressive style made for a number of legendary matches against his main rival, Roger Federer (who retired in 2022), but it also contributed to injuries throughout his career, which he cited as the main reason for his retirement. “In this life, everything has a beginning and an end,” Nadal said in a video he posted on social media. He’ll retire with $560 million in career earnings, according to Sportico.—AE

Before Lina Khan took over as chair, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) was better known for protecting Americans from scam artists than for taking big swings. Now, with antitrust crusader Khan dramatically raising the agency’s profile, the position holds so much weight that it started a feud between billionaires and politicians.

At an event on Tuesday, billionaire Mark Cuban suggested that Kamala Harris, if elected president, should boot Khan as head of the FTC, criticizing how she and the agency have targeted Big Tech companies by trying to block mergers. Cuban is a megadonor to Harris’s campaign.

• Cuban said Khan was risking the US’ ability to be the global leader in AI.
• Progressive lawmakers Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez came to her defense on X, with AOC promising an “out and out brawl” if other billionaires try to oust Khan.

The feud comes as Harris tries to prove to deep-pocketed Dems that she would be more pro-business than President Biden. Harris has privately indicated she could replace FTC and SEC officials, according to the Financial Times.

Zoom out: The Cubes vs. AOC isn’t the only battle to watch. Other members of the Democratic 1%, including LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, want Khan out and are prepared to withhold donations to Harris’s campaign if they aren’t confident that a less aggressive replacement will take the reins at the agency, per Bloomberg.—CC

America’s biggest international airline is prioritizing the microbangs and mullets of travel destinations. United is adding a slate of non-mainstream vacation spots next year in a bid to excite experienced globetrotters who are sick of the Paris and Barcelona crowds, the company announced yesterday.

Exclusive: No other US airlines offer flights to seven of the eight cities United unveiled for its new 2025 summer service, according to The Points Guy.

• United passengers will be able to fly direct from Newark, NJ, to Bilbao in Spain, Faro and Madeira in Portugal, Sicily in Italy (the setting of The White Lotus season 2), and Nuuk in Greenland, where a new international airport could ignite a tourism boom.
• New routes from Tokyo to Kaohsiung, Taiwan, and Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia (which has become a sneaky vacay hot spot), could make it easier for Americans to explore East Asia.
• United will also start flying from Washington Dulles International Airport in Virginia to Dakar, Senegal, which Delta already flies to from JFK International Airport.

Off the beaten airstrip. With the new flights, United will boast 40 direct international routes that none of its US competitors cover. According to Sr. United VP Patrick Quayle, “What we see is the more unique content, the better the credit card acquisitions.”—ML

If you’ve walked by a defunct Redbox vending machine recently and wondered why it’s still there months after the DVD rental company went bankrupt, the answer is that they weigh nearly 900 pounds and it’s kind of an ordeal to get rid of them. There are still ~24,000 useless, hulking bright red kiosks in the field, the Wall Street Journal reported, and many of them require an electrician to disconnect. While the primordial husks stand idly in the corner of your local CVS or Walmart, they still mooch off businesses’ electricity like the worst freeloader you’ve ever known. Walgreens said it’s spending $184k a month across 3,800 stores just to power Redbox kiosks that do nothing but take up room that could be used to display 14 varieties of Old Spice deodorant. Once the chunky relics of a bygone era of entertainment are removed, they will likely be stripped and sold for scrap metal.—AE

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