Electric driverless cars?

Me, I'm still waiting for Musk to invent Mr. Fusion like in Back to the Future Part 2 and make his business ventures actually profitable in the normal sense of the word. THEN I'll be impressed.

:lol:

This one might not be a Tesla, and has no sign of a DeLorean flux capacitor as of yet (darn), however it might come later with the direction of the Nikola 'Tesla's newest rival is taking the stock market by storm' (had never heard of it):

10 Jun, 2020
They are both named after inventor Nikola Tesla. They are both aiming to upend the market of predominantly gasoline and diesel-powered cars and trucks with their zero-emission technologies.

And their stock prices are surging—but for different reasons.

The day on which Tesla's shares hit an all-time high closing price of $949.92 on Monday on record-high China-made Model 3 sales, shares in competitor Nikola more than doubled since their Friday closing price, hitting $73.27 per share after soaring 104 percent on the third day of trading on the NASDAQ.

It may be a coming force in the transportation sector - and more (its aim), and Nikola's features seem to be:

Nikola is not rivaling Tesla in the passenger car manufacturing business: it's aiming to build battery-electric and hydrogen-electric trucks and pickups. Its long game is in zero-emission heavy-duty transportation and related infrastructure such as hydrogen station networks.
 
I'm trying to catch up with modern technologies just to be in the know, but it's becoming quite a tall order to comprehend and get used to all the unbelievable things that are coming. E-cars are not big news, though I still can't put up with the thought that BMW, Ford, General Motors, Toyota and Volkswagen promise to introduce self-driving cars to the market by 2020–2021 Self-driving mobile homes: how driverless cars will change the property market (like in 4 years!?) Can you imagine the world where we drive cars mostly for entertainment, commute to work while taking a shower (if it's a self-driving mobile home) and just are much more mobile?
And I do look forward that it will be a safer solution both for the planet and people, though some technical issues (like pedestrians crossing the roads, cyclists riding along) are still questionable. So is it a truly good step forward? What do you guys think?
I am pretty sure self driven cars are going to be the least of our worries shortly- have a look at some of the threads here and articles on Sott.net
 
This is a good read of the ongoing antics of one very bizarre sociopath, Elon Musk!
July 21, 2019 (Dated) 10-13 minutes
https%3A%2F%2Fapi.thedrive.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F08%2F20170808-teslagigafactory.jpg%3Fquality%3D85



July 24, 2020 (7-9 minutes)
It's extremely rare, if not entirely unprecedented, for an all-new car to be retooled completely with a year or two of its launch while it still looks the same. Having said that, quality issues around the Model Y are already well-documented, and considering the many, many production problems its sibling the Model 3 had, it does not surprise me that Tesla is trying to retool things as it gets that car out to the global masses.

Covis-19 Your tax dollars at work.
07/24/20 2:42pm
 

Here's an interesting quagmire for the SEC if they ever decide to break from their decades-long coma.

Apparently not happy enough with building a cash-torching $270 billion empire directly off the backs of U.S. taxpayer-funded subsidies, Tesla reportedly also decided to take payroll benefits from an unspecified government agency during the first half of the year this year "to help reduce the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on its business," the company said in its most recent 10-Q.

The help - wherever it came from - helped reduce the impact of Covid on the company's financial results, the company said.

This story breaks, of course, literally hours after Tesla's billionaire CEO, Elon Musk, took to Twitter to discourage further government aid to U.S. citizens while the topic of a second round of stimulus is currently being debated on Capitol Hill.

Tesla's Fremont factory was shut down for about 6 weeks during the second quarter in June while Musk bickered with the state of California and Alameda County about how he should be allowed to re-open. Shortly after re-opening, a litany of coronavirus cases were discovered on the premises and employees were reportedly frightened to go back to work.

Tesla and SolarCity do not appear on the U.S. SBA list of those who received PPP loans from the government and Reuters was unable to determine what government agency offered Tesla assistance.

“As part of various governmental responses to the pandemic granted to companies globally, we received certain payroll related benefits which helped to reduce the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our financial results,” the company had stated in its regulatory filing.

Perhaps the SEC would be interested in just how much these payroll benefits helped Tesla's financial results?

And we would certainly be interested in hearing which division - of which government - offered Musk the free ride.

Andrew Baglino sells $23M Worth Of Tesla Inc. Stock
7-30-20


Edit Add:


 
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Some News About Autonomous Driving


Sept. 11 - DAILY MAIL presents video showing a Tesla driving 60mph (110 km/h) down California highway on autopilot with nobody in the driving seat as four passengers drink alcoholic beverages and sing to Justin Bieber.

