• A key rule at Spotify's weekly executive meeting: Do not say "We'll take that offline."
• "You're not allowed to say the word 'offline' or 'later' — because that person is in the room," said the co-president.
• Executives aren't allowed to bring direct reports, either.

Every Tuesday afternoon, Spotify's top brass — all of its vice presidents — pile into a room for a standing three-hour meeting with a key rule.

"You're not allowed to say the word 'offline' or 'later' — because that person is in the room," said Gustav Söderström, Spotify's co-president, on an episode of the "Invest Like The Best" podcast published Tuesday.

At other companies, when conversations get uncomfortable or someone hasn't delivered, people tend to punt the issue. But that's not Spotify's ethos, Söderström, who also leads tech and product, said.

Instead of circling back, people are expected to hash things out.

"It's real-time resolution — very simple in theory but incredibly powerful in practice. Most companies don't do it," he said.

Another rule: No bringing direct reports. Everyone in the room is expected to know the discussion's details.

"I'm trying to literally force the VPs to solve it themselves because I want them to be in the details. So, you're not allowed to bring anyone else in to explain your thing," Söderström said.

"You have to be on top of it enough to explain it to yourself," he added.

Without direct reports coming and going, the same group shows up each week. Over time, it becomes a tight-knit, high-trust team, Söderström said.

Spotify and Söderström did not respond to a request for comment.

Spotify's 'bets' process

The marathon Tuesday sessions are part of what Spotify calls its "bets" process — a structured way of deciding what the company builds next.

Every six months, each VP pitches a bet.

"It's very much like a startup process," Söderström said. "You don't get to use the fact that Gustav or Alex or Daniel may like you. This is like a VC meeting, you have to convince us."

After the pitches, the leaders "stack rank" the 30 to 50 pitches. Teams then allocate resources based on that list and execute what makes the cut over the next six months.

"It's a good mix of bottom-up innovation," Söderström said. Instead of relying on the company's top executives, Spotify brings in ideas from across its leadership and "all the layers below."

"You're going to be much better at delivering something if you were the one who said, 'I can do this,' than if your boss said you can do this," Söderström said.

The company's stock is up nearly 116% in the last year.

• Elon Musk gave media interviews to Bloomberg and CNBC on Tuesday.
• Musk has faced calls from investors to spend less time on DOGE, and more time on Tesla.
• Musk reaffirmed his commitment to Tesla during his media blitz.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said in an earnings call for the company last month that he will be scaling down his involvement with the White House DOGE office to spend more time on Tesla.

That message was on full display on Tuesday, after Musk hammered home his commitment to Tesla in his interviews with Bloomberg and CNBC.

Here are the five takeaways from Musk's media blitz on Tuesday:

1. Musk said he will stay on as Tesla's CEO for the next five years

Musk spoke to Bloomberg's Mishal Husain in a video interview at the Qatar Economic Forum. Husain asked if Musk will still be Tesla's CEO in five years.

"Yes," Musk replied.

"No doubt about that at all?" Husain continued.

"Well, no, I'd die," Musk said. "Let me see if I'm dead."

Musk has faced calls from investors to pay more attention to Tesla after his work at DOGE sparked protests and boycotts. The company has been struggling with heightened competition from Chinese automakers like BYD and falling sales numbers in Europe.

"Lets call it like it is: Tesla is going through a crisis and there is one person who can fix it....Musk," Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives wrote in a memo in March.

"If you agree or disagree with DOGE it misses the point that by Musk spending 110% of his time with DOGE (and not as Tesla CEO) since President Trump got back into the White House this has essentially turned Tesla into a political symbol....and this is a bad thing," Ives added in his note.

2. Musk said he's 'done enough' political spending

Musk said in his interview with Husain that he will be cutting down on his political spending, though he did not say if this was due to the backlash he's faced for it.

"In terms of political spending, I'm going to do a lot less in the future," Musk told Husain. "I think I've done enough."

Musk said while he does not "currently see a reason" for political spending, he said he will start contributing again "if I see a reason to do political spending in the future."

Musk spent at least $277 million backing President Donald Trump and other GOP candidates in last year's elections, making him one of Trump's biggest supporters.

Last month, Trump told reporters during a Cabinet meeting at the White House that he doesn't really need Musk in his administration.

