This week Tesla reported a surprise profit in their quarterly earnings and re-affirmed that Model 3 is still on track for volume deliveries 2nd half of next year. Stock reaction was largely mixed due to remaining skepticism surrounding the SCTY acquisition.
Tonight Tesla will reveal their new solar roof, Powerall 2.0 and a new car charger. The event will be live streamed at 5:30pm PT at tesla.com. I'll be at the event and will share an update next week.
Correction: last week I linked to an Autopilot conference call video that went private after I added the link. You can listen to the Autopilot conference call here.
Model S
Consumer Reports Recommends Model S Again Following Reliability Survey; Model X Didn't Fare Well
Tesla’s Model S has improved to average reliability, which now makes the electric car one of our recommended models. But its new Model X SUV has been plagued with malfunctions, including its complex Falcon-wing doors.
Model X
The Tesla Model X Is The Best Minivan $150,000 Can Buy
Almost all of that weight is actually down on the bottom of the car, so the center of gravity is quite low. The air suspension lowers the SUV further still, so it’s not much higher off the ground than any other car would be. And with a 52 percent over the weight over the rear axle, it’s not nose-heavy, either. So as your mother used to tell you, sometimes it’s not how much you weigh, but how you wear it. And the result was actually a damn good surprise. Which makes sense when you consider Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s general automotive philosophy – it should be fun to drive when you want it to be fun, and then it should drive itself when you’re just sitting in traffic.
Looks like Jalopnik had fun with their Model X loaner. Definitely a fun car.
Model 3
Tesla Model 3 progress: production line layout completed, Tesla now testing subsystems
“For Model 3, we have completed production line layouts and will soon begin installation of new body welding and final assembly lines. We have established a world-class team of suppliers for Model 3 production equipment and components and critical long lead time equipment and components have been sourced. We are now testing vehicle systems such as chassis, the high voltage drive system, and low voltage subsystems such as vehicle controllers, HVAC, infotainment and lighting. As refinement of the Model 3 continues, we remain on plan for our timing, volume, vehicle capability, pricing,and margin targets.”
Autopilot
NVIDIA CEO explains path to self-driving cars
Setting the stage for a future of self-driving cars, NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang introduces the NVIDIA DRIVE PX 2, at the Consumer Electronics Show 2016 in Las Vegas. It's the world's first in-car artificial intelligence supercomputer, with the processing power equivalent to that of 150 MacBook Pros, but merely taking the space of a school lunchbox.
This is a must watch! It's a great 9-part video showing NVIDIA's CEO, Jen-Hsun Huang, explain how self-driving cars are becoming a reality. Note: Tesla uses NVIDIA's GPU and computer in their Autopilot 2.0 cars, but Tesla is using their own entire software stack that's separate from NVIDIA's software efforts.
Nvidia CEO Sees Smart Cars Getting Much Smarter
Nvidia, based in Santa Clara, Calif., built its business by selling chips called graphics processing units, or GPUs, that help generate images in videogames. About a dozen years ago, Mr. Huang said, it adapted the same technology to be used for high-performance scientific calculations. More recently, Mr. Huang has been on a quest to a push GPUs into a branch of AI known as deep learning, which uses computers to sift through vast troves of data for purposes such as image recognition without explicit programming instructions. Most of the big web companies—including Google Inc., Facebook Inc. and Microsoft Corp.—have used Nvidia technology for deep learning.
Tesla Network
Majority of ‘Tesla Network’ revenue will go to owners: ‘it’s not Tesla versus Uber, it’s the people versus Uber’, says Musk
In that sense, Musk added that Tesla wouldn’t be competing with Uber, something that as often been brought up recently – especially since Tesla added a fine note that self-driving Tesla owners cannot use their self-driving function to give Uber or Lyft rides – but that Tesla vehicles owners would be competing with Uber: “This has been characterized as Tesla vs. Uber, but it’s not Tesla versus Uber, it’s the people versus Uber.”
