Tesla Plans to Open Source Model S and Model X Designs

AUSTIN, Texas — Tesla plans to "open source" the Model S and Model X, Elon Musk announced this week, extending a practice the company began with the original Roadster. "Just as Tesla made the original Roadster design & software open source, we plan to do the same with Model S & X," Musk posted on July 24.

Honoring two icons

The announcement comes months after Tesla ended production of both flagship vehicles in April, freeing the Fremont lines for the Optimus ramp now underway through the company's new Optimus Academy training program. The Model S, launched in 2012, redefined what an electric car could be; the Model X brought falcon-wing doors and unmatched utility to the segment. Together they carried Tesla from niche startup to the world's most valuable automaker.

Releasing their engineering materials publicly would give independent shops, researchers and enthusiasts the resources to keep these vehicles on the road for decades, the same way the 2023 Roadster release has helped owners maintain 18-year-old cars. That package included CAN database files, diagnostic software and research-and-development documents, and engineering firm Antmicro used it to rebuild the Roadster's electronics in simulation.

What could be released

Commentators, including Electrek, have urged Tesla to go further this time, with CAD files, firmware source and a formal open-source license, noting the Roadster release was more of a documentation drop. That critique doubles as an opportunity: a full release for the S and X, a production platform refined over 14 years, would be unprecedented in the auto industry. No major automaker has ever published a complete, volume-production EV platform for open study.

Tesla has a record of leaning open when it counts: it pledged not to enforce its patents against good-faith EV makers back in 2014, publishes safety and diagnostic materials freely, and opened its charging connector as the North American Charging Standard, now adopted industry-wide. The S/X release would extend that legacy even as the company redirects its resources toward AI hardware and robotics investments.

What comes next

Timing remains open, and the scope will determine how meaningful the release proves. Skeptics and fans alike will be watching whether the package includes the deeper design files that would let engineers truly learn from the platform, as detailed in Electrek's analysis of the plan.

Either way, the gesture fits a company that has always treated its older technology as a gift to the industry it created. The Model S and Model X changed the car business; their blueprints, in public hands, could keep teaching it for years.