Tesla is going big in China

EdwardHeisler · 2018-07-31 21:48:22

Tesla is going big in China
by Chris Isidore and Steven Jiang
July 10, 2018
CNN Money

Tesla already disrupted the auto industry. Now it's changing business in China, too.

For the first time, China will let a foreign automaker open up shop without a Chinese company as its partner.

Tesla has plans to open a plant in Shanghai that will one day crank out 500,000 vehicles a year — enough to rival the company's main plant in Fremont, California.

Tesla said it will be the sole owner of the factory. Until now, China has always required foreign companies to enter joint ventures with domestic companies.

Tesla expects to begin construction in the near future, after it gets the necessary government approvals. From there, the plant will take about two years to build and two to three more years to produce 500,000 vehicles a year.

CEO Elon Musk was in Shanghai on Tuesday for a ceremony with local government authorities.

"Tesla is deeply committed to the Chinese market, and we look forward to building even more cars for our customers here," said a company spokesman. "Today's announcement will not impact our US manufacturing operations, which continue to grow."

China is now the largest market for new car sales, as more Chinese consumers buy them for the first time. The world's automakers have been rushing to build plants there for the last two decades.

Those automakers have always been required to enter joint ventures and share their technology — and their profit — with Chinese partners.

But the Chinese government has been under pressure from the United States and European countries on forced joint ventures and China's alleged theft of intellectual property. That was the justification used by the Trump administration for the tariffs imposed by the United States on $50 billion of Chinese imports.

China has denied it steals trade secrets. But in April, it announced it would start loosening its joint venture requirements for foreign automakers, with the restrictions on electric car manufacturing being removed this year.

The cost of the Tesla plant was not immediately disclosed. The local government said it will be the largest manufacturing project in Shanghai's history funded at least partly by foreign investment.

Elon Musk meeting with Shanghai Mayor Ying Yong after Tesla reached a deal to build its first Chinese plant in the city

https://money.cnn.com/2018/07/10/news/c … index.html

louis · 2018-08-01 00:01:05

And you think any of that would have happened without Trump?

EdwardHeisler wrote:

Tesla is going big in China
by Chris Isidore and Steven Jiang
July 10, 2018
CNN Money
Tesla already disrupted the auto industry. Now it's changing business in China, too.
For the first time, China will let a foreign automaker open up shop without a Chinese company as its partner.
Tesla has plans to open a plant in Shanghai that will one day crank out 500,000 vehicles a year — enough to rival the company's main plant in Fremont, California.
Tesla said it will be the sole owner of the factory. Until now, China has always required foreign companies to enter joint ventures with domestic companies.
Tesla expects to begin construction in the near future, after it gets the necessary government approvals. From there, the plant will take about two years to build and two to three more years to produce 500,000 vehicles a year.
CEO Elon Musk was in Shanghai on Tuesday for a ceremony with local government authorities.
"Tesla is deeply committed to the Chinese market, and we look forward to building even more cars for our customers here," said a company spokesman. "Today's announcement will not impact our US manufacturing operations, which continue to grow."
China is now the largest market for new car sales, as more Chinese consumers buy them for the first time. The world's automakers have been rushing to build plants there for the last two decades.
Those automakers have always been required to enter joint ventures and share their technology — and their profit — with Chinese partners.
But the Chinese government has been under pressure from the United States and European countries on forced joint ventures and China's alleged theft of intellectual property. That was the justification used by the Trump administration for the tariffs imposed by the United States on $50 billion of Chinese imports.
China has denied it steals trade secrets. But in April, it announced it would start loosening its joint venture requirements for foreign automakers, with the restrictions on electric car manufacturing being removed this year.
The cost of the Tesla plant was not immediately disclosed. The local government said it will be the largest manufacturing project in Shanghai's history funded at least partly by foreign investment.
https://i2.cdn.turner.com/money/dam/ass … 80x439.jpg
Elon Musk meeting with Shanghai Mayor Ying Yong after Tesla reached a deal to build its first Chinese plant in the city
https://money.cnn.com/2018/07/10/news/c … index.html

EdwardHeisler · 2018-08-01 07:25:10

Yes.

And why not?

Do you think a growing trade war with China and Europe is a good thing that will create millions of good paying jobs in the United States or is more likely to cause an economic collapse here?

