Tesla Model Y Project Juniper Rumor Roundup - Production Set to Begin Next Month

December 20, 2024

By Karan Singh

@DominicBRNKMN on X

Tesla’s Model Y refresh - codenamed Juniper - is the source of a lot of rumors. It is also one of the most hotly anticipated vehicle refreshes ever. Given that it’s been the best-selling vehicle globally for several years now, this should come as no surprise.

We’ve seen a lot of leaks of Juniper’s new front and rear lightbars. We’ve also made a wishlist of features we’d love to see for the Model Y refresh. It’s certainly going to be something special that will cause the Model Y to dominate sales charts globally.

We did some investigation into all the different things we’ve heard recently - and we’ll give you our take. We spent some time diving deep into some of the Chinese sources that reported all of these different details, so we’re hoping to get as close as possible to the truth.

Production Starting in January

LatePost, a media outlet from Shanghai, recently reported on the departure of Song Gang, director of Tesla’s Shanghai factory. This report said that the Model Y Juniper would go into production next month — January 2025.

This seems in line with previous news we’ve heard - namely that Giga Shanghai was reducing Model Y production capacity to run a prototype line of the Model Y. It seems that Giga Shanghai won’t need as much time to retool as with the Model 3 Highland, as Highland and Juniper likely share many similarities.

Additionally, this matches the same timeline for the Model 3 Highland’s launch, where Tesla launched it in China first and then later launched it in Europe and North America once Giga Shanghai worked out all the kinks in production. While the Highland 3 began shipping in October 2023, we feel like we can expect the first ship date for the Juniper Y to begin sometime in Q1.

Front and Rear Lightbar

This is one of the most credible rumors we’ve seen - and it makes sense. We’ve seen photos of the Model Y Juniper that’s covered up, and most of them have front and rear lightbars - or what looks like lightbars, anyway. We’re pretty sure the vehicle will arrive with lightbars on both ends, and it’ll be just as visually striking as the Cybertruck and Cybercab.

We love Tesla’s lean into the Cyber aesthetic, especially given the slick new style of the Cybercab that was shown off at this year’s We, Robot. Given the Model Y is more of a mass-market vehicle that needs to appeal to everyone, we’re sure that Tesla is going to strike a fine balance between futuristic and modern. It’ll definitely be a vehicle that turns heads.

❗️JUNIPER SPOTTED TESTING IN RAIN pic.twitter.com/odWwhlHICZ
— DennisCW | wen juniper (@DennisCW_) December 16, 2024

Performance Upgrades

We’ve also heard plenty of stuff on performance upgrades, which are also likely to be true. The Model 3 Highland saw a fairly big boost in performance, even for the Rear Wheel Drive and Long Range Variants. The Performance variant saw a ludicrous uplift, and we’re hoping to see the same pan out for Juniper.

4th Gen Motors

Some reports have mentioned that Tesla will introduce a fourth-gen motor with Juniper - but we think this is relatively unlikely. The Model 3 Highland and the Model Y Juniper are expected to share many parts, and the motors will likely be one of them.

This similarity in parts helps Tesla scale and offer cheaper prices to customers around the world. Changing to a new motor would eliminate one of the biggest advantages provided by having Model 3 and Model Y production in the same facility.

We’d instead expect any motor improvements to launch quietly, similar to how Tesla normally does under-the-hood hardware changes. We’ll see a number updated on their site, and until the first vehicle ships with a new motor, we won’t even know it's there.

95kWh Battery

We’re not sure that any version of a Model Y will get a 95kWh battery. The Long Range variant currently ships with a 75kWh battery, with a range of approximately 310 miles. A 95kWh battery could potentially push that range closer to 350-375 miles, but we’d see diminishing returns from the additional weight.

Instead, we could potentially see Tesla using the new Cybercell or one of its new battery variants that it has been exploring - either the CATL 6M packs that we’ve heard about or one of the new and mysterious NC20 cells. We did mention that we don’t believe Tesla will shift to new motors, but Tesla has previously shipped the Model Y with 4680 cells, so we could potentially see them shipping the Juniper Y with a different battery other than the current 2170 packs in the Model 3.