The footage shows young men partying inside the car as it flies down the highway.

On Tesla's company website it clearly says, the autopilot must be used 'with a fully attentive driver, who has their hands on the wheel and is prepared to take over at any moment'.



Sept. 18 - EDMONTON JOURNAL On July 9, Alberta RCMP pulled over a Tesla Model S on Highway 2 near Ponoka, that was travelling at speeds up to 150 km/h (95 mph) and appeared to be self-driving with both seats reclined and two people inside the car sleeping.

Police said when an officer turned on the cruiser’s emergency lights, the Tesla accelerated to 150 km/h.

When police received the complaint about the speeding car it initially appeared to be driving itself with no one inside.

“Sure enough, a short time later the Tesla goes by. The offi
cer was sitting in the centre median and he too was like, ‘Noooo,”‘ said RCMP Sgt. Darrin Turnbull. “He couldn’t see anybody in the vehicle.

After being pulled over, the driver was charged with speeding and handed a 24-hour licence suspension for fatigue. He was later charged with dangerous driving.


Finally a Tweet by Dakota Randall...


Some guy literally asleep at the wheel on the Mass Pike (great place for it).
For the record, this was no hoax, at least not on my part. Maybe the people in the car were faking being asleep, but I'm skeptical.


So why are they pushing 'autonomous driving'?

Certainly not only to make taxi drivers redundant or to get inebriated folks back home safely...

Well, I think any car that can be steered by electronics and GPS can also be taken over by gov't agencies, intel people and criminal gangs deploying computer buffs.

Drivers considered insubordinate toward the system may find themselves being suicided by unwillingly driving off a cliff or having their cars shut down.
 
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Some News About Autonomous Driving


Sept. 11 - DAILY MAIL presents video showing a Tesla driving 60mph (110 km/h) down California highway on autopilot with nobody in the driving seat as four passengers drink alcoholic beverages and sing to Justin Bieber.

The footage shows young men partying inside the car as it flies down the highway.

On Tesla's company website it clearly says, the autopilot must be used 'with a fully attentive driver, who has their hands on the wheel and is prepared to take over at any moment'.



Sept. 18 - EDMONTON JOURNAL On July 9, Alberta RCMP pulled over a Tesla Model S on Highway 2 near Ponoka, that was travelling at speeds up to 150 km/h (95 mph) and appeared to be self-driving with both seats reclined and two people inside the car sleeping.

Police said when an officer turned on the cruiser’s emergency lights, the Tesla accelerated to 150 km/h.

When police received the complaint about the speeding car it initially appeared to be driving itself with no one inside.

“Sure enough, a short time later the Tesla goes by. The offi

After being pulled over, the driver was charged with speeding and handed a 24-hour licence suspension for fatigue. He was later charged with dangerous driving.


Finally a Tweet by Dakota Randall...





So why are they pushing 'autonomous driving'?

Certainly not only to make taxi drivers redundant or to get inebriated folks back home safely...

Well, I think any car that can be steered by electronics and GPS can also be taken over by gov't agencies, intel people and criminal gangs deploying computer buffs.

Drivers considered insubordinate toward the system may find themselves being suicided by unwillingly driving off a cliff or having their cars shut down.

Yes, easy for them to do.
The Sci-fi story Stranger in a Strange Land opens with an abduction done by a driverless taxicab.
 
The latest follies on Telsa Motors. Exposing the real motivation's behind Musk Holdings as well as the boy behind the Mask.

ABOUT THE EPISODE:
"On today's show, I sit down with John Engle to talk about his thoughts on Tesla, SpaceX, Virgin Galactic, and Elon Musk, and how he analyzes stocks for his portfolio."


Bailout via the Climate Warming Greenhouse Gas Deception
 
Yes, easy for them to do.
The Sci-fi story Stranger in a Strange Land opens with an abduction done by a driverless taxicab.
I will NEVER get into a driver-less car. Ever. I've only got 25 years on my life ticker left, maybe more, and I love the new tech, but no. I grew up on Sci-Fi, and most of my high tech contemporaries, too. Most of them have been in, and out-of TLA agencies (because we were there at the very beginning of the tech loop).

Things have gone so batshit crazy, anybody who knows better, isn't buying it.

 
Bailout via the Climate Warming Greenhouse Gas Deception
I do not believe the Tesla semi is a response to AGW; it is targeting a market niche very sensitive to both efficiency and long term reliability. An electric truck will be more efficient as compared to a diesel or gasoline and will require minimal maintenance for a vehicle whose lifetime is measured in millions of miles. The electricity for an electric truck has to come from somewhere, so it still requires "fossils fuels". Except in California, where electricity magically appears out of thin air (or not...).
 
