Musk: Tesla’s market cap directly tied to solving autonomous driving
At Paris’ VivaTech innovation conference, Musk says Tesla’s market capitalization is directly tied to whether it can solve autonomous driving. French businessman Antoine Arnault ribs Musk about Tesla’s $827 billion market cap, noting it dwarfs LVMH’s valuation. Musk says he has little insight into stock price movements and suggests that Tesla’s market cap is tied to whether the company is able to perfect autonomous driving technology (he has been saying for several years that Tesla is close to solving autonomous driving, but the company’s cars still only provide advanced driver assistance features).
Valuations are a strange thing. Sometimes I’ve said, ‘Hey, I think the stock price is too high at Tesla,’ and then the stock price goes up. I’m like, ‘okay.’…Really the value of the company is primarily on the basis of autonomy. If you look at our total vehicle output, it’s almost two million vehicles this year or something like that. But that’s still only 2% of total vehicle production. The potential for autonomy is that the value of autonomy is so high, that even if you have a discount, a percentage probability of autonomy happening, that is so incredibly valuable.
He also repeats the idea of Tesla owners turning their vehicles into a fleet of self-driving robotaxis, which he once said would be implemented by 2020.
Musk to talk Tesla Gigafactory with Macron again
For the second time in just over a month, Musk will meet with Macron to discuss building a Tesla Gigafactory in France. France has been courting Tesla to build factories in the country, but is competing with other EU countries like Spain, which is also in talks with Tesla. Macron:
I’m going (into that meeting) with an agenda. We’re going to talk about artificial intelligence, in which he is involved, social media, regulation framework… And then I’ll also talk to him about cars, batteries, to promote French and European attractiveness.
Asked specifically whether he was hoping to secure a Tesla Gigafactory, Macron says: “It’s up to the company to look at these different issues in Europe. So we’ll be selling France” as an investment destination. In addition to saying that France has invested in an “entire sector of electric batteries” and will try to convince Musk “that France is the best possible place in Europe to establish the next Tesla factory,” French minister for digital affairs Jean-Noel Barrot says:
It will be great to have a Tesla factory in France. There has been a lot of effort and energy to make sure this is possible and this can happen.
Musk and Macron will also discuss tech regulation.
Musk: ‘Battery supply constraints’ delaying Tesla Semi production
Speaking at an energy conference in Texas, Musk says Tesla does not expect to start higher-volume production of the Semi Class 8 electric semi-truck before late 2024. He cites battery supply constraints as the reason. Musk did not explain exactly what “higher-volume production” means for the Semi, a niche Tesla product built at Gigafactory Nevada that Musk considers essential for accelerating the company’s transition to more sustainable energy.
Report: Autopilot involved in 17 fatalities, 736 crashes
According to NHTSA reports, Tesla’s Autopilot self-driving software was involved in 17 fatalities and 736 crashes. NHTSA began collecting the data after a federal order in 2021 required automakers to disclose crashes involving driver-assistance technology. NHTSA says a report of a crash involving driver-assistance does not itself imply that the technology was the cause. It is also unclear if the NHTSA’s data covers every driver assisted crash. Of the 17 fatal crashes, four involved motorcycles. NHTSA has received more than a dozen reports of Teslas running into parked emergency vehicles while in Autopilot
The increase in crashes coincides with Tesla’s rollout of Full Self-Driving, which has expanded from around 12,000 users to nearly 400,000 in just over a year. Nearly two-thirds of all driver-assistance crashes that Tesla has reported to NHTSA occurred in the past year. Tesla clams that, when comparing miles driven per collision, Full Self-Driving crashes at a rate at least five times lower than vehicles in normal driving. However, this figure is uncorroborated by external agencies. NHTSA:
NHTSA has an active investigation into Tesla Autopilot, including Full-Self Driving. NHTSA reminds the public that all advanced driver assistance systems require the human driver to be in control and fully engaged in the driving task at all times. Accordingly, all state laws hold the human driver responsible for the operation of their vehicles.
