Tesla Reduces Full Self-Driving Software Price To US$8,000
Shortly after settling a lawsuit over a 2018 car crash that killed an Apple engineer, Tesla slashed the price of its Full Self-Driving (FSD) driver assistant software to US$8,000 from US$12,000, as CEO Elon Musk reaffirms his commitment to self-driving technology.
Elon Musk Announces First Neuralink Wireless Brain Chip Implant
Tech billionaire Elon Musk says his Neuralink company has successfully implanted one of its wireless brain chips in a human for the first time.
Jeff Bezos Questions Musk: Did The Chinese Government Just Gain Leverage Over The Town Square?
Jeff Bezos shared a tweet suggesting China may gain influence over Twitter once Elon Musk buys the company, hinting at Musk’s business ties to China.
Inflationary Pressure In Raw Materials & Logistics, Threatens Car Production
Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) hiked prices in China and the United States for the second time in less than a week, after founder Elon Musk said the U.S. maker of electric cars faced significant inflation pressure.
The “Tesla Bot” Is The “Most Important Product” That Tesla Is Developing This Year
Elon Musk says it’s more important for Tesla to make a robot than new car models this year
The Future Of Travel: Hyperloop Passenger Capsules
Hyperloop Transportation Technologies Inc., also known as HyperloopTT, has unveiled its first full-scale passenger capsule in Spain – the Quintero One – which is almost entirely built from composite material. This is after the company had established a joint venture to build a test system in a mountainous southwest province in China.
Based on the Hyperloop technology that was promoted by Elon Musk in 2013, this technology provides the possiblity of moving passengers in capsules at accelerations of more than 750 miles (1,200 kilometers) per hour through low-pressure tubes, which is faster than current methods such as the Maglev – a levitation technology that lifts train cars above the track to remove surface friction.
Similarly, due to his disappointment with California’s high speed rail plans, Musk, who currently heads Tesla Inc. and Space Exploration Technologies Corp., first shared his plans for a hyperloop to move people from Los Angeles to San Francisco in half an hour in a white paper released in 2013.
Following this, Richard Branson’s Virgin Hyperloop One has already held discussions in India and the company is looking to offer future mobility technologies at prices that are cheaper than domestic airlines. Just this February, Branson had already signed a preliminary agreement in Mumbai for a broad hyperloop network with plans for a Mumbai-Pune system that could potentially reduce travel times to 25 minutes. Saving approximately three hours as a result.
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Tesla’s Elon Musk Relinquishes Chairman Role In SEC Settlement
The settlement between SEC and leading electric car manufacturer Tesla’s Elon Musk, has concluded with him losing his role as chairman of the board for a minimum of three years and as well as having to pay a fine of US$20 million. Although he will still retain his position as CEO. The SEC has also imposed a $20 million fine on Tesla, which is expected to appoint two new independent directors to the board and instill stricter governance policies.
This brings to end the issues of fraud that was stirred when Musk made a Twitter announcement that he would be gearing Tesla towards a private buyout although this was not confirmed. As said by regulators, “Musk tweeted on August 7, 2018 that he could take Tesla private at $420 per share — a substantial premium to its trading price at the time — that funding for the transaction had been secured, and that the only remaining uncertainty was a shareholder vote,”. However, “in truth, Musk knew that the potential transaction was uncertain and subject to numerous contingencies. Musk had not discussed specific deal terms, including price, with any potential financing partners, and his statements about the possible transaction lacked an adequate basis in fact,” they added.
In a statement released by SEC Chairman, Jay Clayton, he has further enforced that disclosure-based federal securities laws should be strictly adhered to and has said that, “Specifically, when companies and corporate insiders make statements, they must act responsibly, including endeavoring to ensure the statements are not false or misleading and do not omit information a reasonable investor would consider important in making an investment decision”.
Following this settlement, Tesla’s stocks which had initially surged by six percent after Musk’s Twitter announcement, has fallen according to trading insides from NASDAQ, and closed at approximately 14 percent on 28 September at US$264. A downward trend that is also reflected in the company’s bonds which has dropped significant and could potentially lead the company to be US$1.3 billion in debt by March 2019.
In a New York Times interview last month, Musk had revealed an “excruciating” personal turmoil in having to run the company amid high staff and executive turnovers, which led to initial talks of Tesla seeking to getting him a second-in-command. However, following Tesla and Musk’s recent settlement with SEC, Musk is expected to face greater disclosure controls regarding his use of social media and regulators have recommended that Tesla’s board “oversee” its founder’s external communications with investors.
As said by Steven Peikin, co-director of SEC’s Enforcement Division, “The resolution is intended to prevent further market disruption and harm to Tesla’s shareholders”.
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