Tesla, Inc., an EV & clean energy company, is currently open to licensing software and supplying powertrains & batteries to other automakers that are struggling to manufacture electric cars. The company is anticipated to attract new automakers with the recent move. Types of software used in the cars include over-the-air update software, Autopilot software, and battery management software, among others.

As per recent reports, the automakers have admitted that Tesla is holding a leading position in various key areas of building and developing EVs. For instance, Volkswagen has internally cited that it has fallen behind Tesla in terms of developing software that is used in electric cars. The company’s chairman, Hebert Diess, has also stated that it is presently implementing the ‘Tesla catch-up’ plan to bridge the software gap between the two automakers.

In response to these comments, Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, has informed that the company will start licensing software as well as supplying batteries and powertrains as a part of its aim to accelerate sustainable energy. According to the deal, it is likely to be licensing Autopilot, which the CEO had informed in the past regarding its difficulty to implement.

However, Tesla is not willing to share its “in-car fart machine” technology. The company had previously supplied its batteries and powertrains to Toyota and Mercedes-Benz, who were its shareholders, till 2015. The halt in batteries and powertrains supply was reportedly due to the unavailability of enough batteries for its own EV production.

In 2014, Tesla CEO had announced that the company will be open sourcing its patents to aid other automakers in accelerating the development of EVs. However, the move had been criticized as the company’s move was not open sourcing, and it had only ‘pledged’ not to sue companies that used its patented technology. This had resulted in only a few companies adopting the patented technology.

Chinese firm Xpeng, which was the only company to openly deploy Tesla’s patented technology, was later sued by the company, albeit for allegedly stealing its Autopilot source code.

Source credit:

https://electrek.co/2020/07/28/tesla-open-supply-software-powertrains-batteries-other-automakers-elon-musk/