"Elon has done a fantastic job. Look, he's sitting here, and I don't care. I don't need Elon for anything other than I happen to like him," Trump said on April 10.

3. Musk said Tesla robotaxis will be geo-fenced and avoid intersections

Musk told CNBC's David Faber in an interview on Tuesday that Tesla's robotaxis will be geo-fenced to certain parts of Austin when the service launches next month.

"When we deploy the cars in Austin, we are actually going to deploy it not to the entire Austin region but only to the parts of Austin we consider to be the safest. So we will geo-fence it," Musk told Faber.

"It's not going to take intersections unless we are highly confident it's going to do well with that intersection. Or it will just take a route around that intersection," Musk added.

Musk announced Tesla's robotaxi during a launch event in October. He told CNBC on Tuesday he expects to expand Tesla's robotaxi fleet in Austin to 1,000 vehicles "within a few months," before rolling out the service to other cities like San Francisco and San Antonio.

4. Musk said there's no need for Tesla to buy Uber

Musk told CNBC on Tuesday he didn't see a need for Tesla to buy Uber when Tesla can rely on its own fleet of autonomous vehicles.

"There's no need because we have a large number of cars. We have millions of cars that will be able to operate autonomously," Musk told Faber.

"And I should say that it's a combination of a Tesla-owned fleet and also enabling Tesla owners to be able to add or subtract their car to the fleet, so that existing Tesla owners will be able to earn money by adding their car to the fleet for autonomous use," Musk added.

Earlier, in February, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said he would prefer not to compete with Musk and Tesla.

"Yeah listen, no one wants to compete against Tesla or Elon, if you can help it," Khosrowshahi said in an interview with technology and media analyst Ben Thompson for his newsletter, Stratechery.

Khosrowshahi told Thompson it would be beneficial for Tesla to offer rides on Uber.

"Then, that Tesla that is both on Uber, and by the way, they could be both on Uber and the network, that is going to create much, much more revenue," Khosrowshahi said.

"Ultimately, we're hoping that my charm and the economic argument gets Tesla to work with us as well. If they want a direct channel, no problem," Khosrowshahi said.

5. Musk said he's not ruling out a merger between Tesla and xAI

When asked if a merger between Tesla and xAI was on the cards, Musk said "anything is possible" though there are "no plans to do so."

"It's not out of the question, but obviously it would require Tesla shareholder support," Musk told Faber on Tuesday.

Musk started his own AI company in 2023. Musk had previously cofounded OpenAI with Sam Altman in 2015 but left OpenAI's board in 2018.

In March, xAI acquired X, formerly Twitter, in an all-stock deal that valued xAI at $80 billion and X at $33 billion. Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion in October 2022.

Musk said in a livestream in January that xAI's chatbot, Grok, will be included in Tesla's vehicles but did not give a specific launch date.

"Grok in Tesla's is coming soon. So you will just be able to talk to your Tesla and ask for anything," Musk said in his livestream.

Representatives for Musk at Tesla did not respond to a request for comment from BI.

• Duolingo's tech chief, Severin Hacker, uses a "reduce, automate, delegate" leadership strategy.
• He said it's important to strike a balance between being in "founder mode" and being a manager.
• Hacker said he adapted his leadership style as the company grew to 800 people.

Duolingo's cofounder has a three-part principle for striking the right balance between "founder mode" and having some hierarchy in the company.

"One of my principles is reduce, automate, delegate," said Severin Hacker, who is also the company's chief technology officer. He spoke on an episode of the "20VC" podcast published on Monday.

Hacker cofounded Duolingo in 2011 with Luis von Ahn, his doctoral supervisor at Carnegie Mellon University. The language-learning app has since gone public and employs about 800 people.

Speaking about "reduce," Hacker said that once a month or once a quarter, he thinks about what he needs to do — and what he can drop.

"If you just don't do it, is it the end of the world?" he said.

Once he decides that a task is necessary, he tries to gauge if it can be automated, such as using ChatGPT to write a report or answer a question.

Lastly, he said he delegates what cannot be automated.

"I've handed off most of the day-to-day engineering to our head of engineering," Hacker said. "I'm now a little bit out of the weeds."

He said he's focused on AI and its implications for Duolingo and deciding what the company should invest in.

"I probably spend 80% of my day thinking and acting on this AI question," the CTO said.

