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Connell,WA / News

Gas holds above $5 in Connell and Tri-Cities as state prices ease slightly

Gas is still over $5 a gallon across most of the Columbia Basin. Pasco and Connell have some of the region's better deals, but the cheapest fill-ups are across the border in Idaho.

GasBuddy's lowest regular prices at 10 a.m. Monday, Oct. 5: $5.13 at Circle K in Connell, $4.99 at Atomic Gas and MetroPetroleum in Pasco, $5.19 at Hawk Fuel in Othello, $4.83 at Chevron in Moses Lake, $5.19 at Maverik in Cheney and $5.39 in Colfax. Post Falls, Idaho, was $4.35 at Walmart.

Averages tell a broader story. AAA put the Richland-Kennewick-Pasco metro at $5.31 a gallon on Oct. 12, flat for the week but $1.04 higher than a year ago. Diesel there averaged $7.34.

Adams County averaged $5.37 and Grant County $5.40 on Oct. 12, according to AAA. The statewide average was $5.45, down 3 cents in a week and 11 cents in a month. The national average was $4.36.

Washington ranks third-highest in the nation behind California and Hawaii. Regular gas hit a state record of $5.79 on May 20, and diesel set a record of $7.47 on Sept. 23. A year ago, Washington drivers paid about $4.48.

GasBuddy analyst Patrick De Haan said the trend is "cautiously in the right direction," but warned that hurricane season and geopolitical uncertainty mean it's too early to call the pressure over.

Sources

ConnellWA.com - 10/12/2026
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Richland downtown area nominated for federal Opportunity Zone

A downtown Richland neighborhood is among 99 areas Gov. Bob Ferguson nominated for the federal Opportunity Zones 2.0 program, with a proposal summary projecting about $300 million in capital investment and roughly 480 new housing units if the designation is certified and projects move forward.

Ferguson announced the statewide nominations Oct. 8 and submitted them to the U.S. Treasury Department. The Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business reported that the proposed Downtown Richland project is the only selection in Benton or Franklin counties. Others were selected in the Yakima and Walla Walla valleys.

According to the Journal, the proposal covers the area bordered by Van Giesen Street on the south, Newcomer Street on the north, Stevens Drive on the west and George Washington Way on the east. The plan aims to create a walkable district centered on housing, economic opportunity, healthcare access and community services.

The Journal, citing the proposal summary, said the projects are estimated to generate about 700 construction jobs and 380 permanent jobs while leveraging an estimated $300 million in total capital investment. Redevelopment would add about 480 new housing units, including affordable housing opportunities, and increase access to healthcare, childcare and community services for an estimated 2,000 residents annually. Those figures are projections tied to the nomination proposal, not secured funding or approved development permits.

Independent trackers of Washington's Opportunity Zone 2.0 nominations list Benton County census tract 102.04 (GEOID 53005010204), entirely within Richland, as the county's sole nominated tract. Nominations are not yet designations. Treasury still must review and certify the state's list. If certified, the new zones are scheduled to take effect Jan. 1, 2027, and keep that status through Dec. 31, 2036.

Opportunity Zones offer federal capital-gains tax incentives to investors who put money into Qualified Opportunity Funds that invest in designated tracts. The updated program, made permanent in 2025 legislation, replaces the first round of zones designated in 2018. Washington nominated 99 tracts from 152 applications after a Commerce-led application process; 36 of the nominated areas represent rural opportunities. Original OZ 1.0 geographic designations remain active through Dec. 31, 2028, overlapping the start of the new program.

Specific redevelopment plans for the Richland tract have not been publicly detailed beyond the proposal summary cited by the Journal. Commerce has encouraged investors to prepare Qualified Opportunity Fund strategies ahead of the January 2027 start date.

Sources

TriTown.info - 10/11/2026

Second Street Fire survivors in Benton County may qualify for state wildfire aid

Benton County residents whose homes were destroyed or badly damaged in the Sept. 25 Second Street Fire near Benton City may qualify for two state aid programs: a one-time Household Needs Grant through Washington Emergency Management and the Department of Social and Health Services' Disaster Cash Assistance Program (DCAP), which is open until Oct. 30, 2026, or until funds run out.

