Nikola first filed the lawsuit in 2018, alleging that Tesla’s own semi-truck infringes on a number of Nikola’s design patents….reports Asian Lite News
Electric car maker Tesla is still facing the $2 billion lawsuit, filed against the Elon Musk-run company by hydrogen trucking startup Nikola over design patents infringement.
A US federal judge has now directed Nikola to continue its three-year-old $2 billion patent lawsuit against Tesla.
The case against Tesla will still remain “administratively closed” but won’t be dismissed, Judge James Donato said in a new order on Tuesday, reports The Verge.
Nikola first filed the lawsuit in 2018, alleging that Tesla’s own semi-truck infringes on a number of Nikola’s design patents.
Pic credits Twitter
“Nikola said in its original complaint that Tesla stealing its designs would rob the startup of $2 billion in market share,” the report said.
The judge, who on October 1 closed the case as neither Nikola nor Tesla responded to earlier orders, has now assigned Nikola two new deadlines for hearing in January 2022.
“Nikola’s ostensible reasons for not responding to the Court’s orders are not particularly compelling,” the judge said in the order.
“The case will not be dismissed at this time for failure to prosecute, but that may change if Nikola does not move this case forward to resolution in an efficient and timely manner.”
Tesla showcased its first semi-truck in 2017. However, for years and several delays later, Tesla is yet to release the ‘Tesla Semi’ or the ‘Megacharger’ for it to date.
Tesla recently delayed the first Tesla Semi deliveries to customers until 2022 when it will have more battery cell supply.
The company has been spotted deploying the first Megacharger to charge its upcoming semi-electric truck at Gigafactory Nevada, the media reported this week.
This microchip shortage has badly affected the automotive industry, which has increasingly become a big consumer of microchips…reports Nishant Arora
The two big-ticket investments in India this year — Tesla and Apple — which were set to lift the country as a brand on the world map and further end dependence on China-led investments in the tech and auto sectors, has somewhat been delayed owing to the pandemic and global chip shortage. Nonetheless, both the giants now aim to rewrite their India manufacturing story next year as Covid slows down.
Both Elon Musk and Tim Cook had announced a big-bang entry into the country. Musk wanted his electric cars to run on the domestic roads (despite import duty concerns) while Cook announced to open first branded retail store (in Mumbai), along with a thrust on assembling/manufacturing more Apple products in the country.
However, the second Covid-19 wave and a severe automobile semiconductor shortage have somewhat hampered their plans for the year.
According to Soumen Mandal, research analyst (IoT, automotive and devices ecosystem) at Counterpoint Research, India is believed to become one of the largest EV markets soon and Tesla is aware of this fact.
“None of the big automakers wants to leave out the opportunity to acquire a share in the India market. Tesla is not an exception in this case. The cheap availability of resources and lower labour cost will allow Tesla as well as other automakers to earn a higher profit if they set up a local manufacturing or assembly plant,” Mandal told .
The government wants Tesla to either start local manufacturing or assembly plant before getting any import tax concession.
“Hence, the desire to earn more profit as well as the wish to acquire a market share in one of the to-be largest auto markets is bringing Tesla to India,” he added.
This microchip shortage has badly affected the automotive industry, which has increasingly become a big consumer of microchips.
When most automakers are predicting that this chip shortage will go through 2023, Tesla CEO Elon Musk says that things will turn positive from 2022.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk. (Xinhua/Ding Ting/IANS)
“All most every automaker is currently suffering from the ongoing semiconductor shortage. While most of the automakers like Stellantis, Volkswagen, Toyota, BMW, Ford and others have cut production severely due to the ongoing chip crisis, Tesla has not been affected significantly,” said Mandal.
The Indian passenger car market is mostly dominated by cars priced below Rs 10 lakh, whereas the current Model 3 of Tesla costs (about Rs 29 lakh without import and other taxes) put the car in the premium segment, and the market share of the premium segment in the country was just 7 per cent in 2020.
Presently, India is under the global spotlight due to the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme. Under the scheme, the foreign manufacturers can acquire resources at very nominal cost only if they set up manufacturing or assembly plant, locally.
The PLI scheme has been extra generous towards electric vehicles and its components like batteries because India is already running behind in EV adoption and wants to put a significant number of EVs on road by 2030.
The pandemic has also forced the iPhone maker from opening its own offline store to its fans in India this year. It opened its own online store before the festive season last year, which has seen a tremendous success.
“The retail store continues to be a key fulcrum for Apple’s growth in India. It will steer Apple products availability, accessibility and affordability in the country,” said Prabhu Ram, Head, Industry Intelligence Group (IIG), CyberMedia Research (CMR).
The consumer demand for the new iPhone 13 series is robust in the country. The iPhone 13 series, for which pre-orders were thrown open in India last week, received a record response like last year from fans across the country.
“However, the current supply chain dynamics is causing some constraints for Apple Watch as well as the iPhones. We believe that Apple is slightly better placed in augmenting its supplies over the coming quarters, and meet the strong demand,” Ram told.
Tesla vehicles are far from reaching a level of autonomy often described by Musk on social media…reports Asian Lite News
Despite tall claims made by Elon Musk over Twitter about the full self-driving technology, electric car-maker Tesla has privately admitted that such claims do not match up with the engineering reality.
Tesla vehicles are far from reaching a level of autonomy often described by Musk on social media, according to an internal memo obtained by transparency portal Plainsite.
