Musk named Time magazine person of the year

Time magazine on Monday named Tesla chief and space entrepreneur Elon Musk as its person of the year, citing his embodiment of the technological shifts but also troubling trends reshaping people's lives.

Musk -- who overtook Amazon founder Jeff Bezos this year to become the world's wealthiest person -- wields impact on Earth with his Tesla electric car company and beyond our planet with his SpaceX rockets. 

"Musk's rise coincides with broader trends of which he and his fellow technology magnates are part cause and part effect," Time editor-in-chief Edward Felsenthal wrote.

Among those trends, Felsenthal listed "the continuing decline of traditional institutions in favor of individuals; government dysfunction that has delivered more power and responsibility to business and chasms of wealth and opportunity."

Time editors have previously defined the title -- which last year went to President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris -- as going to people who "embodied what was important about the year, for better or for worse." 

In October, Musk's electric car company's valuation soared above a trillion dollars, and SpaceX has teamed up with US space agency NASA to launch various missions including a test run of protecting Earth from an asteroid.

The brash South African-born 50-year-old has seen his wealth soar during the pandemic to over $250 billion, according to Forbes' real-time billionaires list. 

He has also courted controversy with his provocative Twitter feed that can attack, joke and provoke -- including a poll in November asking Twitter whether he should sell a 10 percent share of his Tesla stock.

- 'Wealthy, mostly white men' -

Felsenthal noted Musk's provocative vision is accompanied by a persona which is a "blunt instrument that often seems to revel in division and aggressive mockery as he gives the world access to his id through social media."

Musk has appeared ever-present in American culture in recent years, amassing 66 million Twitter followers and guest-hosting the famed late-night comedy show Saturday Night Live in May. 

Musk speaks ambitiously about his interest in colonizing Mars, and plans orbital flights next year as part of SpaceX's planned American return to the Moon.

"The goal overall has been to make life multi-planetary and enable humanity to become a spacefaring civilization," Musk told Time in an interview released with the Person of the Year announcement.

He has also been known to move markets and the value of cryptocurrencies with a single tweet, but his main terrestrial influence for now is with his electric vehicles.

"Our intent with Tesla was always that we would serve as an example to the car industry, and hope that they also make electric cars so that we can accelerate the transition to sustainable energy," Musk told Time.

Time notes that in an earlier era interplanetary travel was a collective undertaking that leaders used to rally their nations, but that increasingly private companies are involved. 

"To Musk, that is progress, steering capital allocation away from the government to those who will be good stewards of it," Felsenthal wrote. 

"To others, it is testament to capitalism's failings as staggeringly wealthy, mostly white men play by their own rules while much of society gets left behind," he added.

Agence France-Presse

Lyft to sell autonomous driving unit for $550 million to Toyota

WASHINGTON - US ride hailing service Lyft agreed to sell its autonomous driving division to a unit of Japan's Toyota for $550 million, the companies said Monday.

The move follows a similar divestment from Uber last year as the rideshare firms focus on core operations amid struggles during the yearlong coronavirus pandemic.

The Lyft operations known as Level 5 will be folded into Woven Planet Holdings, a subsidiary of Toyota Motor Corporation, which will create a team of some 1,200 working on self-driving technology in Japan, the United States and Britain.

Lyft will receive some $550 million in cash, with $200 million paid upfront and $350 million of payments over a five-year period, under the agreement.

"This acquisition advances our mission to develop the safest mobility in the world at scale," said Woven Planet chief executive James Kuffner.

"This deal will be key in weaving together the people, resources, and infrastructure that will help us to transform the world we live in through mobility technologies that can bring about a happier, safer future for us all."

Lyft CEO Logan Green said the transaction "brings together the vision, talent, resources and commitment to advance clean, autonomous mobility on a global scale."

Both Lyft and Uber had been working on their own technology for autonomous cars, but the firms have been hit hard by the slowdown in ridesharing during the global pandemic.

Agence France-Presse

Tesla can now be bought for bitcoin, Elon Musk says

Tesla Inc customers can now buy its electric vehicles with bitcoin, its boss, Elon Musk, said on Wednesday, marking a significant step forward for the cryptocurrency's use in commerce.

"You can now buy a Tesla with bitcoin," Musk said on Twitter, adding that the option would be available outside the United States later this year.

The electric-car maker said last month it bought $1.5 billion worth of bitcoin and would soon accept it as a form of payment for cars, in a large stride toward mainstream acceptance that sent bitcoin soaring to a record high of nearly $62,000.

Bitcoin, the world's biggest digital currency, rose more than 4% after Musk's tweet and was last trading at $56,429.

Musk said bitcoin paid to Tesla would not be converted into traditional currency, but he gave few other details on how the bitcoin payments would be processed. The company was using "internal & open source software", he said.

