Date: July 21, 2023 – Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced that the company will be opening up its Full Self-Driving (FSD) technology to other Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) through a licensing program. Additionally, it will now allow the transfer of the FSD system to new cars, marking a significant milestone in the development and deployment of autonomous driving technology.
The decision to license FSD to other automakers represents a paradigm shift in Tesla’s approach to self-driving technology. Until now, it had kept its autonomous driving software strictly exclusive to its own vehicles. By offering licensing opportunities, it aims to accelerate the adoption of self-driving technology across the automotive sector
Musk revealed that talks are underway with a different significant automaker to license the company’s Autopilot and Full Self-Driving technologies for the first time during the company’s second quarterly earnings call of 2023.
Elon Musk expressed his optimism about the potential impact of this move, stating, “Tesla’s mission has always been to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable transportation. By opening up our Full Self-Driving technology to other OEMs, we can achieve this goal much faster and pave the way for safer, more efficient roads worldwide.”
In addition to licensing FSD, Tesla also announced that it will enable the transfer of FSD from one car to another. This means that Tesla owners who have already purchased FSD will be able to transfer the software to their new vehicles, avoiding the need to repurchase the feature each time they buy a new Tesla. This move is likely to be welcomed by existing Tesla customers, as it offers increased flexibility and cost savings.
Tesla’s decision to allow the transfer of FSD to new cars represents a significant development in the company’s approach to software accessibility. In the past, transferring FSD capabilities between vehicles required complex hardware upgrades and extensive recalibration processes. Now, it will introduce a more streamlined and user-friendly method to facilitate the seamless transfer of FSD to a new Tesla vehicle.
In order to eventually achieve full autonomy, Musk mentioned the significance of having enormous volumes of video data to train FSD. Currently, the automaker has logged 300 million kilometers in FSD; Musk predicted that this amount “will seem extremely small very soon.”
Tesla’s decision to license FSD to other OEMs and permit easy transfer between its own vehicles is likely to have far-reaching consequences in the automotive landscape.
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