Elon, whether intentionally or not, is characterizing Uber as a company against"the people". And he's positioning Tesla as helping "the people" fight against Uber. My hunch is that Uber has tried to purchase a huge volume of Model 3 cars from Tesla in hopes to own their own autonomous driving fleet and thereby cutting out individual car owners. However, it's likely Tesla denied Uber's request and now Tesla will be promoting a ride-sharing network that will be owned by "the people", namely individual car owners sharing their cars on Tesla's network.
Tesla working with Florida transit agency for new ride-hailing service
The Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority announced it is working with electric car maker Tesla to create a ride hailing service for transit users. The new feature called HyperLINK is the first of its kind worldwide, according to HART. It uses rideshare technology including demand response dispatch, a smartphone app and credit card payments, all with the guarantee of transit. By law, publicly funded transit agencies must comply with Americans with Disabilities Act standards.
Travis Kalanick says Uber has 40 million monthly active riders
His company, Uber, could essentially be a replacement for owning a car for Kalanick, and also for the 40 million monthly active riders the company has. Kalanick revealed that number on stage at the Vanity Fair New Establishment Summit this year in San Francisco. Kalanick also said that drivers made somewhere between $1.5 billion and $2 billion last month. Those monthly active riders pay around $50 per month, he said.
Uber has unlocked a behemoth of a business in the ride-sharing market. $2 billion monthly revenue is a $24 billion annual revenue run rate, and growing rapidly.
TSLA
Shareholder Letter: Tesla Reports Blowout Q3 Earnings
- GAAP net income of $22 million and positive free cash flow of $176 million
- Record vehicle production, deliveries, and revenue
- GAAP gross profit per car increased significantly from Q2 to Q3
- Long-term debt reduced and liquidity increased to support future growth
- Every new Tesla produced now comes with hardware for self-driving
- Dramatic improvement in Model X reliability
- Model 3 on plan for volume deliveries in second half of 2017
Not much to dislike here. Tesla's been exercising a lot of fiscal discipline and has been getting spending under control. This has been helping their income and balance sheet tremendously (note: it appears CFO Jason Wheeler is being very effective in his role). It also helps that Model X has finally ramped and is making a big impact in revenue.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk reveals his 3 priorities at Tesla: Model 3, Self-Driving Autopilot, and 100 kWh battery
Here are Musk’s top 3 priorities at Tesla at the moment: 1)Bringing the Model 3 to production on schedule and at right cost, 2) Advancing Enhanced Autopilot and Self-Driving software, 3)Ramp up 100 kWh battery pack production. The CEO even said that he was going on the 100 kWh battery pack production line right after the call to help with scaling up. He also said that he is monitoring daily updates about the production ramp up of Tesla’s latest battery pack.
My take is that Elon wants to get the 100D for S/X out this quarter so he's making it a priority.
Other News
Steve Jurvetson on Deep Learning
Although over a year old, this video gives some interesting insight into deep learning from Tesla board member, Steve Jurveston.
At VERGE 15, Steve Jurvetson talks about being an early VC investor in Tesla and how the pattern recognition and optimization capabilities of "deep learning" software will help us humans adapt to a world that is becoming increasingly unpredictable due to climate change. "Instead of programming something to do something, you generate a computer program that is itself, like our brain, capable of learning anything," said Jurvetson.
First pictures of Larry Page's flying car
This is one of the first photos of what is believed to be a “flying car” funded by Google co-founder Larry Page. The mysterious aircraft was spotted at the Hollister Airport, where Page’s startup Zee.Aero has a hangar. Witnesses said they saw the aircraft hovering on two occasions before it returned to earth and was towed back to Zee.Aero’s facility. The aircraft has been described as a flying car because it can take off and land vertically, and Zee.Aero’s patent shows an aircraft parked like a car in a typical lot.
Promotion
Ride the Lightning: Tesla Motors Unofficial Podcast
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