Tesla Master Plan
Tesla has found a way to make headlines once again this week with Elon Musk’s release of “Master Plan, Part Deux”. The plan provides some insight on what is coming next. Tesla’s end goal is to achieve sustainability and here is how they plan to provide it to the world:
- Integrated energy generation and storage (through the Powerwall and a potential acquisition of SolarCity, a company that brings solar power to residential customers)
- Cover major forms of ground transport by bringing to market heavy-duty trucks and “mini-buses”.
- Autonomous driving of all Tesla vehicles will become more than 10X safer than manually driven ones.
- Self-driving car sharing providing access to Tesla cars to everyone while helping car owners offset part of their monthly cost.
The plan sounds great but Musk was careful not to include a specific timeline for his plan. You can read the full post here.
Apple Rumour Mill: Electric car now due for 2021
Apparently Apple’s secret car project code-named “Titan” is facing a few set-backs pushing its expected rollout date to 2021, a year later than previously thought. We don’t know much about Apple’s plans yet asides from knowing that they have been poaching employees from car companies and assigning them to Titan. Apple is typically good at meeting deadlines and will certainly move very quickly once the car is officially announced. (info from theinformation.com)
Solar Powered Internet?
It seems like every tech company is working on some form of autonomous transportation. Facebook is focusing on a solar powered drone, named Aquila, that will provide internet access to remote locations. Earlier this week Aquila completed a successful 96 minutes test-flight in Arizona. It is expected that the drone will remain airborne for 3 months at a time and be powered solely by solar panels located on its wings.
Microsoft 4th Quarter Results
Microsoft exceeded expectations last quarter as its cloud offering revenue grew significantly. Azure (Microsoft’s cloud computing platform) brought in 102 percent more revenue and its commercial Office 365 revenue grew by 54 percent. On the other hand, phone sales are now 71 percent lower than before. Overall this positive news shows that Microsoft’s decision to offer more integrated solutions is paying off. It will be interesting to see if Microsoft remains loyal to the strategy with its newly acquired LinkedIn platform. (info from cnbc.com)
As we can see from this week’s summary the world of transportation seems to be moving towards autonomy. Many factors from geography and legal barriers to user adoption will play a role in determining how quickly the industry will change. More than ever, businesses throughout the world will need to innovate to stay relevant.
-Phil Alexandre