Tesla may license its self-driving software to other automakers. In fact, Chief Executive Elon Musk said the company has had “preliminary” discussions with potential partners. Musk mentioned the meetings during Tesla’s Q4 2020 earnings call. “We’ve had some preliminary discussions about licensing Autopilot to other OEMs,” Musk said on the call. “This is something we’re... READ FULL ARTICLE
I think licensing FSD to other automakers could be very tricky. For one, Tesla would need to get FSD to be super safe and reliable first. Other automakers won't want to license something if they think it is not safe enough. Right now, FSD is still very much beta and not true autonomous yet. Second, most other automakers want other sensors like a driver facing camera to monitor driver attention and lidar. Tesla does not believe in either. So how will Tesla license FSD if the hardware is not compatible? There could issues with training the camera vision to work for other automakers that have different cameras or place the cameras differently on the car. So it might not be an easy "plug and play" solution. Thirdly, most other automakers have their own research on FSD or have partnerships with AV companies. They won't need Tesla's FSD if they have something that is as good or better.
I think this is very smart and should be the industry standard. It greatly simplifies the future safety to have all FSD vehicles singing out of the same song book. I would like to see it as mandatory as long as there is room for individual OEM's to add on subroutines to their fleet. .
I don't see too many, if any of the big boys doing this. They'll likely want to roll their own, cooperate with each other, or buy some other third party system from a non auto maker that sells parts / systems to multiple auto makers.
If you're an OEM and you know you are many years behind in developing this software, it would make sense to license Tesla's. If you're the first to do this, you have a big sales advantage. This would then force others to consider this option as well.
The question is, do these OEMs have options, are those options available right now and what do they cost compared to Tesla?
I doubt this is the case. GM has Super Cruise in production vehicles and has Cruise FSD in testing, for example. The other manufacturers all have similar deals. I really don't see the purpose of licensing Tesla's "FSD" considering how unreliable and flaky it is in the current form.
This is not how this will happen. I think it will start with the regulators wanting to require active safety features... Safety features will start being rated as part of crash testing (probably in the next 5 years) and safety standards will be expanded to have requirements (like the backup camera is now required on all cars built since May 2018) if any manufacturer cannot provide the active safety features, they will license from someone like Tesla. But once you license those features (which will require the FSD computer) you might as well offer (and mark up) the entire features stack to your buyers.
We already see how slow regulations are. Infact regulation for 2025 is already laid out (Euroncap 2025) and it doesn't include alot of things Safety Group have been calling for. Guess what's one of the requirements? Driver monitoring. Yes something Tesla's don't have but alot of automakers have now. It will actually be required from 2022 i believe. All OEMs already have active safety features as an option and they all meet the requirements from regulation. No need to license from Tesla. Also it doesn't require a 114 TOPs "FSD computer". OEMS get it dirt cheap. Another reason why they won't get it from Tesla. when they can use a $10 or $45 Mobileye chip versus paying $5,000-10,000. NHTSA Announces Update to Historic AEB Commitment by 20 Automakers
If this is the case wouldnt Tesla have to license things from other manufacturers, not the other way around? Teslas don't have basic safety features like rear cross traffic alert that even econoboxes have these days.