However, Tesla is still focusing on scaling the Cybercell at Giga Texas for the Cybertruck, and they’ve previously mentioned that they don’t want to take away production from the Cybertruck’s line to use the cell in the Tesla Semi - which is still running on the older 2170 cell. As such, its likely the Juniper will ship using the same 2170 or LFP packs that the Model 3 Highland currently utilizes.

A Juniper concept from @DominicBRNKMN on X

@DominicBRNKMN on X

Bigger, Better, Tiltable Screen

Another set of reports mentioned that Juniper would receive a larger screen with a higher resolution and the ability to tilt — very similar to the Model S and Model X. Consider this one to unlikely. Tesla has previously said they want to simplify parts of the vehicle that people don’t use - and the Cybertruck, Tesla’s current flagship vehicle, shipped with the biggest display to date and didn’t include the ability to tilt the screen.

Using the same argument earlier on the parts compatibility between the Highland and Juniper, we fully expect the refreshed Model Y to arrive with the same screen as the Model 3 Highland, but we’d be happy to be surprised.

6 Seater Variant

LatePost’s report also mentioned that a 6-seat variant of the Model Y would begin production in late 2025. This lines up smoothly with Reuters’ report on the 6-seat variant, which could potentially be exclusive to China. Reuters mentioned that the 7-seat Model Y was fairly unpopular in China, as the third row was cramped, although Chinese families liked the idea of having at least 6 seats.

We’d expect this 6-seat variant to launch in late 2025, sometime after the expected Late Spring/Early Summer launch of the Juniper’s performance variant.

That’s everything we know about the Model Y Juniper so far. In short, production could start as early as next month, with front and rear lightbars, performance upgrades, and a 6-seat variant later down the line. We wouldn’t expect new generation motors, a different battery, or even a fancier screen.

Be sure to check out our full wishlist of features we’d love to see in Juniper.

Tesla Updates Robotaxi App: Adds Smarter Pickups and Adds Arrow for Finding Robotaxi

July 21, 2025

By Karan Singh

Not a Tesla App

Following the first major service area expansion, Tesla is already pushing another update to the Robotaxi app and service as a whole. The new version includes more quality-of-life improvements, and most importantly, a big change to Robotaxi’s pickup logic that makes the entire experience much smoother.

Robotaxi App Update

This latest update is another one focused on polishing the user experience before Tesla adds more vehicles to the fleet and more riders to the network. The most significant change here is that Robotaxi will now navigate more dynamically. Instead of strictly travelling to the designated pickup point, the vehicle will stop where you are or navigate directly to you if you are nearby, making the pickup just that much easier.

Tesla also introduced a small batch of improvements to improve the app, which is still only available for early testers. First up is a vehicle finder arrow - which is shown in the Robotaxi app to help you find your approaching or parked Robotaxi.

This should be a big help in crowded situations, as visually distinguishing a Model Y Robotaxi from a Robotaxi Model Y is nearly impossible, barring the small Robotaxi logos and lack of a driver.

Tesla has also added in automatic dark/light mode switching to match system settings and some other minor design tweaks and bug fixes. It seems that Tesla is close to their final iterations on the Robotaxi app and will hopefully add it to the official app stores soon. However, an Android version is still MIA, and using the Robotaxi itself is still also limited to invitees, so Tesla may be waiting for those to be available before adding the app to the Apple App Store.

The full release notes for this 25.7.6 app update are listed as:

I am pointing the way! Find your vehicle with an arrow
Automatic light/dark mode setting to follow the system
Design tweaks
Bug fixes

This will be huge and make summon even better.

I didn't get to fully test it, but Robotaxi no longer strictly navigates to the pickup point. I noticed it stops right where I am if I am ahead of the pickup point.

In this video it's supposed to go to the valet, yet it stopped… https://t.co/tGR2064gB2 pic.twitter.com/p3dssaKEhf
— Owen Sparks (@OwenSparks_) July 21, 2025

A Better Summon?

The most exciting part of the update isn’t the piece for Robotaxi - but what it implies for Smart Summon instead. The new dynamic pickup logic could be a huge improvement to how Summon works. At the end of the day, it is exceptionally similar - homing in on the user or a targeted location, and then parking nearby.

