Tesla would consider licensing and supplying certain technologies of the company with competitors. According to CEO Elon Musk, other automakers might be able to use Autopilot and buy batteries from his firm although the partnership is seen to be governed by specific arrangements.
Musk tweeted such a possibility as a response to a recent blog that German carmakers are still playing catch up to Tesla in the development of electric vehicles. The company chief said software and hardware could be made available to other players so the industry can continue to flourish.
"Tesla is open to licensing software and supplying powertrains and batteries. We're just trying to accelerate sustainable energy, not crush competitors," Business Insider reported Musk as saying in his Twitter post.
The generous offer will include the licensing of Tesla's flagship technologies such as Autopilot and Self-Driving, which Musk has confirmed in his following posts.
As for Tesla's willingness to sell batteries to rival automakers, this was carried out in the past but on a limited scale. Tesla used to sell powertrains and batteries to Toyota and Mercedes Benz when the two companies were still Tesla shareholders.
It appeared that the business ties with the two carmakers had ended as they no longer source their battery requirements from Tesla.
Musk's overture came as big competitors admitted that Tesla indeed has a big lead in the EV development, software- and hardware-wise. Per the same report, Volkswagen estimated that Tesla has a technological head-start of up to 10 years over rival firms.
For its part, Audi said the software advantage of Tesla is thought to be two years at the very least.
The licensing and sharing of technology, however, will have limitations. According to Electrek, rival firms will not be able to access Tesla's in-car fart machine technology, which Musk stressed will remain top-secret.
The report added that Tesla's record on the matter indicated that the licensing and sharing being dangled by Musk could be problematic along the way. The company, for instance, did announce a few years back that certain Tesla patents will become open-source.
However, due to restrictions and certain conditions by Tesla, many companies had opted not to bother with these open-source EV patents.
In the end, Electrek said it's hard to imagine that the offered collaboration by Tesla will amount to something concrete in the future. On the part of rival automakers, they naturally would not want to depend too much on Tesla and would rather innovate and develop their own technology.
It's also a suspect if Tesla can follow through on the plan to supply other companies with their hardware needs. Tesla had to stop working with Toyota and Mercedes on this aspect because of supply constraints, which most likely has yet to be resolved.
