So when/if Tesla shows off FSD, I do think we will see a partnership. I doubt we see a buyout because Elon won't sell and the offer price would have to be like $2,000/share at that point to be realistic. I'm not talking about when FSD will be approved by regulators and active, just when it gets shown off that proves Tesla's path to autonomy was correct and not only viable, but will be the leader due to the combination of software and hardware built into every new Tesla and existing Tesla. When Tesla gets to that point, I actually hope they partner with someone to help build the Tesla Network or whatever it will be called. I do not necessarily think Tesla needs these companies, but it could be advantageous for them to partner.
So then I started thinking about partners.
Apple still to me makes me the most sense. They want to be in the autonomy space because they want to run their software services on the autonomy platform and they want to increase their software range into multimedia. Apple could be in control of all of the multimedia(TV, Movies, Music, etc...) and collaborate with Tesla on the Tesla network. The army of software engineers would be boost to Tesla in terms of creating and releasing new software features and content and the additional money from Apple could help Tesla continue it's growth plans 2-4 years down the road as fast as they want without worrying about cash(ramp Model Y, Semi, Pickup, TE, etc...)
Another option would be Uber. I think Uber is going to have a much tougher time than most think even after they're able to ditch the drivers. They have to buy all of their cars from a car manufacturer and retro fit them with Lidar(if they go that route), and pay for maintenance on their fleet of vehicles. While Tesla has said they'll have their own fleet, they also said they would let Tesla car owners use their cars as taxi's as well. Tesla doesn't have to worry about purchasing those vehicles and the vehicle maintenance is up to the Tesla car owner. So Tesla will get better profit/margins from their approach than Uber. Partnering with Tesla makes a lot of sense for Uber. They cut out the middle man in terms of buying and maintaining the cars, they don't have to pay for Lidar, and they could focus on combining their Uber service with the Tesla Network. For Tesla, Uber taking the majority of the workload for the Tesla network would free them up for other software features, multimedia, etc...and they would also get access to Uber's huge reach in the ride hailing service.
Christopher Stearns @chris_stearns
Frank @fatropea
