Tesla Will License Full Self-Driving to Other Manufacturers, Elon Musk Says

According to an Elon Musk tweet, FSD will be so advanced that other carmakers will have to license it from Tesla. This will be a very lucrative line of business for the American EV maker.

Tesla is not the only producer that pledges to bring autonomous driving vehicles on the roads. At this time, Tesla does not seem very advanced either, with FSD not being certified for Level 3 autonomy. By contrast, Mercedes-Benz certified the S-Class for Level 3 autonomous driving, and Honda did the same in Japan with the Legend. Yet, Elon Musk is convinced Tesla will crack Level 4 by 2023, and that FSD will be at least 2-3 times better than a human at avoiding accidents.

In a reply to a Twitter topic by Steven Mark Ryan, Elon Musk said Tesla is probably “five years or more” ahead of any other company in solving the autonomous driving problem. The exchange continued with Steven saying most of them will realize Tesla’s lead is unassailable and just license Tesla’s tech. “After all, when Tesla has data showing FSD is 2x, 5x, 10x safer than human and second place isn’t even at human-level…. is licensing FSD really a choice or an obligation?”, writes Steven. This didn’t go in the wind, as Musk confirmed “Tesla will support FSD licensing by other manufacturers.”

Tesla licensing the FSD technology is a major point, opening a new revenue line for the company that could be worth trillions. And yet, Elon Musk favoring FSD over hard things like the Cybertruck or the $25,000 car was a disappointment at the company’s earnings call. People still have a hard time comprehending autonomous driving is way bigger than any vehicle any carmaker might bring to the table.

And could be big not just for the car industry, but also for other companies, ranging from the military to robotics. It could have such profound implications that it would change everything we know about the world today. If it cracks the autonomy problem, Tesla will sit on huge piles of money.

Remember the days when people were convinced Tesla would never turn a profit and go bankrupt? Those days are gone, and so there will be a moment when “FSD is vaporware” will be behind us as well.