Licensing its self-driving expertise to different automakers could possibly be Tesla’s subsequent huge transfer

With Tesla opening up its Supercharger community to different automakers, the pure subsequent step could be to open up its software program.

Tesla held its Q2 earnings name in the present day, and through the name, Tesla CEO Elon Musk mentioned that one of many firm’s subsequent strikes could possibly be to license its self-driving expertise to different electrical automakers. In truth, the CEO mentioned that they have been already in discussions to do exactly that with at the very least one different firm.

In feedback caught by The Verge, Musk mentioned: “We’re not making an attempt to maintain this to ourselves. We’re more than pleased to license it to others.” The feedback echo a tweet from the CEO final month wherein he in contrast licensing Full Self-Driving to opening up the corporate’s Supercharger community to non-Tesla EVs.

With a purpose to advance its FSD Beta even additional, Tesla has additionally announced that it has began manufacturing of its Dojo supercomputer, which might be used to coach its autonomous fleet of autos. In its earnings report, the corporate mentioned that “extraordinarily massive real-world dataset, neural internet coaching, automobile {hardware}, and automobile software program” would all be wanted to unravel autonomy. The Dojo supercomputer, which is claimed to be the primary supercomputer able to an exaflop, will help the corporate with neural internet coaching.

The corporate’s earnings name additionally touched on the Cybertruck, which Musk confirmed will begin manufacturing this 12 months, and the corporate’s earnings (clearly), which outperformed Wall Road expectations in income — largely fueled by the corporate’s latest worth cuts with its autos. That did, nevertheless, result in smaller margins, inflicting the inventory to drop barely after the outcomes have been made public.

For those who actually wish to get into it, be happy to look at the complete Q2 2023 earnings name beneath:

Whereas licensing its self-driving expertise could possibly be a future income for Tesla, it’s presently cashing in huge with different automakers who’re adopting the corporate’s NACS (North American Charging Customary) connector and getting access to its Supercharger community. Tesla stands to make a fortune as soon as non-Tesla EVs begin to use the community, and the corporate begins to take a reduce of that income.

Simply in the present day, Nissan became the first Japanese automaker to adopt the NACS charger and achieve entry to the Supercharger community. A lot of the massive automakers in North America, together with Ford and Common Motors, have already signed on to undertake NACS in future EVS beginning in 2025 and achieve entry to the Supercharger community through adapters beginning in 2024. Anybody who’s sticking with CCS appears to be combating a dropping battle at this level.

Between the community and its software program, the EV market is basically Tesla’s to lose at this level.