The wind-driven fire was reported shortly after 2:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 25, off Northeast Second Street, south of Benton City. It burned about 1,151 acres and crossed I-82 and SR 224 before crews stopped its forward progress. At least five homes were confirmed destroyed, including structures on Apple Drive and Pear Drive and at the Kiona Mobile Community. No injuries were reported. All evacuations were lifted and roads reopened by 6 p.m. Sept. 27. The Benton County Sheriff's Office is investigating the cause.

Household Needs Grant

Benton County is on the state's list of eligible counties for Household Needs Grants. To qualify, applicants must show their primary residence was destroyed or suffered major damage, under FEMA's Preliminary Damage Assessment Guide, from a wildfire on or after June 14, 2026. Grants are $750 for a one-person household, $1,500 for two to four people and $2,250 for five or more.

Applicants can apply online through the Washington Military Department's wildfire assistance page, call 2-1-1 for help, or visit a State Individual Assistance Service Center. They will need proof of identity, such as a driver's license or passport, proof of disaster damage and proof that the home was their primary residence. KXLY reported an Oct. 30, 2026, deadline for the grant.

Disaster Cash Assistance Program

Gov. Bob Ferguson's amended Proclamation 26-03 added Benton County to DCAP and extended the program until Oct. 30, 2026, or until funds are used up, whichever comes first. DCAP is monthly emergency cash aid for people who meet income and resource limits and do not already get TANF, Aged, Blind or Disabled cash assistance, or other cash benefits. The amount depends on household size, income and need. People living in designated disaster areas who cannot return home because of evacuations or wildfire damage may be eligible.

Residents can start a DCAP application at WashingtonConnection.org, then complete the required interview by phone at 877-501-2233 or in person at a local DSHS Community Services Office or mobile office.

Sources

TriTown.info - 10/09/2026

Amazon says no more NDAs. Its Wallula Gap data center is still under review.

Amazon says it no longer signs nondisclosure agreements with the government agencies it works with on data center projects, and that what it pays for power should cover the grid upgrades its sites require. Those pledges, posted Friday, Oct. 2, by Amazon Web Services CEO Matt Garman, arrive as the company’s proposed data center campus at Wallula Gap, southeast of Pasco, works through Walla Walla County review. The project is still alive. No final decision has been made, and the first public comment period closes at 5 p.m. Monday, Oct. 12.

Garman’s post on Amazon’s news site lays out what the company calls the “Amazon Data Center Commitment.” “We no longer use nondisclosure agreements with the government agencies we work with on our projects,” it says. Amazon says it will hold open houses and share plans “as early as possible,” and will publish its data centers’ energy use, energy efficiency, water use, water efficiency and share of carbon-free power every year. The post does not say when the first report will come out. On electricity, Amazon says it works with utilities and regulators so that the prices it pays “are sufficient to cover both the energy and infrastructure improvements that may be required.” The post also announced “Built Together,” more than $1 billion over five years for community college, job training and energy-efficiency grants in data center communities. WIRED reported that Amazon did not answer whether the NDA pledge extends to contractors. TechCrunch noted that no federal or state rules govern how tech companies report water and energy use.

The Wallula Gap project began under a different name. In late 2024, the Port of Walla Walla agreed to sell about 500 acres in its Wallula Gap Business Park to “Advance Phase LLC,” which pitched a $4.8 billion cluster of 16 data centers built in four phases, according to the Tri-City Herald, which headlined the plan as a $5 billion project. Amazon was confirmed as the buyer this year. The port approved the sale of 554 acres to Amazon Data Services on Feb. 12, 2026, according to Walla Walla County, for about $36 million, the Herald reported. Port Executive Director Patrick Reay told the Washington State Standard that commissioners signed a nondisclosure agreement with Amazon in March 2023, and that it barred them from naming the company until this year.