China won't hurt much from the trade tariffs. They can sell more products to the rest of the world and will increase their domestic consumption.

And if that doesn't force Trump and his Wall Street/corporate backers to pull back China can unload their 1 trillion dollars in U.S. treasury securities and park their money in Europe! Russia has already sold 80% of their U.S. securities this year!

By the way, the 2007-2008 U.S. caused great recession had no negative impact on Chinese capitalism. Their GDP was 9.7% in 2007 and 14.2% in 2008!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_GDP_of_China

Last edited by EdwardHeisler (2018-08-01 07:26:20)

kbd512 · 2018-08-01 09:13:05

A billion people in China live off of less than $2,000 per year and 600 million of those people live off of less than $1,000 per year. I fail to see who will be consuming all that excess domestic production. The Europeans aren't buying Chinese goods at the rates they used to. A considerable portion of their population is leaving the workforce as they age, a result of the Chinese government's "One Child" policy.

Russia is selling whatever it can just to keep their economy afloat.

EdwardHeisler · 2018-08-01 13:26:30

kbd512 wrote:

A billion people in China live off of less than $2,000 per year and 600 million of those people live off of less than $1,000 per year. A considerable portion of their population is leaving the workforce as they age, a result of the Chinese government's "One Child" policy.
Russia is selling whatever it can just to keep their economy afloat.

kbd512 still uses obsolete and discredited right-wing talking points. He's too lazy to do any current serious research.

China began ending the "one child" policy over five years ago! But, kbd512 doesn't know that!

The end of China’s one-child policy
by Feng Wang, Baochang Gu, and Yong Cai·
March 30, 2016
https://www.brookings.edu/articles/the- … ld-policy/

According to kbd512 a billion people are dirt poor in China. Sure they are kbd512.

China Wage Levels Equal To Or Surpass Parts Of Europe
by Kenneth Rapoza
Aug 16, 2017
Forbes

This may be a glass half-full moment. Either China is catching up to parts of Europe in terms of wages, or wages in the newest parts of the European Union are being capped by the global competition for labor, a competition that China wins, hands down. In reality, it's both.

China's median monthly wages in Shanghai ($1,135), Beijing ($983) and Shenzen ($938) are higher than they are in the newest European Union member, Croatia. Croatia's median net salary is $887 a month. They joined the EU in 2013.

Shanghai's median wages, in particular, are also greater than two of the newest euro members in the Baltics: Lithuania ($956) and Latvia ($1,005), with Estonia, which joined the euro in 2011, recording a median income of $1,256 per month, according to government figures for 2016.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrapoza/ … face5e3e7f

crowds-of-chinese-people-roam-along-the-fashionable-nanjing-street-GARFHN.jpg

crowds-of-people-roam-along-the-fashionable-nanjing-street-in-the-GD9N10.jpg

Oh those poor wretched souls aimlessly walking the streets in rags. Do you send them care packages of your used outworn clothing kbd512?

kbd512 also thinks China has backward 1050's style architecture because the Chinese people, unlike kbd512, are not intelligent enough to create anything worthwhile and useful. Perhaps they need to steal some of kbd512's great ideas! LOL

Here's some examples:

And Chinese elevators only go up to the 5th floor because Chinese engineers haven't figures out how to make them go higher. After they steal U.S. elevator technology they should make it up to the 10th floor. Isn't that a newer rightwingnut talking point kbd512?

Last edited by EdwardHeisler (2018-08-01 13:44:08)

Terraformer · 2018-08-01 14:20:29

Lol. The Chinese are copying all our modernist crap. They're even copying US-style highways through cities. I suspect it looks more like Boston congestion than it does that picture, or at least will be if they get rich enough for mass car ownership.

EdwardHeisler · 2018-08-01 15:55:04

China produced 25 million passenger cars last year, all for domestic sales, not for export.

One would have thought they would try copying the Empire State Building rather than 21st Century modern stuff! LOL

Last edited by EdwardHeisler (2018-08-01 15:56:49)

kbd512 · 2018-08-01 18:55:32

EdwardHeisler,

1. When those 5 year olds get jobs in a rocket factory, let us know. Or are they already working in the rocket factory? Maybe that explains why the people who invented gunpowder have had so many launch failures.