Summon currently requires a line of sight, and the range is exceptionally limited, meaning you can’t use it in most larger parking lots without having to walk out halfway to meet the vehicle. It’s also slow enough that by the time you get your vehicle rolling - even with Summon Standby active - you’ll probably have walked most of the way there yourself.

A true come-to-me Summon feature that can navigate both city streets and parking lots is definitely the goalpost for customer vehicles - one that doesn’t need to be directly supervised. Robotaxi is the first real-world deployment of the same technology that future builds of Smart Summon will eventually run on.

Sometime in the near future, you’ll be able to Summon your Tesla directly to you - having it navigate the streets from wherever it found parking. All the learnings from Robotaxi are going to come fast - and they’ll all be amazing to finally get on customer cars.

Tesla Robotaxi FSD Improvements Coming to Customer Vehicles; Global Rollout Update

July 21, 2025

By Karan Singh

Not a Tesla App

After months of no updates, Elon Musk has announced that Tesla will soon release a new FSD update, in what he’s calling a “step change improvement,” so expectations will be high for this one. The biggest change is that Tesla is merging in the changes they’ve been making for Robotaxi FSD into the consumer software branch.

Elon also provided an update on the rollout of Robotaxi to additional US cities like San Francisco, as well as FSD for other regions like Europe and China. Let’s dig in - as this is some of the most exciting FSD-related news we’ve seen in a while.

Next FSD Update

For the millions of Tesla owners using various versions of FSD (Supervised), whether on HW3 or HW4, it has been months since the last update

However, the Tesla AI team isn’t standing still. They’ve been making constant improvements to the Robotaxi version of FSD, so hearing that Tesla will integrate that version into FSD Supervised is certainly exciting.

The FSD update is expected to include a 4.5x increase in parameters, as well as better memory management and improved caching for better reaction times.

Musk says that Tesla still needs to validate that the improvements they’ve made for Austin in particular don’t cause regressions elsewhere. Regression testing is a necessary step when training neural nets, as they can learn and unlearn things extremely rapidly, as one new behavior can cause a regression in another.

We need to validate that improvements for Austin don’t cause regressions elsewhere.

For Europe and China, we are awaiting regulatory approval. Hopefully, soon🤞
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 20, 2025

How The Rollout Will Work

Essentially, we’re at a good spot here. The fact that Tesla is now working on merging Robotaxi FSD into FSD Supervised is a good sign, even if there’s work to be done. We expect these builds to go out to the FSD testing fleet (not the Robotaxi validation testers we’ve seen throughout Texas). These dedicated testers will make sure there are no regressions - and once they give the thumbs up, the standard rollout process begins. Given that the Robotaxis are running HW4 and Tesla is merging Robotaxi FSD into FSD Supervised, we expect this to be an HW4-only rollout.

Once validation is complete, Tesla will likely roll out the update to employees, followed by early access influencers (and potentially also Early Access Program members). Once it is in their hands and we see good progress there, it’ll begin rolling out to customers en masse.

Elon commented on X last night, saying they’re looking good for Q3 release, which puts us in the September timeframe.

Global Rollout Status

Elon also provided an update on two other items - launching Robotaxi in other cities, and launching FSD into other markets - and made it clear that the next hurdle isn’t on Tesla, it is on regulatory approval. Bureaucratic red tape seems to be the biggest obstacle to Tesla’s autonomy ambitions lately - but it is progressing well in some regions, such as Australia.

For the Bay Area, as well as potentially other cities that Tesla is considering, such as Phoenix, Arizona, approval is pending from regulators. Elon mentioned that regulators were being reasonable, which isn’t something we hear often.

As soon as the regulators approve (they are being quite reasonable tbh)
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 20, 2025

For other markets, including China (for HW3 vehicles) and Europe, the red tape is still in place. Both of these markets have big regulatory hurdles that Tesla needs to overcome. In China’s case, every new update must be validated with the government, which takes additional time. In Europe’s case, we’re still awaiting the green light from UNECE regulators to approve autonomous vehicles on European roads.

Elon provided a much-needed update on FSD and Robotaxi, one that we hadn’t had in a long time. Current users can look forward to what is likely a major capability boost, sourced from Robotaxi in Austin, while those outside of North America now have some additional hope that FSD may arrive before the end of 2025.