What Amazon has applied for so far is smaller than the full plan. Its application, filed May 22, covers 134 of the 554 acres, along Sundance Road between Dodd and Worden roads, about 1.4 miles east of U.S. 12, according to the county’s notice. The Union-Bulletin reported the site is about 0.4 mile from the Columbia River. The campus would have three data center buildings of about 220,000 square feet each, a security building, an industrial water facility, ponds, septic drainfields and a pad for a substation to be finished by a future utility provider. Amazon told the county it would build three buildings, not four, in this first phase over the next three years, the Standard reported. The land is zoned for industry, and data centers are a permitted use there under a county code interpretation from 2018 that was extended to this zone in 2025.

The county called the application incomplete in June because it lacked a traffic study. Amazon filed that study Aug. 21. The county deemed the application complete Aug. 24 and issued its notice Sept. 12. Community Development Director Melissa Shumake will make the decision. After comments close, the county will send them to Amazon, ask for responses, and then issue a State Environmental Policy Act threshold determination, which gets its own comment period. A final decision can be appealed to the county hearing examiner. The notice lists other permits as well, including a water right change, an air-quality approval and a substation permit from Columbia Rural Electric Association.

Amazon’s promise to cover its own grid costs is already written into local terms. Columbia REA, the Walla Walla-based cooperative that will serve the campus, said in May that its board voted unanimously to proceed “under strict conditions.” The data center will be in its own cost-based rate class, its costs tracked separately, and the developer will pay for all new substations, transmission lines, system upgrades, and engineering and legal costs. “Existing members should not subsidize the project or bear added financial risk,” CEO Scott Peters wrote. The Herald reported that Columbia REA buys its power from the Bonneville Power Administration, which caps new users at 10 megawatts of its lowest-cost power, so Amazon will have to buy or develop its own supply. How much power the campus will use is still not public. Amazon did not disclose it, the Standard reported, and company representatives declined to give specifics on energy use at an Aug. 11 open house in Burbank, according to the Union-Bulletin. A July 31 letter from Earthjustice, written for Columbia Riverkeeper and the Walla Walla Anti-Data Center League, says Amazon’s environmental checklist “never states how much electricity the campus will require.”

Water figures are public, but they do not match. Amazon’s environmental checklist estimates 18 million gallons of surface water a year for cooling and 6 million gallons of groundwater for domestic use, the Standard reported, while an Amazon FAQ puts cooling at 14 million gallons. Amazon did not immediately answer the Standard about the difference. Amazon says its use would be “considerably lower” than past farming on the land. Under the application, the port would supply groundwater from its Wallula-Dodd system until January 2029, then Columbia River water after converting existing irrigation rights, according to the Union-Bulletin and the Earthjustice letter.

Opposition has grown. The Walla Walla Anti-Data Center League wants a one-year countywide moratorium and a full environmental impact statement, and has gathered nearly 1,900 signatures on two petitions, the Standard reported. On Sunday, Oct. 4, about 40 people marched from Heritage Park to the county’s Community Development office as part of a statewide day of action, the Union-Bulletin reported. “You are not extremists for wanting transparency. You are not extremists for wanting clean drinking water,” league co-founder Ben Mattice told the crowd, according to the Standard. Opponents point to Amazon’s agreement earlier this year to pay more than $20 million to settle a lawsuit alleging its data centers in Morrow and Umatilla counties, Ore., contaminated groundwater with nitrate.

County and port officials are not moving to stop it. All three county commissioners said Sept. 14 they would not support a moratorium, the Union-Bulletin reported. “They have an application in. It grandfathers them into the old rules,” Commissioner Todd Kimball told the Standard. Commissioner Bertha Clayton attended the Oct. 4 rally and said, “This is a big project, has a big footprint, it has a potential for big impact,” adding that she wants the process to continue as the law prescribes. Shumake said she would require an environmental impact statement only if impacts cannot be mitigated. “This is an industrial zone with a project that ultimately has a smaller impact than other projects in the same industrial zone,” she told the Standard. Reay said the deal fit the port’s mission. “Where else could your assessed value raise by approximately 50% on 554 acres?” he said. The project has been estimated to bring the county $5 million a year in personal property taxes. Amazon said in a statement that it “is committed to responsible development and being a long-term, positive presence in the Walla Walla community.” In Olympia, Rep. Beth Doglio, D-Olympia, plans to bring back a data center bill next year with a provision to ban local officials from signing nondisclosure agreements with developers.