Musk laughs at Bill Miller’s Tesla short fail
Musk tweets a laughing emoji at the legendary investor Bill Miller for shorting Tesla stock when it was less than half its current value. In a CNBC interview, Miller said that he was betting against Tesla because of increased industry competition. At that time, the company’s market value was around $357 billion, but now it stands at $774.6 billion – a 116% increase. Its stock price was at $244.40 as of last market close. The increase was fueled partly by investor hopes that the Federal Reserve would ease its interest-rate-hike campaign, along with a pickup in demand for Tesla vehicles because of price cuts in China and the US. Miller:
I shorted it recently. I shorted more today. If it goes up, I’ll short more. Tesla is now losing market share. They’re cutting price. BYD is introducing a luxury version over in China. It’s a phenomenal company, but it’s not worth $380 billion, in my opinion. I just don’t think it’s worth more than the top five automakers in the world combined. And all of them are coming with electric vehicles.
🤣
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 10, 2023
Tesla in talks to build factory in Spain
In a bid to build a factory there, Tesla is negotiating with the regional government of Valencia in Spain. A spokesperson for Valencia’s government says it had held meetings and conversations with a company about a “large automobile investment,” but did not specify which company it was, citing the confidentiality of the negotiations. Tesla’s total investment in this enterprise could surpass 4.5 billion euros ($4.83 billion).
NHTSA investigates faulty Model Y steering wheels, recalls 137 vehicles
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) investigates Tesla, after two 2023 Model Y owners filed complaints saying that their steering wheels came off while they were driving. Both cars had low mileage, and the NHTSA says they were delivered to the owners without the retaining bolt that attaches the steering wheel to the steering column. Tesla is now voluntarily recalling 137 2022-2023 Model Y vehicles, because the fastening part of the steering wheel may not be as tight as it needs to be. The loose fasteners may separate the steering wheel from the steering column and cause the vehicle to lose steering control. Tesla will provide a free inspection and reinforcement for the recalled vehicles and the its service center will provide services to users as needed. The NHTSA has not yet ordered a recall for the Model Y vehicles, but the administration says the investigation could include about 120,000 vehicles.
Investors accuse Tesla of ‘carnival barking, market manipulation, insider trading’
Investors accuse Musk of insider trading in a class action lawsuit against Tesla, saying the company’s manipulation of Dogecoin cost them billions of dollars. They argue in a Manhattan federal court that Musk used paid online influencers, deliberately undertook ‘publicity stunts’ like his 2021 appearance on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live,” and more, to trade profitably at their expense through several Dogecoin wallets that he or Tesla controls. They say this included the time Musk sold about $124 million of Dogecoin after he replaced Twitter’s blue bird logo with Dogecoin’s Shiba Inu dog logo, leading to a 30% jump in Dogecoin’s price. The accusations are part of a proposed third amended complaint in the lawsuit which began in June 2022. (Tesla sought a dismissal of the second amended complaint, calling it a “fanciful work of fiction,” and said another amendment was unjustified, but US District Judge Alvin Hellerstein said he would “likely” allow the third amended complaint, as the defendants would not likely be prejudiced.) A “deliberate course of carnival barking, market manipulation and insider trading” enabled Musk to defraud investors, promote himself and his companies, the filing said.
Ford to use Tesla Superchargers
Ford strikes deal with Tesla to allow its electric vehicle owners to gain access to more than 12,000 Tesla Superchargers in North America in early 2024. This makes Ford the first major automaker to embrace Tesla’s proprietary charging standard and gives the company access to the biggest network of high-speed Superchargers in the United States. Tesla will provide an adapter to Ford EVs fitted with the Combined Charging System (CCS), giving them port access to Tesla’s V3 Superchargers. Ford will equip future EVs with Tesla’s own charging standard, removing the need for an adapter for direct access to Tesla Superchargers, starting in 2025. Pricing will be “competitive”. On Twitter Spaces, Musk tells Ford CEO Jim Farley:
The idea is that we don’t want the Tesla supercharger network to be like a walled garden. We want it to be something that is supportive of electrification and sustainable transport in general.
Farley:
We love the locations, we love the reliability, your routing software, the ease of use of the connector, the reliability of it. Tesla storms through the [Japanese bullet] train station like 300 kilometers per hour Shinkansen. We’re learning a lot.