The company has doubled down on AI usage in the past year. It uses the technology to generate lessons, and last month, Duolingo's CEO von Ahn made headlines for outlining all the ways he plans to integrate AI at the company, including for hiring and evaluation decisions.

Duolingo's use of AI and growing user base have made it an investor darling. It hit over 46 million daily active users this year, and its stock is up 191% in the past year. Duolingo has expanded its offerings from about 40 languages to math, music, and, recently, chess.

Evolving leadership

Hacker said that his role has changed every year since he cofounded the company.

He added that it's important to find a balance between being in founder mode — Silicon Valley lingo for a leader who is very involved in the company day-to-day — and being a manager, who often delegates and prefers hierarchy.

"At a certain scale, you need to have managers or layers," Hacker said. "The oldest organization in the world, the Catholic Church, that is still around, it's very hierarchical and and I think there's probably some reason for it."

Earlier this month, von Ahn, too, said that his leadership style changed as the language learning company grew in size.

In an interview at Stanford University, the CEO said that he no longer gets into the fine details of every task, not because he doesn't want to, but because it's impossible to micromanage that many people.

"At this point, I also have learned that most of my job is culture carrier, mascot, and just making some of the kind of tough philosophical decisions," von Ahn said.

• Jensen Huang criticized US chip export rules that have hurt Nvidia's China market share.
• He said export controls have spurred Chinese tech development.
• "Our competition in China is really intense," Huang said.

Tech titan Jensen Huang slammed US rules on chip exports to China, which have hit Nvidia's business hard.

In a session with reporters and industry analysts at the Computex Taipei tech conference in Taiwan on Wednesday, Huang said the chipmaker's market share in China has decreased to 50%, down from 95% four years ago.

Huang also said Chinese tech companies have benefited from the crackdown.

"The export control gave them the spirit, the energy, and the government support to accelerate their development. So I think, all in all, the export control is a failure," he said.

The US started taking steps to limit China's use of high-tech chips in 2022. Huang's comments on Wednesday mark an escalation from his previous messaging about the US's controls.

In February, Huang told CNBC, "It's hard to tell whether export control is effective."

In April, Nvidia said the Trump administration tightened rules that effectively banned the sale of the kinds of chips — H20 — Nvidia had created to comply with the Biden administration's export controls. The company said it expected a $5.5 billion charge in first-quarter earnings due to the new restrictions.

About 13% of Nvidia's revenue in the year ending in January came from China and Hong Kong, down from 17% the year before.

"China is where 50% of the world's AI researchers are, and we want AI researchers to build on Nvidia. DeepSeek was built on Nvidia. That's a gift to us, that's a gift to the world," Huang said.

On Wednesday, Huang repeated past compliments for DeepSeek, the AI startup that took global financial markets by surprise in January with a competitive new model, and for tech giant Huawei. He again called the latter, which builds its own chips, "formidable."

"Our competition in China is really intense," Huang said. The CEO also said the US has no monopoly on AI development.

"Power is quite cost-effective in China, and there's plenty of land. So the ban on H20 is not effective," he said.

Huang added that there was no way to further "degrade" the company's current graphics processing unit architecture such that buyers would want it.

Bouts of broad market and tech sell-offs and angst about export controls, among other issues, have depressed investor darling Nvidia's stock recently. The company's shares are up nearly 41% in the past year but flat this year to date.

• Trump has officially unveiled his plan for the Golden Dome missile defense system.
• He told reporters on Tuesday that it would likely cost $175 billion and take three years to complete.
• Much of the cost is expected to come from an ambitious constellation of space-based interceptors.

President Donald Trump officially announced his plans on Tuesday for a Golden Dome system that focuses on countering potential missile threats from China and Russia.

The plan is ambitious, with the system meant to officially put American anti-missile weapons in space for the first time.

Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump estimated that the Golden Dome would be completed within three years and cost about $175 billion.

He's requested an initial $25 billion "to help construction get underway" through a tax break bill that Congress is deliberating.

"That's the initial sort of down, deposit," Trump said of the first tranche. "And we have, probably, you're talking about $175 billion total cost when this is completed."

The Congressional Budget Office has estimated in early May that it could cost between $161 billion and $542 billion to launch and operate a full constellation of space-based interceptors — the core aspect of the Golden Dome — for 20 years.