Sources

TriTown.info - 10/06/2026

Tip leads to firearm arrest in Othello graffiti case

A 26-year-old Othello man is facing firearm and vandalism charges after a neighbor's 911 call about someone spray-painting a fence led deputies to him later the same day, according to the Adams County Sheriff's Office.

The tip came in Oct. 1 from a resident who saw a man putting graffiti on a fence near West June Street and South Andes Road, just west of Othello. The man left before deputies got there, but the caller had photographed his vehicle and gave deputies a description.

That evening, deputies went to help Othello police with a separate graffiti report at PJ Taggares Park. They learned the same vehicle had been at the park. Othello police arrested a juvenile in connection with the park incident.

Later that night, Othello officers spotted the vehicle inside city limits and called deputies. Deputies contacted the driver, Dario Ochoa Jr., who matched the description from the first call, Sheriff Dale Wagner said in a media release.

While Ochoa was detained, deputies found a gun on him. Wagner said Ochoa has a felony conviction and is barred from having firearms.

Ochoa was booked Oct. 2 on suspicion of unlawful possession of a firearm and third-degree malicious mischief. The sheriff's office said the investigation is still open.

Sources

ConnellWA.com - 10/05/2026

West Richland reviewing plans for Planet Fitness on Keene Road

West Richland is reviewing plans for a new Planet Fitness on Keene Road, which would be the chain's fourth Tri-Cities gym and its first built from the ground up here. The public has until 5 p.m. Oct. 20 to comment on the project's environmental review.

Knutzen Engineering of Kennewick has asked the city for advance review under the State Environmental Policy Act for a 22,500-square-foot Planet Fitness and a separate 3,800-square-foot commercial building at 6260 Keene Road, according to a notice of application the West Richland Community Development Department issued Oct. 5.

The site sits on the northeast corner of Keene Road and Belmont Boulevard in the city's Belmont District. It is zoned Commercial General, which allows retail, sales and service businesses as a primary use. The Tri-City Herald reported that the commercial building would be split into two 1,600-square-foot retail suites across the parking lot from the gym, and that county records list the property owner as B Keene Dev LLC.

The gym would be a little larger than Planet Fitness's roughly 20,000-square-foot Kennewick location on Columbia Center Boulevard, which opened in 2017 in the former Value Village space. The chain's Pasco and Richland gyms also moved into existing buildings.

If the project is approved, construction is expected to start in spring 2027, with completion targeted for spring 2028, the Herald reported. The city says permitting and site studies are still under way.

The Community Development Department is the lead agency for the review. Written comments can be sent to the department at 3100 Belmont Blvd., Suite 104, West Richland, WA 99353, or to eransom@westrichland.org, and must arrive by 5 p.m. Oct. 20 to be considered. The staff contact is Senior Planner Elisha Ransom at 509-967-5902 or planner@westrichland.org. People who want notice of the final decision need to give the department their name and address.

Sources

TriTown.info - 10/05/2026

Heywood, Morgan rally crowd at Eltopia Patriot's Dinner

Hundreds of farmers, ranchers and other residents packed the Patriot's Dinner in Eltopia on Saturday, Oct. 3, where conservative activists Brian Heywood and Glen Morgan urged the crowd to stay in Washington and fight state policies they oppose.

Franklin County Commissioner Clint Didier emceed the evening, which included a catered meal plus silent and live auctions to raise money.

Amanda McKinney, R-Yakima, made a short pitch for the 4th Congressional District seat being vacated by Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Sunnyside. Gabe Galbraith, R-Kennewick, a candidate for the 8th Legislative District Senate seat, talked about his campaign and the Kennewick School District's effort to keep boys out of girls' sports.

Morgan, who leads the Citizens Alliance for Property Rights, told attendees not to leave the state. He said farmers "can't move your farm" and criticized the state Department of Ecology, pointing to a homeless camp near its Olympia offices.

Heywood, founder of Let's Go Washington, spent his time on three initiatives on the Nov. 3 general election ballot: Initiative 1 on parental rights, Initiative 638 on girls' sports and locker rooms, and Initiative 645, which would repeal the state's new income tax on high earners. He told the crowd to vote yes on all three.

