Elon Musk’s newly reinstated 2018 equity plan, valued at over $130 billion today, has been topped by a fresh grant that could reach $1 trillion over the next decade, contingent on Tesla meeting ambitious market-cap and operational milestones. This eye-watering award arrives as top chief executives’ pay has climbed 1,094 percent over the past 50 years—compared with just a 26 percent rise in typical worker compensation—according to the Economic Policy Institute. In 2024, median total compensation for S&P 500 CEOs hit $17.1 million, driven by stock awards that now account for 72 percent of pay packages, per Equilar data. Musk’s package, which carries no base salary, underscores how far executive rewards have outpaced both shareholder returns and broader wage growth.

Following more than a year of data-collection and teleoperation training at its Fremont plant, Tesla is set to begin capturing the same vehicle-parts-handling motions in its Austin Gigafactory starting February. Dozens of trainers equipped with multi-camera helmets and heavy backpack rigs will record themselves performing assembly-line tasks and conveyor operations, generating the video data used to teach prototype Optimus humanoid robots. This move reflects Tesla’s strategy to scale training environments across its largest manufacturing sites, with the goal of deploying Optimus for simple factory tasks by year-end and more complex duties in 2026.

On January 22, Tesla confirmed that its Model Y-based Robotaxi service in Austin is now operating without in-car safety personnel, marking the first unsupervised commercial deployment of Full Self-Driving (FSD) technology. Vehicles remain shadow-monitored by trailing Tesla cars to ensure remote oversight, but the absence of a human behind the wheel signals next-stage readiness for Tesla’s dedicated Cybercab, which Elon Musk says will enter limited production in April. The move follows Tesla’s discontinuation of its basic Autopilot package and transition to a subscription-only FSD model, designed to accelerate software adoption and revenue generation as the company shifts from hardware sales toward mobility services.