Tesla's Logo: Its Hidden Meaning and Evolution Over Time

By Karan Singh
The meaning of the Tesla logo
The meaning of the Tesla logo
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Tesla’s logo is iconic – it’s a T, with the text “T E S L A” below it. However, it hasn’t always looked the same, and it does have a deeper meaning than just T representing the first letter.

So, let’s look at Tesla’s logo.

Meaning of the Tesla Logo

We’ll start with what the Tesla logo represents. As Elon Musk put it, the T is like the cross-section of an electric motor, similar to how SpaceX’s logo is like the trajectory of a rocket.

The outer line on top of the T represents the stator of the electric motor – the stationary component that contains the windings and generates a rotating magnetic field when current is applied to it. The lower section of the logo is one of the poles of the rotor, the moving component that is also wound with wire, forming a magnetic pole.

All together, putting the rotor and stator together is how Tesla’s EVs generate their movement and the basics behind how Nikola Tesla put together the first induction motor. The first induction motor was created in 1887, and Tesla the company is named after Nikola Tesla, the inventor of the electric motor.

Tesla’s fairly minimalist logo also aligns with its minimalist approach to things. No part is the best part, and a minimalist interior is the best interior.

Evolution of the Tesla Logo

Tesla's logo has evolved since its 2009 version
Tesla's logo has evolved since its 2009 version
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Tesla’s logo hasn’t always been the same. The original logo, back when the company was known as Tesla Motors, had the Tesla “T” inside of a shield emblem, representing safety. The word “Tesla” was also part of the logo and displayed within the shield.

In 2017, Tesla Motors simplified its name to just Tesla. At the same time, they redesigned their logo. Like the company’s name, the logo was also simplified. The shield was removed and the word Tesla moved to the bottom of the T. In 2017, Tesla also transitioned to using red in its logo, instead of the previous gray/black color combination.

The current Tesla logo we see today is a revision of the logo unveiled in 2017. The curve at the top of the logo is now more pronounced, the indent on the T is larger and the “T” is a little slimmer.

Tesla's old shield logo and font
Tesla's old shield logo and font
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Other Great Logos

Although Tesla doesn’t receive a lot of recognition for its creative logo, it’s a simple, creative logo with a deeper meaning that sits right up there with other great logos like those from the Pittsburgh Zoo, Black Cat and Sony VAIO (photo below) and others.

Today, Tesla’s simplistic logo also matches its philosophy of minimalism and simplistic approaches to solving difficult problems, such as solving full self-driving with a vision-only approach.

The creative logos from Pittsburgh Zoo, Sony VAIO and Black Cat.
The creative logos from Pittsburgh Zoo, Sony VAIO and Black Cat.
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Smart Assistant 'Grok' Coming to Tesla, Demo of Grok 3 Tonight

By Karan Singh
Not a Tesla App

xAI’s Grok AI Model has been receiving rapid updates, similar to Tesla’s FSD. After waiting for a major update, the latest version—Grok 3—is set to launch with a live demo on February 17th.

Grok 3 is supposed to bring big improvements, as xAI has changed its approach to training the Large Language Model (LLM). Unlike many other LLMs, Grok can access real-time information and adapt its answers based on the latest news and discussions happening on X’s platform, making it more suited for current events or breaking news.

At the World Governments Summit in Dubai, Elon also mentioned that Grok 3 is already outperforming its competitors, so there is a lot to look forward to. Let’s dig into the new capabilities and then see why they matter to Tesla drivers.

New Capabilities

This time, Grok is set to feature self-correction, reinforcement learning, and synthetic datasets. Self-correction allows Grok to identify and fix its own mistakes, with human oversight ensuring that the process is guided. This helps refine Grok’s future responses as part of its ongoing training.

Reinforcement learning, meanwhile, rewards or penalizes the AI based on its actions. When it performs correctly, it receives a reward, reinforcing that behavior; penalties reduce the likelihood of undesirable actions. Combined with new synthetic datasets, xAI can accelerate Grok’s training process, much like how Tesla’s AI team has been refining FSD. There’s definitely a lot of overlap between the two.

Voice Support

Grok is one of the few remaining publicly available AIs that doesn’t have a live-voice mode. Its competitors - including Google’s Gemini and OpenAI’s ChatGPT - both have live voice response and reasoning and will also integrate and hook into 3rd-party services over voice.

That’s going to be a key feature as Tesla looks to Grok to power its upcoming voice assistant in their vehicles.

Tesla Demo

Musk has previously stated that all Tesla vehicles will eventually receive Grok as a Smart Voice Assistant—one far more capable than the current voice command system.

With changes to the Navigation Voice globally, as well as the “Hi” command finally returning a response, we’re on the verge of Tesla’s integration of a voice assistant.

Tonight’s demo, at 8 pm PT is expected to be live, potentially showing off the integration into Tesla vehicles. Millions of existing Tesla vehicles worldwide could soon take advantage of Grok as a voice assistant. There’s even a rumor of a wake word for the feature — potentially Grok.

Grok’s real-time capabilities mean you could ask it to add a stop to your route for food at the highest-rated local restaurant with minimal wait. Grok would gather and process that information while your car drives itself, then update your route, allowing FSD to take you directly there. You’ll also be able to ask general knowledge questions, such as the weather for tomorrow or the price of Tesla stock.

Controlling the vehicle will also be greatly upgraded. While the current voice command system can handle simple tasks like “Open Charge Port” or “Turn on Defrost,” the new system should be able to handle more complex requests and allow drivers to ask things in a more natural way.

We expect to find out more about Grok in Teslas tonight. Even if the demo tonight doesn’t specifically mention Tesla, a look at Grok’s new abilities could be a first look at what we’ll soon be able to experience in our Teslas.

Tesla Executives Confirm Robotaxi on Track for June

By Karan Singh
Not a Tesla App

At the Tesla Q4 2024 Earnings Call, we found out that Tesla now has a firm date and set location for the first deployment of its Robotaxi fleet. Now, several of Tesla's executives have re-iterated that deployment date and location in several different places.

Like most Tesla fans and investors, we’re excited to see Cybercab make its official debut on the streets of Austin, Texas, sometime in June. That’s potentially less than 100 days away - but who’s counting, right?

Elon Confirms

Elon Musk confirmed on X that Tesla is still on track to launch autonomous ride-hailing (Robotaxi) in Austin this June. Plus, they’re also working on rolling it out to even more cities in the United States by the end of the year.

Tesla’s benchmark for expanding deployments is ensuring that Robotaxi safety surpasses the average human driver by a wide margin. Based on the latest Vehicle Safety Report, Supervised FSD is already making strong progress, outperforming the average driver by 10.5 times—a full order of magnitude.

Franz Confirms

Franz Von Holzhausen, Tesla’s Head of Vehicle Design, also confirmed that Tesla will be offering Cybercab rides in Austin starting in June. What’s key here is that he confirmed the presence of Cybercabs finally deploying - it won’t be driverless Model Ys or Model 3s - it’ll be the Cybercab.

That means an autonomy-first vehicle without a driver’s seat, steering wheel, or pedals will be on the road and driving people from point to point. Major autonomy competitors like Waymo use heavily modified EVs that still have seats and vehicle controls intact. An autonomy-first design increases passenger room and storage while also improving efficiency by reducing vehicle weight.

Are you planning on making your way down to Austin to experience the Robotaxi experience first-hand or are you planning on waiting until it’s deployed in a city near you? Let us know your thoughts in our forums or social media.

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