Heywood also argued the income tax law could eventually reach pensions and retirement accounts and that the threshold could be lowered. Those are his claims about the law, and supporters of the tax dispute that it will expand.

Sources

Franklin Connection - 10/03/2026

Mennonite Country Auction raises $133,000; organizers say 2027 sale will be the last

The Mennonite Country Auction near Ritzville brought in more than $133,000 on Saturday, Oct. 3, for the relief, development and peace work of Mennonite Central Committee, and organizers say next year's sale will be the last.

Hundreds of people came out to Menno Mennonite Church, 1378 N. Damon Road, for the daylong event. Bidders competed for handmade quilts, and visitors filled up on fresh-pressed apple cider, apple butter, ham, bacon, sausage, cheese, pies, cookies, ice cream and maple syrup.

Bethel Mountain Band, a bluegrass gospel group from Salem, Ore., played through the afternoon.

Every dollar raised goes to Mennonite Central Committee, which runs relief and development programs worldwide. Four Washington Mennonite congregations support the auction, which dates to 1977.

The auction's website lists the 2026 total as preliminary, at more than $130,000 raised and about $133,000 forwarded to MCC. The site also announces that the 2027 sale will be the 50th Mennonite Country Auction and the final one.

Sources

Franklin Connection - 10/03/2026

Underground transportation in Nashville outpaces Vegas tunnels

Two tunnel-boring machines are digging The Boring Company’s Music City Loop under Nashville, and the company still has not said how far they have gone or when a passenger can board. The project is a private, all-electric shuttle: Tesla vehicles in twin one-way tunnels, meant to run from the airport and downtown out toward West End without stopping at every station in between. On the company’s own project page, marked last updated Aug. 14, 2026, tunneling is underway. That page does not give a first-ride date.

The date has already moved. When the state and The Boring Company announced the idea on July 28, 2025, the company’s release said the first segment could be operating as soon as spring 2026. A line at the top of that same release said initial legs could be operating as soon as the fourth quarter of 2026. On Feb. 25, 2026, after the Tennessee Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration approved a lease and grading permit for state right-of-way, Gov. Bill Lee’s office said the first segment was expected by the end of 2026. Associated Press, reporting the Metro Council vote on March 4, said the first section was supposed to be operational in the first quarter of 2027. The Aug. 14 company page, the latest passenger-facing description opened for this story, drops the date entirely.

The route has grown on paper. The July 2025 company announcement described an initial phase of about 10 miles, downtown and the convention center to Nashville International Airport, with a stated trip of about 8 minutes, under state roads, at no cost to taxpayers. AP later described an initial 13-mile airport-to-downtown stretch that was expanded to about 25 miles, including a second leg west of downtown. The current company page says the system spans almost 25 miles and would take about 10 minutes from the airport to Lower Broadway. The airport alignment, as the company draws it, starts at a launch site called Lot 16 near the state Capitol, runs south and then out Murfreesboro Pike and Donelson Pike, and ends within 100 feet of the airport. The Broadway alignment runs from Lower Broadway along West End Avenue, past Centennial Park and Vanderbilt University, and stops near Interstate 440. The Feb. 25 state approval, the company wrote on Aug. 1, authorized 25 miles of tunnel inside TDOT right-of-way. That is permitted length, not tunnel already dug.

What is in the ground is narrower than the map. The company’s Aug. 1 construction note says Prufrock-MB1 and Prufrock-MB2 were both tunneling from Lot 16, and that a third machine, Prufrock-MB3, was on track to arrive in Nashville in September. It also said core samples were showing rock at about 14,000 pounds per square inch, which the company called excellent tunneling rock, and that more than 40 stations were in some stage of planning or design. LOOP Nashville, writing Sept. 11 after reading the company’s April, June, and August notes and its Sept. 9 financing announcement, said those materials still did not give a cumulative footage or mileage for either machine. As of that Sept. 9 announcement, LOOP Nashville wrote, the third machine was still in final assembly in Bastrop, Texas, for shipment, not yet described as digging. The 25-mile figure should not be read as miles finished.