These satellite weapons would be designed to shoot down intercontinental ballistic missiles from orbit, and the congressional cost projection varies so much because it depends on how many interceptors would be purchased.

That answer would largely rely on how many interceptors the US thinks it needs to counter China and Russia, which Trump outlined in his January executive order as one of the Golden Dome's priorities.

"This design for the Golden Dome will integrate with our existing defense capabilities and should be fully operational before the end of my term," Trump told reporters. "So we'll have it done in about three years."

Overall, the Golden Dome is envisioned as a multi-layered shield, meaning it would mix both space and ground capabilities. Trump initially called it an Iron Dome, inspired by Israel's missile defense, but renamed it in February.

The system would be built to detect enemy strikes before they launch and destroy the missile before it can get in the air. If that fails, it would try to down the missile in mid- or early flight.

A final stopgap would be aimed at intercepting the missile just before it reached its target.

"It will be capable of intercepting missiles launched from the other side of the world," Trump said. "Even if they're launched from space."

Countering China and Russia from space

The president has repeatedly emphasized space warfare as a centerpiece for the Golden Dome. To that end, he also announced that Gen. Michael Guetlein, the Space Force's vice chief of space operations, would lead the project.

"While we have been focused on keeping the peace overseas, our adversaries have been quickly modernizing their nuclear forces," Guetlein said at Tuesday's announcement, warning that US rivals were "building space weapons."

Russia was reported last year to be building a nuclear space-based weapon, though it was unclear if this meant the asset was nuclear-armed or nuclear-powered. The 1967 Outer Space Treaty, of which Russia is a signatory, prohibits nuclear weapons or "weapons of mass destruction" from being put into space.

Guetlein also mentioned hypersonic missiles, which China has been developing in recent years. In 2021, Beijing startled the US with a successful test of a nuclear-capable missile that uses a hypersonic glide vehicle to travel faster than five times the speed of sound and potentially strike anywhere on the planet.

The missile also demonstrated an ability to exit and drop back into Earth's atmosphere during flight, also known as fractional orbital bombardment. This means that it can be fired from an unexpected direction and be even harder to detect or intercept.

The Golden Dome's focus on countering China and Russia marks a shift from the US's past stated goal for missile defense, which traditionally has been to prevent strikes from rogue states such as North Korea.

Washington's usual strategy for deterring nuclear strikes from Beijing and Moscow, which are designated as peer or near-peer rivals, was instead to rely on American nuclear weapons as a counterthreat.

The Congressional Budget Office has said that if the Golden Dome were to deal with Chinese and Russian missile threats, it would need a much larger constellation of advanced space-based interceptors, thereby driving up the cost.

Speaking on Tuesday, Trump said he was confident he could get Congress to approve the needed money.

"You know, some funding is tough and some is easy," he said. "When we say we're going to save everyone's lives in a crazy world, it seems to be very easy to get."

Meanwhile, China and Russia have jointly condemned the Golden Dome as an "unconstrained, global and multi-tier missile defense system," saying on May 8 that it had a "deeply destabilizing character."

• Hailey Bieber says she experienced postpartum body dysmorphia after giving birth.
• It took her some time to accept that her body wouldn't look the way it used to.
• "You're not the same person that you were before. You change head to toe," she said.

Hailey Bieber is done pretending that becoming a new mom is easy.

In an interview with Vogue published on Tuesday, the Rhode Skin founder spoke about her childbirth and postpartum experiences. In August, she welcomed her son, Jack Blues, with her husband, Justin Bieber.

Bieber told Vogue that she struggled with postpartum body dysmorphia after giving birth.

"When people talk about 'bouncing back' — back where, because my hips are wider, my boobs are actually bigger than they were before. They did not go back. And great, I'll take it, but it's not the same body that it was before," Bieber said.

She added that she fell into the cycle of looking up mean comments online about her appearance, only to end up feeling even worse about herself.

It took her some time to accept that her body wouldn't look how it used to, she said.

"You're not the same person that you were before. You change head to toe. And I think there was a minute where I kept really hyper-fixating on getting back to what I was. And then I had to go through that acceptance of, I'm not going back. So it's really about how do I want to move forward? Who do I want to be?" Bieber said.

Her difficult postpartum journey was compounded by the internet rumours surrounding her marriage.