Most mainstream companies such as AT&T Inc and Microsoft Corp that allow customers to pay with bitcoin typically use specialist payment processors that convert the cryptocurrency into, say, dollars and send the sum to the company.

Like other cryptocurrencies, bitcoin is still little used for commerce in major economies, hampered by its volatility and relatively costly and slow processing times.

Musk, who regularly posts comments on Twitter about cryptocurrencies, last month criticized conventional cash, saying when it "has negative real interest, only a fool wouldn't look elsewhere".

He had said that the difference with cash made it "adventurous enough" for the S&P 500 company to hold the cryptocurrency.

Following Tesla's investment in bitcoin, companies including Mastercard Inc and Bank of New York Mellon Corp have embraced the emerging asset, sparking predictions that bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies will become a regular part of investment portfolios.

Uber Chief Executive Dara Khosrowshahi said the ride-hailing company discussed and "quickly dismissed" the idea of investing in bitcoin. However, he said Uber could potentially accept the cryptocurrency as payment.

General Motors Co said it would evaluate whether bitcoin could be accepted as payment for its vehicles.

Tesla recently added "Technoking of Tesla" to Musk's list of official titles. 

(Reporting by Tom Wilson in London and Maria Ponnezhath in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur, Robert Birsel)

-reuters-

Musk deletes Facebook pages of Tesla, SpaceX after challenged on Twitter

Verified Facebook pages of Elon Musk’s rocket company SpaceX and electric carmaker Tesla Inc disappeared on Friday, minutes after the Silicon Valley billionaire promised on Twitter to take down the pages when challenged by users.

“Delete SpaceX page on Facebook if you’re the man?” a user tweeted to Tesla Chief Executive Musk. His response: “I didn’t realize there was one. Will do.” (bit.ly/2pDcu3l)

Facebook pages of SpaceX and Tesla, which had millions of followers, are no longer accessible.

Musk had begun the exchange by responding to a tweet from WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton on the #deletefacebook tag.

The hashtag gained prominence after the world’s largest social network upset users by mishandling data, which ended up in the hands of Cambridge Analytica – a political consultancy that worked on U.S. President Donald Trump’s 2016 election campaign.


“What’s Facebook?” Musk tweeted.

Many users also urged the billionaire to delete the profiles of his companies on Facebook’s photo-sharing app Instagram.

“Instagram’s probably ok … so long as it stays fairly independent,” Musk responded.

“I don’t use FB & never have, so don’t think I’m some kind of martyr or my companies are taking a huge blow. Also, we don’t advertise or pay for endorsements, so … don’t care.”

Musk has had run-ins with Facebook Inc (FB.O) founder Mark Zuckerberg in the past.

Last year, a war of words broke out between Musk and Zuckerberg over whether robots will become smart enough to kill their human creators.

When Zuckerberg was asked about Musk’s views on the dangers of robots, he chided “naysayers” whose “doomsday scenarios” were “irresponsible.”

In response, Musk tweeted: “His understanding of the subject is limited.”

source: interaksyon.com

Tesla moves a step closer to building electric cars in China

BEIJING/DETROIT | Tesla Inc took a step closer toward establishing an electric vehicle manufacturing plant in China with its announcement on Thursday that it is in exploratory talks with the Shanghai municipal government.

Tesla has said it wants to build electric cars in China to avoid a 25-percent tariff on imported vehicles.

The company did not provide a timeline for setting up a China plant, but said it expects to “more clearly define” its China production plans by the end of the year.

Tesla shares closed up 1.7 percent at $382.61 in Thursday trading.

China’s central government requires foreign companies such as Tesla to have a Chinese partner in new auto manufacturing ventures, with the foreign company owning no more than 50 percent.

Tesla did not say which companies it might partner with, sparking rampant online speculation. At least three companies – Shanghai Electric Group Co, Shanghai Lingang Holdings Co and Tianjin Motor Dies Co – reported in exchange filings that they were not in touch with Tesla about its plans in response to media reports implicating them.

Much of the speculation has centered on Tencent Holdings Ltd, the internet giant that is China’s largest company. Earlier this year, Tencent acquired a five-percent stake in Tesla for $1.8 billion (1.4 billion pounds).

Tesla has not said which vehicles it plans to build in China. However, a supplier familiar with the company’s thinking said it was considering the Model 3 sedan and a crossover companion called Model Y. The Model 3 is slated to begin production in July at Tesla’s Fremont plant in California, with the Model Y tentatively scheduled to follow in mid-2019.

In a separate but related development, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said on Thursday he was concerned about Ford Motor Co’s announcement earlier this week that it will move some production of its Focus small car to China and import the vehicles to the United States.

“If it happened for reasons that are non-economic reasons, then I think the administration should take action,” Lighthizer told U.S. lawmakers.

Tesla is the most valuable U.S. automaker, with a market capitalization of more than $60 billion, but it has yet to turn an annual profit.

source: interaksyon.com