On Sept. 9, 2026, The Boring Company announced a $3 billion Series D led by the United Arab Emirates and affiliated entities, at a stated valuation of $23 billion, according to Tunneling Online, which said it was quoting a release then posted on the company site. The trade magazine said the round was also tied to a much larger tunnel buildout in the UAE, separate from the Dubai Loop contract, and that the company described Music City Loop as its first hard-rock project, with two machines mining in Nashville by August. The company’s public “series-d” web address returned a not-found page when checked for this story, so those figures are from the trade account of the release, not from a live company page opened here. Tunneling Online did not report a Nashville share of the $3 billion, or a new opening date.

Stations that have been named are still mostly agreements, not open platforms. The Aug. 1 company note says the Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority voted 8–0 for a connection and a station, with design and permitting still underway, and that the Music City Convention Center Authority voted 8–0 for a tunnel easement. WKRN reported May 6 that the company had a first residential deal for three Church Street buildings, Alcove, Prime, and Paramount: residents would take an elevator to a station, then a Tesla, with the company putting the airport about nine minutes away and Lower Broadway about two. The Aug. 1 note adds that the company and the JW Marriott had agreed to terms for a station for hotel guests. AP, in March, said more than 30 stations were being designed. Those reports describe agreements and design work, not stations that are open.

Riders, if the system opens as described, would not be on a train. The company says the vehicles will be a dedicated Tesla fleet, initially Model Ys and Model Xs, driven at first by trained “Loop drivers,” with autonomy something it may explore later. Passengers would go to one chosen station and skip the ones in between. Tickets would be bought in an app or with a QR code. Fares are not set. The company says they are expected to be lower than other options, “as in Las Vegas.” The National, writing March 12, 2026, reported Vegas Loop prices of $4.25 for an ordinary one-way ride, $7 for a round trip that does not start at the airport, $12.50 for a day pass, and $12 from an airport station. The company says Nashville tunnels are aimed at about 30 feet down, with a 12-foot internal diameter, and that the project cost is expected to be a few hundred million dollars, paid by the company, not by taxpayers. AP’s March account matches the “no taxpayer bill” claim and adds a limit on it: the state was providing free use of some land near the Capitol.

Nashville’s elected council does not control the dig. On March 3, 2026, Metro Council voted 20–15, with two abstentions, for a nonbinding resolution opposing the Music City Loop. AP said the resolution cannot make the company stop, stall, or change the plan. Sponsor Delishia Porterfield told colleagues that “public land needs to be for public good.” The resolution, as WSMV quoted it, says residents were not meaningfully consulted about a project on public land with environmental, geological, and safety consequences, and it condemns what the council called a lack of transparency and troubling labor and safety practices. Council member John Rutherford, who voted no, said it would be easy to support the resolution, “but sometimes to do what is best for Nashville, we have to do what is hard,” because the project was going ahead anyway. WSMV reported that tunneling was announced the same day as the state’s Feb. 25 permit. The Nashville Banner reported that a company vice president, David Buss, had told a Bordeaux community meeting the machine was then running only “intermittently.”

The legislature later moved jurisdiction up to the state. Senate Bill 2205, the Subterranean Transportation Infrastructure Coordination Act, passed the Senate 26–5 and the House 69–23 on April 13, 2026, with one House member present and not voting. Gov. Lee signed it April 27. It became Public Chapter 854 on May 5. For most purposes it took effect July 1, 2026. The act defines a covered “transit project” as a tunnel or tunnel system, deep enough to avoid interfering with surface uses, for moving passengers or goods inside the state by electric, autonomous, or low-emission vehicles, and not a highway or a conventional mass-transit line in a state highway right-of-way. It gives the state exclusive jurisdiction over subsurface construction of those projects, including state fire marshal permits, and it creates a state authority that can hear appeals when a city or a utility says no. Cities keep authority over ordinary surface construction. They do not, under the act, regulate the tunnels, the stations, the portals, or the ventilation and electrical systems that belong to the project. A city also may not adopt a rule that effectively bans the project.