She said people speculating online that she was going through a divorce made it even worse. "I cannot even begin to explain it. It's a crazy life to live," she said.

"Being postpartum is the most sensitive time I've ever gone through in my life, and learning a new version of myself is very difficult," Bieber said.

Postpartum typically refers to the first six to eight weeks after giving birth. During that time, a lot changes in a woman's body. New moms might deal with things like breast engorgement or vaginal bleeding, and some also experience postpartum depression or postpartum anxiety.

Bieber isn't the only celebrity mom who has spoken about her postpartum experience.

Lindsay Lohan said in a March 2024 interview that she doesn't feel pressured to "snap back" to her old body after giving birth.

"I feel like everything always comes full circle again, so this is that moment, and this, too, shall pass," she said.

In a March interview, Ashley Tisdale said that welcoming her second child was a chance to experience motherhood again since she felt "robbed" of her first experience due to postpartum depression, or PPD.

A representative for Bieber did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent by Business Insider outside regular hours.

• UK fans of Labubu won't be able to snag the toy in stores for a bit.
• The toy's producer, Pop Mart, said it would temporarily pause physical Labubu sales in the UK.
• It said this was to "ensure the safety" of people after long lines formed outside UK Pop Mart stores.

Labubu fans in the UK have gone so wild for the toy, its seller has temporarily paused in-store sales.

Pop Mart, the Chinese toymaker behind the viral $85 doll that's taking the world by storm, announced the pause in an Instagram post on Tuesday.

"Due to the increasing demand for our beloved Labubus, we've seen a significant rise in customer turnout on restock days — with long queues forming outside our stores and Roboshops," the toymaker said.

Pop Mart sells products in 16 locations across the UK, including the vending machine-style Roboshops.

"To ensure the safety and comfort of everyone, we will temporarily pause all in-store and roboshop sales of THE MONSTERS plush toys until further notice," Pop Mart added.

Pop Mart said online drops of the toy would continue as usual.

At least a dozen videos on TikTok of Pop Mart's stores in the UK show snaking lines forming at its entrances ahead of product drops.

A video of the Pop Mart in Bullring, a shopping mall in Birmingham, showed a line stretching around the building. Barricades were set up at the start of the line to organize the queue.

This comes as Labubu fever spreads from Asia to the West, with fans queuing for hours to get their hands on the furry plushie with serrated teeth.

Labubus, which come in various designs, are sold in blind boxes, or toys that are not labeled. Customers do not know which design they are getting upon purchase.

Pop Mart staff in Singapore told BI in November that stores are restocked with a few hundred figurines twice a week, but they sell out in minutes.

Labubu and The Monsters toy line was a major cash cow for Pop Mart in 2024. According to the company's annual report, its sales totaled 3.04 billion yuan, or about $426 million, which was 23% of Pop Mart's total revenue.

Representatives for Pop Mart did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

Washington, D.C. is once again home to the country's best city park system, a new ranking finds.

Why it matters: City parks serve as community meeting spots and civic spaces, offer room for exercise and fresh air, and can draw in new residents — but they require investment, attention and protection.

Driving the news: That's according to the 2025 ParkScore index, an annual ranking from the Trust for Public Land (TPL), a pro-park nonprofit.

• The report ranks the 100 most populous U.S. cities' park systems relative to one another based on five categories: acreage, access, amenities, investment and equity.

What they found: D.C. took home top honors with a total of 85.5 points, thanks in part to big access and investment scores.

• Irvine, California, came in second, while Minneapolis ranked third.
• St. Paul, Minnesota, sits in fifth — meaning the Twin Cities remain a solid option for park lovers.

Zoom in: Irvine jumped from fourth place in 2024 to second this year — "propelled," TPL says, by "continued progress on its 'Great Park,' one of the most ambitious public park projects in the country."

• Denver's now in the top 10 (up from 13th last year), while Cincinnati moved from eighth to fourth.

Stunning stats: Among the cities analyzed, $12.2 billion was invested in park and recreation systems in 2024, while 76% of residents now live within a 10-minute walk of a park.

• Those are both records since TPL started tracking such figures in 2007 and 2012, respectively.

What's next: Some of the money cities are spending on public parks lately is tied to pandemic-era federal infrastructure funding, which won't last forever.

