Author: Business Insider

Plenty of people are skeptical of Elon Musk’s vision of one million self-driving Tesla robo-taxis on the streets by next year, even one of his former executives. John McNeill, Lyft’s chief operating officer and former president of global sales and service, didn’t go so far as to compare Musk to the great showman PT Barnum,… Continue reading Lyft’s COO, a former Tesla exec, is the latest expert to throw cold water on Elon Musk’s plan to have a million robo-taxis on the road by 2020 (LYFT)

Tesla vehicles will be better at driving than humans by the end of 2019, CEO Elon Musk said in an interview with MIT research scientist Lex Fridman. “I think it will become very quickly — maybe even towards the end of this year, but I would say I’d be shocked if it’s not next year,… Continue reading Elon Musk said Tesla cars will probably be better than humans at driving by the end of 2019 (TSLA)

Insiders have described a chaotic environment in Panasonic’s battery-making operation in the Nevada desert, one where standard operating procedures go ignored, expensive mistakes are born from carelessness, and half a million pieces of scrap are generated daily. “I do not think that Tesla knows everything [that goes on on Panasonic’s side],” one former employee who… Continue reading Insiders describe a world of chaos and waste at Panasonic’s massive battery-making operation for Tesla (TSLA)

Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted on Saturday that the rate of battery-cell production from Panasonic has held back output for the electric-car maker’s Model 3 sedan. “Pana cell lines at Giga are only at ~24GWh/yr & have been a constraint on Model 3 output since July,” Musk said. “Tesla won’t spend money on more capacity… Continue reading Elon Musk said Panasonic hasn’t been making enough battery cells for Tesla’s cars (TSLA, PC)

Uber filed to go public on Thursday, and its S-1 paperwork revealed that from the beginning of 2016 to the end 2018, Uber spent some $58 million on Google Maps — a function that is “critical to the functionality of our platform,” built in as it is to the company’s apps for riders and drivers… Continue reading Uber relies on Google Maps for its business and spent $58 million on it over three years (GOOGL, GOOG)

Panasonic is studying further investments in battery production at its Gigafactory venture with Tesla Inc, the company said, responding to a media report that the two companies had frozen previous plans. Tesla shares fell 4.2 percent to $264.45 in premarket trading on Thursday. Giving no details of its sources, Japanese financial daily Nikkei reported earlier… Continue reading Tesla and Panasonic may pause Gigafactory expansion plans (TSLA)

Uber has decided it will seek to sell around $10 billion worth of stock in its initial public offering (IPO), and will make public the registration of this offering on Thursday, people familiar with the matter said on Tuesday. Most of the shares sold would be issued by the company, while a smaller portion would… Continue reading Uber plans to sell around $10 billion worth of stock in its IPO, seeks $90 billion valuation

Elon Musk on Wednesday emailed all Tesla employees to clarify details about the company’s plan to close many of its retail stores. Tesla’s February announcement that it would close stores and move sales online — plans the company walked back slightly in March — took many employees by surprise and had a huge effect on… Continue reading Elon Musk just emailed all Tesla employees to address ‘uncertainty’ around the company’s plan to close stores (TSLA)

Tesla has quietly removed the standard-range option for its Model S vehicle from its online ordering portal. The vehicle equipped with a standard-range battery sold for $79,000 as recently as Thursday. Now, the cheapest option, the long-range model, begins at $89,500 before incentives like tax rebates and gas savings. A Tesla representative said the company… Continue reading Tesla quietly deleted the standard-range Model S option from its website (TSLA)