Lee’s Feb. 25 statement welcomed that state role. “Tennessee continues to lead the nation in finding innovative solutions to accommodate growth, and in partnership with The Boring Company, we are exploring possibilities we couldn’t achieve on our own,” he said. He credited TDOT with an approach that “will define the future of transportation in our state and beyond.” Steve Davis, identified by the governor’s office as president of The Boring Company, said agencies had brought the project “to a shovel-ready point,” and called Music City Loop “a safe, fast, and fun public transportation system.” U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, in the same release, called the lease a step toward less congestion. The release does not say the loop is months from opening. As of the records opened for this story, two machines are digging, a third had not been confirmed on site in the September notes reviewed, more than 40 stations are still in design, and no published count of finished tunnel sits next to the 25-mile plan.

Sources

News / USA - 10/03/2026

Humanoid robots are closer than you think

A YouTube video published Oct. 2, 2026, argues that humanoid robots and what its host calls “physical” artificial intelligence will matter more than doomsday AI headlines. Farzad Mesbahi, on the channel Farzad, points to Tesla’s Cybercab in Austin, Tesla’s Optimus robot, and a Chinese automaker’s humanoid walking off a production line. Independent reporting confirms a limited steering-wheel-free Cybercab service and a real shift of Fremont factory space from the Model S and Model X to Optimus. It does not confirm that general-purpose humanoid labor is already here, or that anyone can fly into Austin and hail a cheaper-than-Uber Cybercab.

The video is about 17 minutes. Mesbahi says AI-lab warnings that “we’re all going to die,” government efforts to ban AI, and a U.S.–China race are a distraction. “We’re not all going to die,” he says. He tells viewers the shift is early, that he is not giving financial advice, and that people could respond by buying a robot, trying not to be displaced by one, or investing in companies and supply chains building the hardware. His channel description says he worked at Tesla from 2017 through 2021 in distribution and supply chain, has owned Tesla stock since 2012, and also holds SpaceX, NVIDIA, Meta, and Lemonade shares. The description says nothing he says is investment advice. The video includes a paid Bolt.new sponsorship.

He plays a clip he attributes to All-In podcast host Jason Calacanis. In the auto-captions, Calacanis says he has seen the latest Optimus videos, that Elon Musk is “not publishing publicly,” that he asked whether a clip was “CGI or … real,” and that Musk said, “No, this is real.” The clip ends with Calacanis saying, “Optimus will be the bestselling, I think, product of all time.” This draft did not independently transcribe that All-In segment. The name is spelled “Calcanis” in YouTube’s automatic captions.

On Tesla, Mesbahi says the Cybercab “was released in Austin a couple weeks ago as of the date of this recording,” has no steering wheel or pedals, and is the same kind of real-world AI he expects humanoids to use. He says he thinks Tesla has “harvested … over 14 billion miles” of customer driving and that “literally anybody” can fly into Austin, use Tesla’s robotaxi app, and hail a Cybercab for “a little bit less than an Uber,” though he adds that demand has pushed prices up and there are not enough Cybercabs.

Associated Press reporting matches the core vehicle claim and not the open-access fare claim. AP reported that on Thursday, Sept. 3, 2026, Tesla put dozens of gold Cybercabs without steering wheels or brake pedals on Austin streets. Passengers have no way to take control in an emergency. AP described an invitation-only launch event that day and said it was unclear how soon a broad Cybercab service would roll out. Austin already had a Tesla robotaxi service using cars that still have steering wheels and pedals, dating to June 2025. AP, citing the monitoring site RobotaxiTracker, reported Tesla had more than 200 “unsupervised” robotaxis across Austin and five other cities in Texas and Florida, compared with more than 4,000 Waymo vehicles in 14 cities. A Pew Research Center survey in February, AP reported, found seven in 10 U.S. adults were “not too” or “not at all” comfortable riding in a driverless car.

The Verge later reported that paid Cybercab rides were underway inside a geofenced area of Austin, in a two-seater with no steering wheel or pedals. It described long waits, butterfly-door issues, and awkward drop-offs, and said the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened an audit query after paid rides began, examining how Tesla certified a car without a steering wheel or pedals under federal safety standards. Tesla did not seek the kind of exemption Zoox pursued, The Verge reported. CBS Austin likewise reported a Sept. 3 deployment through Tesla’s Robotaxi app, two seats and no wheel or pedals, and a following NHTSA audit query rather than a recall. Texas DMV data available to CBS Austin that day showed 45 Cybercabs registered in Texas.