• "It'll be interesting to see over the next couple of years, if there aren't replacement funds ... what that will mean for cities and communities that are really wanting to invest in parks," TPL president and CEO Carrie Besnette Hauser tells Axios.

• Short-term rental prices can surge by over 100% at some vacation hotspots, a Bankrate study found.
• The study named 20 places with the biggest rental prices surges, like Augusta, Georgia, and Vail.
• Travelers should book early and be flexible to avoid the hikes, a Bankrate data analyst said.

If you're heading to a vacation hotspot this summer, you could be paying a markup of more than 100% for a stay at a short-term rental.

A new study from Bankrate identified 20 vacation hotspots where short-term rental prices surge during their busy season — 10 in the fall and winter and 10 in the spring and summer.

The study used rental data compiled by AirDNA, a vacation rental analytics firm, to determine where rental prices hiked the most in 2024. It also focused on properties that were single-family homes with at least two bedrooms.

Augusta, Georgia, experienced the highest peak season markup, with the average daily rate for short-term rentals spiking 178% in the spring, due to the Masters Tournament. A family previously told Business Insider that renting their home out for Master's week paid their mortgage for the year.

Other locations that spiked in the spring and summer included water destinations, like Long Island, New York, and Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri, as well as Bozeman, Montana, which is near Yellowstone National Park. Bozeman also was among the highest markups in the winter due to its skiing.

Places that saw the biggest markups in fall and winter included sport and skiing destinations such as Vail, Avon, and Steamboat Springs in Colorado, as well as Green Bay, Wisconsin, and Ann Arbor, Michigan. The biggest fall or winter markup was 125% in Oxford, Mississippi, which attracts thousands every fall to watch Ole Miss football.

Alex Gailey, a data analyst at Bankrate, told BI the big swings in rental prices at these popular destinations was "eye-popping." She also noted many Americans are saying they still plan to travel this year but that they are trying to be more budget-conscious.

"Flexibility is one of the best ways you can save on travel," Gailey said.

For travelers who do want to visit these hotspots in the busy season, Gailey said it's best to plan ahead of time and book early. Travelers who have flexibility in their travel dates should also use it, as short-term rentals tend to be a lot cheaper during the week than on the weekends.

She also said if you can avoid a busy season visit, you're likely to find better rates visiting these places in the shoulder seasons.

Another option is to stay in an adjacent city that is close by but does not experience the same level of price hike. For instance, staying in Salt Lake City can be a lot more budget-friendly than Park City, where short-term rentals can cost over 103% more on average in the fall or winter season, according to Bankrate.

Gailey also said taking advantage of credit card points and other travel rewards can be a good way to make travel more budget-friendly despite broader economic uncertainty.

Here's the full lists of locations and the average peak season markup for short-term rentals, according to the Bankrate study.

Spring and summer

1. Augusta, Georgia
Maximum average daily rate: $541
Minimum average daily rate: $194
Peak season markup: 178%

2. Long Island, New York
Maximum average daily rate: $785
Minimum average daily rate: $362
Peak season markup: 117%

3. Albany/Saratoga Springs, New York
Maximum average daily rate: $439
Minimum average daily rate: $224
Peak season markup: 96%

4. Bozeman/Yellowstone National Park
Maximum average daily rate: $611
Minimum average daily rate: $313
Peak season markup: 95%

5. Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri
Maximum average daily rate: $407
Minimum average daily rate: $212
Peak season markup: 92%

6. Lake Norman, North Carolina
Maximum average daily rate: $692
Minimum average daily rate: $364
Peak season markup: 90%

7. Norfolk/Virginia Beach, Virginia
Maximum average daily rate: $435
Minimum average daily rate: $231
Peak season markup: 88%

8. Idaho Falls/Rexburg, Idaho
Maximum average daily rate: $377
Minimum average daily rate: $201
Peak season markup: 87%

9. Providence, Rhode Island
Maximum average daily rate: $388
Minimum average daily rate: $211
Peak season markup: 84%

10. Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
Maximum average daily rate: $349
Minimum average daily rate: $195
Peak season markup: 79%