Farley said earlier at a Morgan Stanley forum that:
[O]n the infrastructure side, I think it’s room for some collaboration between the auto companies, which is totally unnatural for us….the first step is to work together in a way we haven’t, probably with the new EV brands and the traditional old companies…. It seems totally ridiculous that we have an infrastructure problem, and we can’t even agree on what plug to use. I think the first step is to work together in a way we haven’t, probably with the new EV brands and the traditional auto companies. I think you’ll see Ford do that just because that’s what kind of company we are.
Coming soon: More locations to charge your Ford® electric vehicle. Thousands of them. @Tesla https://t.co/FayrARjD3s pic.twitter.com/CtDEcqvdwu
— Ford Motor Company (@Ford) May 25, 2023
Musk: Tesla might ‘open source more code’
Musk says Tesla might open up some of its operating system code to other automakers. Responding to Ford CEO Jim Farley, he says Tesla would:
…be helpful on the software front…In the same way that maybe Android is helpful to the phone industry as sort of a general standard, like we could potentially open source more code.
Musk and Farley also hinted at other potential partnerships in the future, including in the supply chain, and when Farley questioned him about Tesla’s Corpus Christi lithium refining plant, Musk said he does not believe there are enough entrepreneurs in the U.S. digging into raw materials mining and processing. He wishes Tesla didn’t have to pick up the slack. With its nickel-based cathode refinery in Austin, Tesla might also have to get involved in anode manufacturing, but “hopefully not,” Musk says. He also believes that there will be a huge market for synthetic graphite (graphite is the main material in most lithium-ion anodes).
Musk: Tesla will ‘strongly consider’ building Gigafactory in England
In an interview for The Wall Street Journal, Musk says Tesla is preparing to look for a location to build a new battery factory later this year and would assess England as an option.
I will strongly consider England for a future location of a gigafactory. We are not currently looking at new locations but we will probably towards the end of this year.
Tesla already operates several production facilities in Fremont, California, Austin, Texas, Berlin, Germany, and Shanghai, China. A factory in Mexico was announced in early 2023, but ground has not been broken yet.
Tesla brand rating falls 50 spots to 62
Tesla falls 50 spots in the Axios Harris Poll 100, a survey that gauges the reputations of the most notable brands in America. The company is now No. 62 out of 100 companies on the list, putting it in the “good” category. The No. 1 brand in the survey is Patagonia, while the leading car brand is Toyota, in sixth place.
The poll surveyed 16,310 “nationally representative” Americans, asking them which two companies they think have the best reputation and which two have the worst reputation. The answers were then compiled to determine which companies have the most “visibility,” with the top 100 being rated on nine dimensions, including character, trajectory, and trust.
Although Tesla received “excellent” scores in the trajectory, vision, and products and services categories, along with a “very good” score in growth, it earned “fair” scores for character, trust, and citizenship.
Reynolds, Musk trade deepfake ad likes
In response to a deepfake ad of Reynolds promoting Tesla:
How much do you think it would cost to own a car that’s this f–kng awesome?!…Whose balls do I have to fondle to get a Tesla instead of a s–t Corolla?”
Musk says:
Nice
Nice
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 17, 2023
Reynolds, in turn, responds to a deepfake ad featuring Musk promoting his Aviator Gin brand.
Nice
Nice
— Ryan Reynolds (@VancityReynolds) May 18, 2023
Tesla releases promo video on Twitter
Tesla releases a two-minute Twitter video on its Tesla Asia account (which has only 172,000 followers, compared to its main account’s 21 million) called “Drive to believe.” The ad highlights Tesla’s Autopilot feature, infotainment system, the Tesla app, as well as featuring a Model 3 owner and mother of two children saying she was initially drawn to the vehicle because of its technology, but has grown to appreciate its safety measures as well.
I would say it’s one of the greatest gifts, that my kids can have, in terms of their future.