Mesbahi’s “over 14 billion miles” line is his figure (“I think”), and the video treats that driving data as the reason cars no longer need a wheel or pedals. Tesla’s own materials still label Full Self-Driving as supervised driver assistance. This draft did not treat a fan mileage tracker as a source, and it did not find the 14 billion figure stated on the Tesla safety-report page it reviewed. The Austin Cybercab is a separate, limited robotaxi deployment, not proof that customer FSD miles have already produced a general self-driving system.

The video’s other automaker example is XPeng, which the automatic captions render as “Xbang,” “Xpang,” and similar. Mesbahi says the company showed a humanoid that was built and “just walked out of the factory.” XPeng announced on Sept. 7, 2026, that it had commissioned a humanoid production line in Guangzhou and that its IRON robot autonomously walked off the line after assembly. The company said more than 80 percent of core processes are automated, that mass production is scheduled by the end of 2026, that first uses would be its own stores and campuses, and that market launch and deliveries in China and overseas are planned for 2027. Engadget, writing Sept. 22, reported that claim and noted XPeng did not disclose current output, how much testing preceded the walk, a price, or U.S. availability. A robot leaving a line on camera is not the same as a shift of commercial work.

Mesbahi calls Tesla’s Fremont, California, plant the clearest signal. He says Tesla is tearing out the Model S and Model X lines, now discontinued, and using that space for humanoid production, and that XPeng may add robot lines rather than remove car lines. Electrek reported Sept. 25, 2026, citing The Information, that Tesla ended Model S and Model X production in early May and put the Fremont line to work on Optimus, and that output had risen from a few dozen robots a week in small-batch testing in the second quarter to several hundred a week in August. Managers were reportedly aiming for more than 1,000 a week by year-end. Electrek also reported the limits: most units were for internal testing, training, and data collection; factory robots were in tightly controlled areas and programmed for specific tasks; the current V3 robots are not the version Tesla plans to commercialize; hands are still largely hand-assembled; and people familiar with the system told The Information that Optimus still takes days to learn basic tasks and cannot reliably generalize. Electrek wrote that Musk had said in January 2025 that Tesla would build about 10,000 Optimus robots that year and that “several thousand” would be doing useful work by year-end, and that he later said none were doing useful work at Tesla. A promised V3 reveal by mid-2026 still had not happened as of that Sept. 25 story.

The rest of the video is Mesbahi’s economics, not a reported product price. He says batteries, chips, motors, actuators, and cameras already exist in the electric-vehicle supply chain, that new humanoid actuators will start expensive, and that “most financial analysts” expect humanoids under $30,000 within three to five years, less than the average new U.S. car. He then divides a roughly $30,000 robot by working hours, power, maintenance, repairs, and insurance and says labor might cost no more than about $4 an hour in a worst case and closer to $2 an hour on average, if the robot can do what a person can. He says that capability “is just going to happen.” Those dollar figures are his estimates. This draft did not find an independent analyst consensus, published this week, that pins a sub-$30,000 humanoid or a $2-an-hour wage.

He also says Musk has talked about a warehouse of 10,000 humanoid robots learning by trial and error — folding laundry, building a chair — with one robot’s lesson copied in software to the whole fleet. He suggests Tesla should live-stream it. This draft did not find a contemporaneous news report confirming that specific 10,000-robot training warehouse. It should not be confused with the separate “about 10,000 Optimus robots in 2025” production remark Electrek attributed to Musk.

Mesbahi says the short and medium term will bring “massive job disruption,” including college graduates losing work to software agents, and that a later economy will create jobs that do not exist yet, comparing the change to railroads, electricity, and the internet. He says someone among “8 billion people” will build this regardless of any one country’s rules, and he points viewers to two books he says he wrote, “Master Plan” and “Abundance or Collapse.” Those labor and timeline claims are his forecast. He does tell viewers to stay “hesitant and very vigilant” about downsides.

Sources

News / World - 10/02/2026
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