Fall and winter

1. Oxford, Mississippi
Maximum average daily rate: $635
Minimum average daily rate: $283
Peak season markup: 125%

2. Vail/Avon, Colorado
Maximum average daily rate: $946
Minimum average daily rate: $424
Peak season markup: 123%

3. Green Bay, Wisconsin
Maximum average daily rate: $457
Minimum average daily rate: $215
Peak season markup: 113%

4. Steamboat Springs, Colorado
Maximum average daily rate: $694
Minimum average daily rate: $335
Peak season markup: 107%

5. Ann Arbor, Michigan
Maximum average daily rate: $414
Minimum average daily rate: $201
Peak season markup: 105%

6. Park City, Utah
Maximum average daily rate: $888
Minimum average daily rate: $436
Peak season markup: 103%

7. Aspen/Snowmass, Colorado
Maximum average daily rate: $1,082
Minimum average daily rate: $535
Peak season markup: 102%

8. State College, Pennsylvania
Maximum average daily rate: $642
Minimum average daily rate: $315
Peak season markup: 98%

9. Bozeman/Yellowstone National Park, Montana
Maximum average daily rate: $611
Minimum average daily rate: $313
Peak season markup: 95%

10. Mammoth Lakes, California
Maximum average daily rate: $554
Minimum average daily rate: $303
Peak season markup: 83%

• In a media blitz, Elon Musk said Tesla would roll out robotaxis in June using a "prudent" approach.
• Musk aims for rapid Optimus robot production, predicting one million units a year by 2030.
• Investor response remains lukewarm, and Musk has been wrong about his ambitious timelines before.

Elon Musk went on a media blitz to share plans on new robotics benchmarks and reiterate his commitment to Tesla.

The Tesla CEO spoke briefly with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella at the Microsoft Build conference on Monday, made a remote appearance at Bloomberg's Qatar Economic Forum, and appeared on CNBC twice on Tuesday.

At the Qatar Economic Forum, Musk said he is committed to leading Tesla for at least five more years, and said robotaxis will be rolled out in June as previously planned.

"Yes, no doubt about that at all," Musk said during a video call when asked about his leadership.

Tesla shares remained mostly unchanged after markets closed Tuesday, but they rebounded in May compared to previous months after Musk said he would scale back his involvement with DOGE on April 22. However, Tesla shares are still down in 2025 thus far, following revenue and income declines in Q1.

Representatives for Tesla did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

Here are the main takeaways on robotics from Musk's interviews.

A 'prudent' approach

Musk was asked about Tesla's Full Self-Driving Supervised software running a red light during a test drive by BI reporters and stressed the slow rollout of robotaxis for safety reasons

"I think it's prudent for us to start with a small number, confirm that things are going well, and then scale it up proportionate to how well we see it's doing," Musk told CNBC host David Faber.

Musk said they are now testing robotaxis "driving 24/7 with drivers in the cars" with "essentially no interventions," but he prefers caution because it would be "the first introduction of unsupervised full self-driving."

"We want to deliberately take it slow," Musk added. "We could start with 1,000 or 10,000 on day one, but I don't think that would be prudent. So we will start with probably 10 for a week, then increase it to 20, 30, 40."

Musk said that the goal would be to have 1,000 robotaxis within a few months in Austin, before expanding the operation to other cities like Los Angeles and San Antonio.

Though Musk did not directly address BI's reporting that the FDS made a critical error, he said Tesla's robotaxis will be geo-fenced to select areas of Austin. Alphabet's Waymo also limits its autonomous cars to specific zones.

"It's not going to take intersections unless we are highly confident," Musk told Faber. "Or it will just take a route around that intersection."

The future of Optimus

Musk is expecting to scale up the use of humanoid robots quickly.

"We expect to have thousands of Optimus robots working in Tesla factories by the end of this year, beginning this fall," Musk told Faber on CNBC, "And we expect to scale Optimus up faster than any product, I think, in history, to get to millions of units per year as soon as possible."

"I think we feel confident in getting to one million units per year in less than five years, maybe four years. So by 2030, I feel confident in predicting one million Optimus units per year — it might be 2029," Musk added.

Musk told Faber that Optimus will also be the "biggest product ever" with "insatiable" demand because "everyone" would want one.

"It's going to take a lot of compute resources and it'll take time," said Musk when asked what it would take to train a robot, "I think there's certain threshold breakthroughs that we think we can achieve."

In a short conversation with Microsoft CEO Nadella, Musk also reiterated that all kinds of robotics, including robotaxis and the humanoid robot Optimus, need to be "grounded in reality."