2. A lot of Europeans are also relatively poor, by our standards. They may live longer because they don't make a habit of getting stoned out of their minds or incessantly engorging themselves at the local slop trough, but that's about as far as it goes.

Here's a short video of what beautiful Shanghai actually looks like:

Smog reaches peak levels in Shanghai

3. If China is just now catching up to the living standards of the people from Greece, that's not really something to brag about.

4. My wife's relatives living in Viet Nam constantly ask for clothing made in America because the sewing associated with the clothes that are made in China is of such poor quality that a T-shirt won't last a year and some split at the seams the very first time they tried to wear them.

5. What did 1050's style Chinese architecture look like? Did you mean to imply that I thought the Chinese lived in castles with moats, like the Europeans have?

6. It doesn't matter whose ideas they steal. They can't replicate, let alone improve upon, the technology with a culture that so heavily values quantity over quality. Who needs a bolt that last 5 years when you can make a cheaper one that constantly needs to be replaced? Replacing the bolt creates more economic activity, right? Who needs nutritious baby formula when you can substitute fertilizer ingredients for less money? When the babies die, then the coffin makers wages add to the economic activity.

Children rushed to hospital in Beijing as dangerous smog engulfs China’s biggest cities

7. Did anyone in China recently invent a better iPhone? If not, then why not? We use them for cheap labor to make things we dream up, and $1 per hour is still better than starving to death on a farm that can't produce enough to feed everyone, but forgive me if I don't marvel at their society.

8. If they're making 25 million cars a year, that means they can all buy one (using money they presently don't have) in another 64 years. Sometime in 2082, assuming they don't suffocate to death before then, they'll all have cars like we do.

What other trivia would you like to share with the rest of us?

SpaceNut · 2018-08-01 19:03:04

More or less to piss Trump the deal maker off since he was part of the business group and them resigned once Trump showed his hand...Musk does not need Trump....

kbd512 · 2018-08-01 19:16:24

SpaceNut,

Declaring something does not make it so. Politicians need their captains of industry, just as our industry leaders need politicians who work on their behalf. That's one thing China does far better than America. The Chinese government doesn't actively pursue new ways to screw over their own workers, as our very own Democrat Party has made a habit of doing in modern times. Generally speaking, the Chinese are very industrious, but working harder doesn't always produce a better result. If you build a million engines with manufacturing defects, versus a few hundred thousand of good quality, then you didn't accomplish anything unless the objective was to simply make more of something, functionality unimportant.

EdwardHeisler · 2018-08-01 19:52:08

kbd512 has once again shown his ignorance of economic policy and developments in China and for that matter the world.

kbd512 wrote: "A considerable portion of their population is leaving the workforce as they age, a result of the Chinese government's "One Child" policy."

Do you still claim that China has a "one child" law? Of course, you know that's not true. So please stop spreading Trumpian type lies on this board.

The end of China’s one-child policy
by Feng Wang, Baochang Gu, and Yong Cai·
March 30, 2016
https://www.brookings.edu/articles/the- … ld-policy/

And now kbd512 claims that unlike the "clean air" Trump government, China is doing nothing to combat industrial pollution !!!!!

China Shuts Down Tens Of Thousands Of Factories In Widespread Pollution Crackdown
by Trevor Nace
October 24, 2017
Forbes

China has implemented an unprecedented pollution crackdown in recent months as the country shuts down tens of thousands of factories. The effort is part of a national effort to address China's infamous pollution and has affected wide swaths of China's manufacturing sector.

In total, it is estimated that 40 percent of all China's factories have been shut down at some point in order to be inspected by environmental bureau officials. As a result of these inspections over 80,000 factories have been hit with fines and criminal offenses as a result of their emissions.

China's government has recently taken a more proactive approach in regulating environmental laws, something that was largely overlooked in past decades. The crackdown has resulted in everything from hefty fines to jail time for the more egregious violators.

China's crackdown on polluting factories will result in cleaner air and a whole host of health benefits. However, there are certainly critics that point to a potential decline in China's industrial sector and GDP growth. Ultimately, factories will have to comply and find ways to both meet production goals and environmental laws.