Former GMC (gas guzzling Hummer), goes all-electric, zero emissions combating climate fraud.


The GMC HUMMER EV truck will showcase the GMC brand’s design and engineering potential, and will feature1:
  • 1,000 horsepower
  • 11,500 lb-ft of torque
  • 0 to 60 mph in 3 seconds
The 30-second TV spot featuring James is scheduled to air during the second quarter of the big game in the U.S. and during the fourth quarter in Canada. The spot highlights the anticipated performance of GMC’s all-electric super truck, which will generate remarkable metrics in terms of horsepower, torque and acceleration while providing incredible on- and off-road capability. All of this is combined with the vastly reduced noise and zero emissions inherent in the operation of an electric vehicle.

As part of the digital and social media marketing push surrounding the big game ad, GMC took over the YouTube homepage masthead on Friday, Jan. 31. Customers can follow the conversation at #GMCHummerEV.

The GMC HUMMER EV will be revealed on May 20, 2020 and built in Michigan at General Motors’ Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant2.

More information is available at www.gmc.com/HummerEV.
1 Based on General Motors estimates.
2 The GMC HUMMER EV will be built in Michigan at GM’s Detroit Hamtramck Assembly with globally sourced parts.

About GMC
With a strong foundation of manufacturing trucks since 1902 and now selling in a dozen countries across the world, GMC offers purpose-built vehicles designed and engineered to the highest standard. From the all-new compact SUV Terrain to the Sierra HD, our trucks and crossovers deliver GMC’s signature combination of intuitive technologies and premium execution, with the popular Denali representing the pinnacle of GMC design, performance and amenities. Details on all GMC models are available at www.gmc.com, on Twitter at @GMC or at www.facebook.com/gmc.

Meanwhile:
Oct. 20, 2020 at 6:16 p.m. ET
Stock in exploration-stage lithium miner Piedmont Lithiu has soared—by about 166%—since electric-vehicle behemoth Tesla hosted its battery technology day on Sept. 22.

At the event, Tesla (ticker: TSLA) painted a picture of future EV demand that implied the world needs a lot more EV-related materials, including lithium. Now Piedmont (PLL) is using its recent share strength to raise money to fund growth.

On Monday, Piedmont announced plans to raise money by selling stock. The company wants to sell up to 1.5 million American depositary receipts, or ADRs.

An ADR is, essentially, American stock in a foreign-listed company. Piedmont’s primary stock listing is in Australia, even though Piedmont’s assets are in the U.S. (Australia and Canada have investor bases that typically don’t mind investing in early-stage mining enterprises.) For Piedmont, one ADR represents 100 shares of underlying stock.

The sale has the potential to bring in roughly $45 million to company coffers, depending on the price discount offered on the sale. Piedmont has about $19 million in cash on its balance sheet, based on recent filings.

The company might use the cash toward the hard rock mine it is developing in North Carolina. (Most of the world’s lithium today comes from evaporating salt from brine ponds.) Early phases of Piedmont’s mine should cost about $170 million, according to CEO Keith Phillips.

Piedmont is also getting some money from Tesla. Piedmont stock soared more than 200% on Sept 28, days after Telsa’s battery event, when Tesla signed a deal for five years of lithium-ore supply, with a possible extension for another five years. Deliveries from Piedmont to Telsa are expected to start around 2022.

The lithium sector is heating up, and Barron’s recently wrote positively about lithium miners. We prefer Livent (LTHM), believing higher demand from EVs will drive higher commodity volumes for all miners, as well as higher lithium-linked commodity prices.

When we wrote about the miners, we focused on the established players, including SQM (SQM), Albemarle (ALB), and Livent. Those three have an aggregate market capitalization of more than $19 billion. But there are riskier plays. Piedmont, with a market value of about $340 million, is one. Lithium Americas (LAC), valued at $1.2 billion, is another. Those two don’t have sales yet. Orocobre (ORE.Australia) is another small-capitalization lithium firm, though with some sales. It produces lithium from brines in Argentina, and has a market cap of about $640 million.

Orocobre stock is down 5% since Tesla’s battery event. Lithium Americas stock has climbed 42%.

Year to date, Piedmont shares are up about 250%. Excluding Piedmont, the other five lithium mining stocks are up about 77% year to date, on average, far better than comparable returns of the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average.