Drive to believe——why she chose Tesla? ❤️ pic.twitter.com/LXtGl15QUy
— Tesla Asia (@Tesla_Asia) May 19, 2023
Judge: Musk can be subpoenaed through Tesla
A federal judge rules that the U.S. Virgin Islands can serve Musk a subpoena through Tesla, as part of the government’s lawsuit against JPMorgan Chase over its ties to Jeffrey Epstein. The ruling comes after lawyers for the Virgin Islands government said that it had not been able to serve Musk personally with the subpoena, as is the norm. Nor did a Musk lawyer reply to a request to accept the subpoena for his client. The judge authorizes the U.S. Virgin Islands to:
arrange alternative service of its Subpoena to Produce Documents by serving Elon Musk via service upon Tesla Inc.’s registered agent.
Tesla reopens talks with Indian government
Senior Tesla executives visit India, meeting officials from Modi’s office and other ministries to discuss local sourcing of parts and more. The executives propose setting up a factory in India to build electric cars for domestic sale and export, but no location or investment has been specified. Though India previously declined Tesla’s request to lower the import tax on cars (causing earlier talks to end in gridlock), the matter is not being discussed during this visit.
Musk: Tesla will have a ‘ChatGPT moment’ with full self-driving cars
Comparing Tesla’s self-driving AI to OpenAI’s ChatGPT chatbot, which came to sudden public attention at the end of 2022, Musk says that a similar situation will happen when Teslas are able to drive themselves without human intervention.
I think Tesla will have sort of a ChatGPT moment, maybe if not this year, I’d say no later than next year…Suddenly, three million cars will be able to drive with no-one [at the wheel].
Musk says he envisions a future where millions of Tesla cars would operate autonomously, gradually expanding to three million, five million, and eventually 10 million self-driving vehicles. When owners are not using the vehicles, they will be used as Robotaxis, licenced by Tesla.
Comparing Tesla’s self-driving capabilities to Google’s Waymo, Musk says that while Waymo has achieved limited success in a tightly-mapped geographic area, Tesla has a more advanced and generalized solution. Musk argues that if Microsoft, and Tesla was tasked with producing a large language model akin to ChatGPT, his company would emerge victorious.
Musk: U.S.-China tensions ‘should be a concern for everyone’
Asked if he was concerned about “the growing belligerence” between the U.S. and China, Musk says that people should be concerned about tension between the two nations.
I think that should be a concern for everyone.
Musk believes China wants to take control of Taiwan – a country Tesla depends on for processors.
The official policy of China is that Taiwan should be integrated. One does not need to read between the lines…I think you should take their word seriously.
The Chinese economy and the rest of the global economy are like conjoined twins. It would be like trying to separate conjoined twins. That’s the severity of the situation. And it’s actually worse for a lot of other companies that it is for Tesla. I mean, I’m not sure where you’re going to get an iPhone, for example. There are some constraints on our ability to expand in China, and so we’re making as many cars as we can. It’s not a demand issue.
Musk to personally approve all Tesla hires
Musk tells Tesla employees in an email that he wants to personally approve every new hire at the company (which hires about 30,000 people per year). He says that he wants to get a better understanding of hiring at Tesla.
No one can join Tesla, even as a contractor, until you receive my email approval.
Musk’s SEC ‘muzzle’ appeal rejected
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan rejects Musk’s bid to modify or end his 2018 securities fraud settlement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that requires a Tesla lawyer to approve some of his tweets in advance. (SEC v Musk, 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 22-1291.). Musk argued that the SEC exploited his consent decree to conduct bad-faith, harassing investigations that violated his First Amendment free speech rights under the U.S. Constitution. His decree resolved an SEC lawsuit accusing him of defrauding investors with an Aug. 7, 2018, tweet that he had “funding secured” to take his electric car company private. (A San Francisco jury already found Musk not liable for investor losses over the tweet.)
In the appeal, Musk’s lawyers called the pre-approval mandate a “government-imposed muzzle” that amounted to an illegal prior restraint on his speech, but the court says the SEC had opened just two subsequent inquiries into Musk’s tweets, which “plausibly violated” the decree’s terms. The three-judge panel says that the SEC’s inquiries were “limited” and “appropriate,” and “have not made compliance with the consent decree ‘substantially more onerous'” for Musk, who chose to allow screening of his tweets and therefore has no right to revisit the matter “because he has now changed his mind.” Musk lawyer:
We will seek further review and continue to bring attention to the important issue of the government constraint on speech.