For the average Chinese citizen, this will mean one step closer to swapping a polluted grey sky with blue skies. In this, China follows the realization the United States made in the early 1960's when implementing the Clean Air Act.

Environmental regulations are an essential part of governing, where population health is put before capitalism. There have been hundreds of studies that point to the overall positive effect of smart environmental regulations. From increased worker health (less sick days) to less government subsidized healthcare (Medicaid/Medicare) to increased employment.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/trevornace … b016b14666

So kbd512, is their any chance that Trump will crack down on his sponsors, corporate polluters? While China moves aggressively against corporate polluters, Trump destroys the Environmental Protection Agency and protect those who are polluting!. Dirty coal is the energy of the future!

Last edited by EdwardHeisler (2018-08-01 19:54:07)

kbd512 · 2018-08-01 20:26:49

EdwardHeisler,

You really do live in your own little world, don't you?

Cause: one child policy formulated by those brilliant central planners
Effect: lots of old people, far fewer young people to do useful work, relative to the total population

China had a "one child" policy from 1979 to 2015. That's 36 years. Unless Chinese women are popping out kids at record rates, which vital statistics don't support, then 3 years without that policy won't instantly replenish their workforce. In 2015, the median age of the Chinese population was 37. 230 million people were at retirement age in the same year. China has 1.379 billion people. That means 1 out of 6 people in China is too old to work. That is the exact same "Baby Boomer" problem we're presently having, except on a far greater scale.

If China is cracking down on pollution, then I guess these people didn't get the memo:

Smog blankets Beijing, northern China, causes road closures around the country

That is life for the average Chinese citizen, as of now, and it's not a claim. It's objective reality. You'd know that if you went there. Something that may speculatively happen at some point in the future to improve living conditions there would most certainly be welcomed by the Chinese.

Which corporate polluters would you like to crack down on? I'm not at all in favor of polluting. In one of your YouTube videos for the Mars Society, you said you were a trucker. Should we pull all the trucks off the highways until we can only have trucks that run without diesel?

EdwardHeisler · 2018-08-01 22:00:38

Once again you failed to respond to points made by posters.

I wrote:" So kbd512, is their any chance that Trump will crack down on his sponsors, corporate polluters? While China moves aggressively against corporate polluters, Trump destroys the Environmental Protection Agency and protect those who are polluting!. Dirty coal is the energy of the future!"

No response from you.

Are you tongue tied?

And are you finally retracting your big lie that China currently has a "one child" law?

Elon Musk is developing an electric powered big rig. I'm sure you will start attacking his electric truck once it begins production since you're so well informed about the truck industry. Have you ever had a commercial drivers license?

Elon Musk Reveals the Dream Truck: Tesla Semi.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nONx_dgr55I

Last edited by EdwardHeisler (2018-08-01 22:02:54)

kbd512 · 2018-08-02 09:54:14

EdwardHeisler,

China is paying lip service to cracking down on pollution, as it always has. That's why they have to close the roads there. They can't see far enough in front of their vehicles to drive. That article was from December of 2017. Next year when the Chinese still can't see far enough down the road to drive, the only one who'll be surprised is you.

Once again, which "corporate polluters" should President Trump go after?

A. the people who make your food
B. the people who keep your house above the temperature of an ice cube in the winter
C. the people who keep the lights on at the hospital when the sun don't shine and the wind don't blow
D. the people who make or sell the things you buy

Take your pick.

The Chinese HAD (past-tense) a "one child" policy that left a great portion of their present population (the people who are alive today) too old to work. The fact that it was rescinded in 2016 does not magically erase the 36 years of prior policy history the instant it happens. The present Chinese birth rate remains below the present American birth rate. When you're below 2, your population is declining, as is the present case for both America and China. If the Chinese chopped down every last tree in China and then said "but we planted millions of saplings", they still won't have any more trees for a decade or two.

If Elon Musk has built a fleet of electric trucks, then where are they? I've never seen any of them on the roads. I see lots of diesel trucks driving around. You and Louis both suffer from the same problem. You make assertions about hypothetical future scenarios that have no bearing on current technological reality. There are no fleets of electric trucks plying the roadways. That's a fact.