“Elon’s tweet does not match engineering reality per CJ. Tesla is at Level 2 currently,” Tesla’s director of Autopilot software CJ Moore told the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV)
Level 2 technology refers to a semi-automated driving system, which requires supervision by a human driver.
The memo shows that “Musk has inflated the capabilities of the Autopilot advanced driver assistance system in Tesla vehicles, as well the company’s ability to deliver fully autonomous features by the end of the year,” reports TechCrunch.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk. (File photo: IANS)
Tesla vehicles come with a driver assistance system called ‘Autopilot’ that enhances safety and convenience behind the wheel. When used properly, Autopilot reduces your overall workload as a driver.
For an additional $10,000, people can buy “full self-driving” or FSD, that Musk promises will deliver full autonomous driving capabilities.
Full Self-Driving capabilities include navigate on Autopilot, Auto Lane Change, Summon (moves your car in and out of a tight space using the mobile app or key),
Smart Summon (your car will navigate more complex environments and parking spaces); Traffic and Stop Sign Control (Beta) and Autosteer on city streets (upcoming).
However, Tesla vehicles are still not driving on their own and “are far from reaching that level of autonomy”.
Tesla Model Y. (Photo: Twitter/@Tesla)
In an earnings call in January, Musk told investors that he was “highly confident the car will be able to drive itself with reliability in excess of human this year”.
Tesla, however, is unlikely to achieve Level 5 (L5) autonomy, in which its cars can drive themselves anywhere without any human supervision by the end of 2021.
“The ratio of driver interaction would need to be in the magnitude of 1 or 2 million miles per driver interaction to move into higher levels of automation. Tesla indicated that Elon is extrapolating on the rates of improvement when speaking about L5 capabilities. Tesla couldn’t say if the rate of improvement would make it to L5 by end of calendar year,” the DMV memo read.
The satellite broadband company will double the internet speed to 300 Mbps this year…reports Asian Lite News.
A world without internet is inconceivable in the present days. Elon Musk has said that the new Starlink internet service by SpaceX that will make web access more affordable for people in remote areas worldwide including in India should be fully mobile later this year.
The satellite broadband company will double the internet speed to 300 Mbps this year.
The company currently promises speeds between 50 and 150 Mbps for the Starlink project that plans to deliver high-speed internet through a network of about 12,000 satellites. The company has already put over 1,200 of its Starlink satellites in orbit.
Responding to a follower on Twitter about the launch of the service, Musk said on Friday: “Yeah, should be fully mobile later this year, so you can move it anywhere or use it on an RV or truck in motion. We need a few more satellite launches to achieve compete coverage & some key software upgrades.”
“Service uptime, bandwidth & latency are improving rapidly. Probably out of beta this summer,” he added.
SpaceX has sought approval from regulators in the US to connect its Starlink satellite Internet network to large vehicles including trucks and ships.
The request, filed with the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC), marks a move to expand the Starlink satellite Internet network from rural areas to other sectors.
Musk has clarified that SpaceX is not connecting the Starlink satellite Internet network to Tesla cars.
“Not connecting Tesla cars to Starlink, as our terminal is much too big. This is for aircraft, ships, large trucks & Rvs,” he said in a tweet.
SpaceX is currently offering the beta version of Starlink on pre-orders in India for a fully refundable deposit of $99.
The latest move by China can be considered as its technological battle with the United States, reports Asian Lite News
China is reportedly barring military and government personnel from using Tesla vehicles, citing a potential data security risk posed by the Elon Musk-run electric carmaker.
According to a report in The Wall Street Journal citing sources, people who work for the “military, state-owned enterprises in sensitive industries, and other government agencies” will be asked not to drive a Tesla vehicle.
“The Chinese government has informed some of its agencies to ask their employees to stop driving Tesla cars to work,” the report mentioned.
Tesla cars have also been reportedly banned from driving into housing compounds for families of personnel working in sensitive industries and state agencies.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk. (File photo: IANS)
“They were told by their agencies that among the government’s concerns is that Tesla vehicles can be constantly in record mode, using cameras and other sensors to log various details, including short videos”.
The Chinese government is concerned that those images can be sent back to the US.
The Chinese regulators are also taking a closer look at Tesla operations in the country after recent videos on social media showed a Model 3 battery fire and malfunctioning vehicles.
Tesla said in a statement that its “privacy protection policy complies with Chinese laws and regulations”.
“Tesla attaches great importance to the protection of users’ privacy,” the electric carmaker added.
Tesla Model Y. (Photo: Twitter/@Tesla)
The restriction on Tesla comes as Chinese President Xi Jinping “increasingly moves China away from foreign technology as Beijing’s technological battle with the US intensifies”.
The move comes at a time when the US has labeled smartphone maker Huawei a national security threat, restricting its business activities with the US companies.
Tesla which has its Gigafactory in Shangai is set to enter India this year to tap into the million-dollar opportunity as the country warms up to EVs.
China is the largest market for electric vehicles in the world, and Tesla is the top seller of such vehicles.
The company also plans to build a supercharger manufacturing factory in Shanghai, which is expected to be operational soon.
On January 7, the US electric carmaker launched a project to manufacture Model Y vehicles in the Shanghai Gigafactory, its first overseas plant outside the US.
Tesla has opened its largest supercharger station worldwide, with 72 charging piles set up in the Jing’an District of Shanghai.
As of the end of 2020, the automaker has built more than 600 supercharger stations in China.
