Tesla gave up the EV crown. Now it wants to win the autonomy race.

Tesla hopes autonomy subscriptions can deliver the margins car sales cannot.

The short version

• Elon Musk’s “flying” Roadster jumped and flipped through the air this month in a stunt that went viral around the world.
• But his bigger bet is on changing the way Tesla makes money—and the wider car industry is scrambling to catch up.
• Five days after the spectacle, made possible by compressed-gas thrusters developed by Musk’s SpaceX, he revealed the companies were exploring a merger that could accelerate his push into autonomous driving.

What happened

At stake is more than a technological race. Car groups, already grappling with growing Chinese competition, are seeking to move beyond a business model centered on vehicle sales towards one that also generates recurring revenues from software and AI-powered services.

Why it matters

“Automakers are starting to look in the mirror and the software piece is what they are all looking at as the golden goose, because the margins are so high,” said Dan Ives, a tech analyst and partner at merchant bank Yorkville Ives.

Summary by Nerd News Network. Read the full article at Ars Technica via the links above and below.