I don't have a CDL, nor do I need one to know how to count and differentiate between loud diesel trucks and quiet electric trucks. Virtually all of the trucks presently on the roads fall into the former category. If Tesla chooses to make an electric truck and a company can afford to have their trucks sitting idle for a day while the batteries recharge or eat the cost of degraded battery life using faster "quick charges", I think that's great as long as I don't have to pay 3 times as much to ship a package from Point A to Point B. The "Dream Truck" is a good moniker for that vehicle, since nobody has any, except in their "Dream World".

EdwardHeisler · 2018-08-02 20:02:42

kbd512 wrote:

EdwardHeisler,
China is paying lip service to cracking down on pollution, as it always has.
Once again, which "corporate polluters" should President Trump go after?
.

My god, kbd512 doesn't even bother to read posts before he comments on them! kbd512 probably writes movie reviews on films he hasn't seen! So shutting down tens of thousands of polluting companies and giving major Chinese CEO polluters jail time is in the opinion of kbd512 "paying lip service" to cracking down on pollution. How Trumpian that sounds! kbd512 clearly loves using non-existent "alternative facts" just like his role model, that beacon of hope and truth, Trump.

So kbd512 wants to know which big corporate polluters the EPA should go after. How about ALL Of THEM? kbd512 actually agrees with Trump that the EPA should not crack down on any corporate polluters!

So what industry are you posting on behalf kbd512? Big coal, big Boeing or perhaps big oil?

Last edited by EdwardHeisler (2018-08-03 07:42:24)

kbd512 · 2018-08-03 10:54:38

EdwardHeisler,

I read all the drivel you post here, searching in vain for some measure of reality-based thinking or demonstration of the ability to read news articles and apply some measure of critical thinking. The Chinese are not shutting down tens of thousands of companies. They have temporarily suspended operations at some power plants and factories. After the correct bribes are paid, it will be business as usual. Let us know when we can see far enough down the road to drive in China.

As far as pollution in America is concerned, who do you want to crack down on? I provided a list of the activities that require energy to operate, yet you failed to answer a simple multiple choice question. Which companies do you think are polluting our environment?

If Boeing is polluting our environment by building aircraft, then are Blue Origin, NASA, SpaceX, StratoLaunch, and ULA also polluting our environment by launching rockets into space, since both are powered by kerosene?

First you claimed I worked for ULA, then "big coal" (not sure which company that is), then Boeing, and finally "big oil" (again, ?).

EdwardHeisler · 2018-08-03 11:48:24

kbd512 wrote:

EdwardHeisler,
First you claimed I worked for ULA, then "big coal" (not sure which company that is), then Boeing, and finally "big oil" (again, ?).

Once again you have lied and falsified my post in true Trumpian fashion. Don't you ever get tired of spreading one lie after another on this board?

I didn't claim you worked for ULA. You simply refuse to answer questions about whom you are trolling and posting for on this board.

Once again: "So what industry are you posting on behalf kbd512?"

Who do you work for?

kbd512 · 2018-08-03 12:20:09

EdwardHeisler,

Stop editing your posts after I respond to them or indicate what you're editing when you do (as I do). You're the only one making claims without evidence on this forum.

I don't work for any of the companies you listed, never have, and probably never will. If you ever figure out how to use the search feature, you'll discover that I write software for statistical analysis programs used to forecast the demand for consumer products (food, water, clothing, medical devices, appliances, etc). The people who make the food you eat aren't using electric trucks to transport their product to market because those electric trucks are nowhere to be found, except in the labs of a handful of companies.

I don't care who goes to Mars first or which technology set is used. If the Chinese land on the moon or Mars, then I'll congratulate them. Thus far, I've seen a lot of talk and very little focused action from any government-run space agency or private company.

I don't care if we use electric vehicles versus gas powered vehicles. There are presently real technological and/or infrastructure limitations that inhibit a more rapid and widespread adoption of electric vehicles. Those problems are not the fault of Tesla or any other car maker, but they still exist and must be overcome. If you have the answer to any of those problems, then feel free to post those answers here. I'm sure the car makers would love to have their problems solved.

SpaceNut · 2018-08-03 16:33:32

"captains of industry" which once upon a time were the owners of these companies that protected there working families were long ago replaced by boards and CEO's that do not care anything about the people or the product persay only of its profits that it can generate and the tonnes of money that they each make....