"As you mentioned with the car, it needs to drive safely and correctly. The humanoid robot Optimus needs to perform the task that it's being asked to perform," Musk told Nadella.

The market reacts

Musk's media blitz generated a lukewarm response from investors. Tesla shares rose around 0.5% at market closing on Tuesday compared to the day before, but stocks began to dip in the after-hours.

Musk has teased his plan to bring humanoid robots to market for years. In 2021, a dancing actor in a body suit gave us our first look at Optimus, also known as Tesla Bot. By 2022, a rough prototype was up and walking at the company's Artificial Intelligence Day event.

In October 2024, Business Insider's Hasan Chowdhury reported that Tesla's robotics technology has advanced since its early days. Chowdhury reported that Optimus prototypes at last year's Tesla's robotaxi day played rock-paper-scissors with the audience, poured drinks, and danced, though some attendees thought the bots were controlled by human operators.

As far as the timeline goes, Musk said in a post on X last July that Tesla would have "genuinely useful humanoid robots in low production for Tesla internal use next year," and larger-scale production enabling sales to other companies by 2026. Now, midway through 2025, large-scale production has not yet been announced, but in the company's Q1 2025 Update letter, Tesla said it is "on track" for its builds of Optimus on its Fremont pilot production line in 2025, "with wider deployment of bots doing useful work across our factories."

Musk has been wrong about timelines before. In 2018, he acknowledged that he tends to be overly optimistic about when his creations will come to market. In some instances, consumers are still waiting for his promises to come to fruition.

In 2019, Musk said Tesla would deploy over one million robotaxis by the end of 2020. While that hasn't yet materialized, the planned debut of its robotaxi service in Austin later this year gets Tesla a small step closer to that goal.

Still, if Tesla's robotics division manages to deliver on all it has promised with Optimus and its other applications, it'd be a major boon for the company — and its investors. Tesla bull and Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives has predicted that robotaxis will be a game changer for Tesla, and estimated that it could become a $2 trillion company within the next two years. Ives told CNBC on Tuesday that he believes 90% of Tesla's future value lies in its autonomous vehicle software and robotics division.

Representatives for Andrew Cuomo, a New York City mayoral race front-runner, on Tuesday questioned the timing of a reported Trump Department of Justice investigation into the former Democratic N.Y. governor.

Why it matters: The New York Times first reported that the investigation into Cuomo over decisions he made as governor during the COVID pandemic began about a month ago, after the DOJ moved to have the criminal corruption case against NYC Mayor Eric Adams dismissed.

• "That puts the Trump administration in the unusual position of having ended a criminal case against the leader of the nation's largest city — Mr. Adams, who is running for re-election as an independent — and opened one into his chief rival, Mr. Cuomo, who is leading the Democratic primary field in the polls, in the span of a few months," the NYT noted.

What they're saying: "We have never been informed of any such matter, so why would someone leak it now?" said Rich Azzopardi, a spokesperson for Cuomo, in a statement shared with outlets including Axios.

• "The answer is obvious: This is lawfare and election interference plain and simple — something President Trump and his top Department of Justice officials say they are against," he added.

State of play: Cuomo came under fire during the early stages of the pandemic for his handling of COVID in nursing homes and House Republicans in a criminal referral last year accused him of violating the law by allegedly making false statements during congressional testimony on the matter.

• The NYT reports that U.S. attorney's office in D.C. began the investigation into Cuomo in response to this when Ed Martin was running the office before he was replaced by former Fox News host Jeanine Pirro, whom the NYC mayor candidate beat to become N.Y. state attorney general in 2006.
• Pirro was scathing in her criticism of Cuomo's handling of the pandemic on her show "Justice with Judge Jeanine," notably saying in one segment after he was accused of covering up nursing home deaths in 2021: "You cannot escape the consequences of your intentional and reckless acts."
• Azzopardi said in his emailed statement Tuesday that Cuomo "testified truthfully to the best of his recollection about events from four years earlier, and he offered to address any follow-up questions from the Subcommittee — but from the beginning this was all transparently political."
• A DOJ spokesperson declined to comment on the matter and representatives for the White House and the U.S. Attorney's office in D.C. did not immediately respond to Axios' Tuesday evening request for comment.

Editor's note: This article has been updated with new details throughout.