Tesla presentation on VPP and Autobidder - how it all works..
This is the most interesting presentation I have seen since the original Hornsdale.
Although this was very, very high level conceptual architecture the impact of carefully selected linguistic and functional functions yielded enormous scalability, reliability and resilience. They make the assertion that making their own hardware was a crucial factor, just as it has proven to be with Autopilot.
Logically this makes me think that the genuine moat of Tesla is shared with SpaceX and the other Musk-defined organizations is quite different than any we have been discussing. We speak of battery longevity and energy density, Supercharger networks, reusable rocket components and clever continuous updates. The more mechanically included marvel over new materials and gigantic castings of BIW pieces.
Those are all marvels, but they are results of the moat, not the moat itself.
The moat is not even the ability of Musk-led firms to attract the brightest and most excited people, nearly all of whom are obsessively wanting to learn new things. It is, rather, the ability to get such people to actually work together. That produces magic and perpetuates magic. That also allows Tesla, SpaceX et al to openly share their patents and describe their approach. Virtually nobody can actually do that.
Side effects include rapid turnover due to burnout, for collaboration is intensely compelling, so much so that all other parts of life fade in importance. Elon Musk has kept several organizations simultaneously producing so many major innovations that we rarely attempt to even list them all.
In the early 1980's I spent several years in an organization that was devoted to that thesis. It was a magical time, but burnt itself off because of lack of magical leadership. Still, every major accomplishment of my life came from that weak effort. What we did was usually arcane, rarely publicly visible and almost never attributable. On the other hand, the results had lasting consequences for major parts of the world. A few years from now many invisible Musk alumni will persist in being thrilled that they actually changed the world for the better. Most of them will, as I did, sacrifice financially to do that. Probably most of them will, as I did, discover to our amazement that we end out becoming quite well off financially as a side benefit.
For me, I shall invest an allegedly unhealthy part of my assets in Tesla, SpaceX, Starlink, The Boring Company and others, as they become available one way or another.