EdwardHeisler · 2018-08-03 22:14:51

kbd512 wrote:

EdwardHeisler,
Thus far, I've seen a lot of talk and very little focused action from any government-run space agency or private company.
.

Yet another attack by kbd512 on Elon Musk and SpaceX! Not surprising at all. kbd512 is just reposting the extreme right-wing party propaganda attack line against Musk and SpaceX.

So kbd512 now makes the outrageous claim that he's seen "little focused action from any private company."

I guess you could claim in defense of such nonsense that you have never heard of SpaceX and their accomplishments.

Is that your defense?

kbd512 · 2018-08-04 01:46:50

EdwardHeisler,

You make up entire alternate realities in your head to justify the stuff you spout off here. If you think pointing out current objective reality is any sort of an attack on SpaceX or anyone else, then I think you have a few screws loose. As of right now, America doesn't have a human rated space launch capability. That is current objective reality and it's every bit as factual as gravity.

The very first time SpaceX sends anyone into space, we can revisit current reality. As of right now, SpaceX has successfully demonstrated the use of lower cost reusable boosters, reliable upper stages, and cargo capsules for delivery of cargo to ISS. There have been no human rated capsules demonstrated by SpaceX or anyone else, as of right now. We can speculate on the future until we're blue in the face or accept current reality and work towards reacquiring human space flight capability.

As far as my commentary on focused action is concerned, that observation was spot on, no matter which government agency or private corporation we're talking about. SpaceX is building a gigantic rocket that requires a host of unproven and in some cases un-developed technologies. SpaceX already has a rocket (Falcon 9 Heavy) that can deliver a 10t payload to the surface of Mars. A focused first step would be proving that all those technologies that BFS relies upon to return to Earth are tested using scale demonstrators on the surface of Mars.

After the rough field landing (never demonstrated by anyone), electrical power (never demonstrated on Mars at the scale required), life support (short duration tested by NASA aboard ISS, with excellent results, but not endurance tested), and propellant production (never demonstrated at scale by anyone) capabilities have been successfully demonstrated using a series of sub-scale robotic demonstrator missions launched by F9H), then the basic technology, engineering, and mission planning involved in sending humans to the surface of Mars is no longer a giant question mark. None of that will be accomplished by giving speeches or PowerPoint presentations, which may be great marketing PR, but isn't fooling anyone familiar with the engineering required to make it work.

EdwardHeisler · 2018-08-04 09:28:52

I am not responsible for your nonsense and non-factual Boeing inspired attacks you direct at Elon Musk and SpaceX.

Perhaps you need to hire someone more talented than you to write clever, witty and almost factual talking points for posting on this board.

Few here take your Trump inspired political views seriously unless one enjoys reading your goofy "alternative facts" that you attempt to pawn off as serious commentary.

But this is a democratic discussion board that supports free speech and a free press, something your role model Trump hates, so flap your jaw, wiggle your ears, listen with your mouth and type away!

Last edited by EdwardHeisler (2018-08-04 09:29:33)

Terraformer · 2018-08-04 13:22:43

You are correct to say few, but only because there are few members posting on the forum. There are ~10 regular posters, I'd say.

kbd512 · 2018-08-04 15:13:11

EdwardHeisler,

You're only responsible for what you post here, but I don't think you take that responsibility very seriously. If you have any photographic evidence of SpaceX sending anyone into space, then post it here. If not, then the "goofy alternative fact" is that SpaceX has never sent anyone into space.

I can and did post a photograph of what Chinese cities looked like in December of 2017, but here's some articles from 2018.

https://www.thebeijinger.com/blog/2018/ … s-dismayed

https://www.hongkongfp.com/2018/01/22/m … e-beijing/

As far as Chinese demographics are concerned, we're taking the reports generated by their government over your say-so. Everything I stated about the effects of the one child policy was factual and supported by tangible evidence.

You seem to suffer from sort of bizarre psychotic fixation on President Trump, no doubt another severe case of TDS, since you feel the need to mention him in nearly every post.

EdwardHeisler · 2018-08-06 13:24:20

Tesla claims to have ‘world’s most advanced computer for autonomous driving’ with Autopilot 3.0 update coming next year
Fred Lambert Aug. 1st 2018
Electrek.com

Tesla is finally ‘letting the cat out of the bag’ when it comes to its new custom-built chip for the next generation Autopilot.