To buy mining startups or exploration-stage companies, investors have to be confident in their ability to understand proven and probable mining reserves, along with how much the companies plan to spend before generating free cash flow.
Read Next
She said Tesla could hit $15,000 a share, and then billions of dollars came pouring in to her fund
Josh Brown of Ritholtz Wealth Management took issue with Catherine Wood for taking ARK Invest in a "trollingly bizarre direction" with a tweet "smashing value investors, innovation doubters and other nonbelievers over.....
 
Follow the money.

Comments 83 (End snip):
Credit Sales Deliver Earnings Beat
Before the earnings report was released, a number of analysts had expressed skepticism of Tesla's ability to pull off another profitable quarter. Given ongoing price cuts, lack of net inventory sales, a massive compensation payout to CEO Elon Musk, and a struggling global economy, a repeat of the previous quarter's success seemed doubtful. Yet, at first glance, Tesla appears to have had a bumper Q3. The company reported $8.7 billion in revenue, beating the Wall Street consensus estimate of $8.2 billion by a considerable margin. A GAAP net income of $331 million also surpassed expectations.

Based solely on its reported top- and bottom-line beats, one might conclude that Tesla has finally turned the corner to become a sustainably profitable company. However, that is not actually the case. To secure a positive net profit, Tesla sold a whopping $397 million worth of regulatory credits. Without those credit sales, Tesla would have reported a net loss of $66 million.

Tesla's latest regulatory credit firesale marks a virtual repeat of the previous quarter when it sold a record $428 million in regulatory credits in order to secure a profit of $104 million. Thus, over the past two quarters, Tesla has reported a combined net income of $435 million. Stripping out regulatory credit sales, that profit turns to a loss of $390 million.

The Q3 bonanza came as a surprise to many analysts since CFO Zachary Kirkhorn had told analysts during the July earnings call to expect a significant sequential reduction in credit sales. Evidently, with operational profit once again out of reach in Q3, Tesla was forced to dip deeper into its credit reserves to plug the gap.

Referenced Symbols TSLA +0.74% - $ 415.61 -10.22 -2.40%

Barron's
Tesla Earnings Reactions: How 15 Wall Street Analysts Responded
Oct. 22, 2020 at 5:15 p.m. ET by Barron's

New Jersey follows California's suit in banning gas car sales Oct. 20, 2020 at 2:32 p.m. ET on Seeking Alpha

In 2021, Tesla's Autonomy Tech May Change Skeptics' Minds

Tesla recalls older Model S, Model X vehicles in China: report
Published: Oct. 23, 2020 at 12:25 p.m. ET



Tyler Durden by Tyler Durden Mon, 10/26/2020 - 10:25 Mega Tweets
It was just days ago we noted that after Tesla released its much awaited "Full Self Driving" beta that it had also warned drivers that the software "may do the wrong thing at the worst time."

Now, videos have started to surface of users "beta testing" FSD on city streets - and the results are alarming. Several videos show software that clearly seems inadequate, confused and outright dangerous. Most importantly, the software is being used on roads where other surrounding drivers have not consented to being part of a beta test.

Again, where is the NHTSA?


One video shows a driver saying "this is kind of challenging" approaching an intersection with construction. His Tesla display seems to show the vehicle unsure of whether it is turning left or right, before the car makes an awkward left turn, which the driver appears to have to assist with.

One video shows a driver saying "this is kind of challenging" approaching an intersection with construction. His Tesla display seems to show the vehicle unsure of whether it is turning left or right, before the car makes an awkward left turn, which the driver appears to have to assist with.

A second video shows a Tesla "really hitting the accelerator" then braking quickly seconds later, as the driver narrates.

"It makes you feel a little queasy," the driver says.

Then, the car appears to far overshoot a left turn while a surprised and scared driver yells: "Holy shit!". After the driver rights the vehicle's turn, he exclaims: "Good lord almighty."

In a third video, a Tesla is seen clearly confused about what lane it should be in after driving through an intersection. The car bucks back and forth between the lane it is currently in and the lane to the left of it.

Finally, there's this video of a Tesla stopping in the middle of an intersection in the midst of making a left hand turn. After the car behind it honks, it completes the turn while crossing over a solid white line.

Recall, a couple of weeks ago we noted that FSD is supposed to allow Tesla vehicles to react to stop signs, stop lights and freeway exits.
 
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Please Hold the likes, as I should have included the link, Apologies.



Sep 7, 2020

Stories we discuss in this episode (with links): 09:41

Oct. 29th 2020 6:22 am ET

 
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