The automaker claims that it now has the ‘world’s most advanced computer for autonomous driving’ that will be released in an upgrade to current owners next year.

Back in 2016, we first exclusively reported on Tesla quietly hiring legendary chip architect Jim Keller from AMD and we were fairly excited by the implications of Tesla hiring such an important chip architect.

At the time, we speculated that Tesla could be looking into making its own silicon at some point – speculation that was further reinforced after Keller’s hiring was followed by a team of chip architects and executives from AMD also joining Tesla.

Finally, our suspicions were confirmed two years later when Elon Musk confirmed that Tesla is working on its own AI chip.

Keller has since left Tesla, but the team is now led by Pete Bannon, who were amongst the other chip architects hired by Tesla over 2 years ago.

During Tesla’s earnings call today, Bannon confirmed that they have now produced the chip and have it working in test vehicles on the road.

Bannon said that the new chip will be released in a new ‘hardware 3’ suite for Autopilot which will take the form of a new computer that will replace the existing computer in the vehicles with Autopilot hardware 2.0 and 2.5, which have been in production since October 2016.

Musk added that he believes that the new computer that they’ve developed is an order of magnitude better than what they can buy now.

The computer in the Autopilot 2.0 hardware suite is powered by Nvidia GPUs. Musk says that it is capable of processing 200 frames per second and Tesla’s hardware 3 will be able to handle 2,000 frames per second with redundancy.

He explained that they achieved that by building the chip from the ground up to act as a ‘neural network accelerator’ based on the neural net that Tesla’s AI and vision team have been building.

Bannon and Musk reiterated that the new computer will be offered as an upgrade to current Autopilot 2.0 (and up) owners by simply swapping the current computer.

Earlier this year, we took a close look at the current computer in Model S, Model X, and Model 3 with Autopilot 2.5.

Tesla has previously said that this upgrade will be offered for free since Tesla has been advertising Autopilot 2.0 cars as being fully autonomous ready and therefore, any upgrade to make it fully autonomous should be free.

Bannon said the upgrade is planned for next year.

In the meantime, Tesla is still planning to improve Autopilot on the current hardware with software version 9 coming in ‘4 weeks’.

https://electrek.co/2018/08/01/tesla-ch … -3-update/

Last edited by EdwardHeisler (2018-08-06 13:24:36)

New Mars Forums

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#1 2018-07-31 21:48:22

Tesla is going big in China

#2 2018-08-01 00:01:05

Re: Tesla is going big in China

#3 2018-08-01 07:25:10

Re: Tesla is going big in China

#4 2018-08-01 09:13:05

Re: Tesla is going big in China

#5 2018-08-01 13:26:30

Re: Tesla is going big in China

#6 2018-08-01 14:20:29

Re: Tesla is going big in China

#7 2018-08-01 15:55:04

Re: Tesla is going big in China

#8 2018-08-01 18:55:32

Re: Tesla is going big in China

#9 2018-08-01 19:03:04

Re: Tesla is going big in China

#10 2018-08-01 19:16:24

Re: Tesla is going big in China

#11 2018-08-01 19:52:08

Re: Tesla is going big in China

#12 2018-08-01 20:26:49

Re: Tesla is going big in China

#13 2018-08-01 22:00:38

Re: Tesla is going big in China

#14 2018-08-02 09:54:14

Re: Tesla is going big in China

#15 2018-08-02 20:02:42

Re: Tesla is going big in China

#16 2018-08-03 10:54:38

Re: Tesla is going big in China

#17 2018-08-03 11:48:24

Re: Tesla is going big in China

#18 2018-08-03 12:20:09

Re: Tesla is going big in China

#19 2018-08-03 16:33:32

Re: Tesla is going big in China

#20 2018-08-03 22:14:51

Re: Tesla is going big in China

#21 2018-08-04 01:46:50

Re: Tesla is going big in China

#22 2018-08-04 09:28:52

Re: Tesla is going big in China

#23 2018-08-04 13:22:43

Re: Tesla is going big in China

#24 2018-08-04 15:13:11

Re: Tesla is going big in China

#25 2018-08-06 13:24:20

Re: Tesla is going big in China

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