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Getting more cars on the road would help Tesla maintain its dominant U.S. market share in "turbulent times" and give it access to precious usage data needed to train the artificial intelligence models behind its self-driving technology. The billionaire believes full self-driving (FSD) could one day account for most of Tesla's value and give it a cushion rivals lack as they try to turn their EV operations profitable. "They're not an AI play the way Microsoft or Nvidia is an AI play," said Thomas Martin, senior portfolio manager at Tesla shareholder Globalt Investments. "They're more of an AI play the way a regular business is an AI play, except that this race to full self-driving has always been an AI issue, and it's always been based on data. Wells Fargo analysts said FSD's adoption could be impeded by its price, which Musk said was low.

Persons: Elon, Musk, Tesla, Gene Munster, Lucy Nicholson, John Tomlinson, Thomas Martin, it's, Wells, Peter Henderson, Aditya Soni, Akash Sriram, Dhanya Ann Thoppil Organizations: Tesla, Deepwater Asset Management, REUTERS, Global, Research, Beta, Microsoft, Nvidia, Globalt Investments, Dojo, Thomson Locations: Los Angeles , California, U.S

SAN FRANCISCO, July 8 (Reuters) - Venture capital firm Headline used to be in one of San Francisco's most eye-catching skyscrapers: the pyramidal Transamerica building that has defined the skyline for decades. Venture capital firms are increasingly joining retailers and other businesses in finding homes outside downtown San Francisco. [1/5]People enjoy the afternoon in Presidio, a former military base-turned-national park in San Francisco California, U.S., July 7, 2023. They're actually really excited," said Eurie Kim, whose venture firm Forerunner left downtown for the Presidio in early 2022. "Mayor Breed continues to implement strategic initiatives to help stabilize existing businesses and recruit new ones as part of her Roadmap to Downtown San Francisco's Future plan.

Persons: Mathias Schilling, Schilling, Rex Salisbury, Carlos Barria, They're, Eurie Kim, CBRE, Lisa Petrie, Jon Rehagen, Molly Martell, San Francisco Mayor London Breed, Breed, Colin Yasukochi, Krystal Hu, Peter Henderson, Rosalba O'Brien Organizations: FRANCISCO, Venture, Employees, Presidio, Westfield, San, Felicis Ventures, Forerunner Ventures, Letterman, Cambrian Venture, San Francisco Bay Area, REUTERS, Presidio Trust, Lucasfilm, Walt Disney Family Museum, Catalyst, Brand, San Francisco Mayor London, Downtown San, CBRE's Tech, Thomson Locations: San Francisco, Presidio, San Francisco Bay, San Francisco's, There's, Sand, Silicon Valley, South, downtown San Francisco, San Francisco California, U.S, Marin, San Francisco ., South Park, Downtown

SAN FRANCISCO, June 30 (Reuters) - Tesla (TSLA.O) is set to report record vehicle deliveries, after the top electric vehicle maker increased discounts and other incentives to boost sales in the face of economic uncertainty and rising competition. Tesla is expected as early as this weekend to report global deliveries of 445,000 vehicles in April to June, according to the average estimates of nine analysts by Refinitiv. Tesla CEO Elon Musk's plan to sharply increase sales this year faces challenges from aging and limited product line-ups as competition intensifies especially in China, and demand softens. It has avoided major price cuts in the past couple of months but has increased discounts, another form of sales incentive. Tesla is set to increase China sales by 13% from the previous quarter to a record number of vehicles, according to an analyst.

Persons: Tesla, Elon Musk's, Graphics Tesla, Thomas Martin, Goldman Sachs, Hyunjoo Jin, Akash Sriram, Joseph White, Zoey Zhang, Peter Henderson, Matthew Lewis Organizations: FRANCISCO, Refinitiv, Graphics, Reuters, Globalt Investments, Thomson Locations: China, United States, Supercharging, Europe, Berlin, San Francisco, Bengaluru, Detroit, Shanghai

June 27 (Reuters) - Tesla's (TSLA.O) electric-vehicle charging technology is being put on a fast track to become a North American standard, giving a further boost to the automaker's plan to expand access to its once-exclusive chargers. Tesla's charging technology has been gathering momentum for weeks. Volvo Car (VOLCARb.ST) on Tuesday joined General Motors (GM.N), Ford (F.N) and Rivian (RIVN.O) in embracing Tesla's charging design, shunning earlier efforts by the Biden administration to make the Combined Charging System (CCS) the dominant charging standard in the United States. Tesla calls its technology "the North American Charging Standard (NACS)," but it has yet to be approved as a standard by SAE International. Building out the public charging network will require between $33 billion and $55 billion of cumulative public and private capital investment, according to the NREL study.

Persons: Biden, Tesla, Frank Menchaca, It's, Ali Zaidi, Hyunjoo Jin, Trevor Hunnicutt, Peter Henderson, Matthew Lewis Organizations: Volvo, Tuesday, General Motors, Ford, SAE, GM, Sustainable Mobility, SAE International, Reuters, American, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Biden, White, CCS, Thomson Locations: American, United States, Texas, Washington, San Francisco

☆ Tesla charging technology put on fast track to become US industry standard
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

June 27 (Reuters) - Tesla's (TSLA.O) electric-vehicle charging technology is being put on a fast track to become a U.S. standard, the automotive industry group of engineers that reviews standards said on Tuesday. Tesla's NACS standard has been gathering momentum for weeks. General Motors (GM.N) and Ford (F.N) have said they would embrace Tesla's NACS, shunning earlier efforts by the Biden administration to make the Combined Charging System (CCS) the dominant charging standard in the United States. On Tuesday the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) said it would start an expedited process to review NACS as a potential public standard. "The new SAE NACS connector standard will be developed on an expedited timeframe and is one of several key initiatives to strengthen the North American EV charging infrastructure," the engineers group said in a statement.

Persons: Tesla's, Biden, Hyunjoo Jin, Peter Henderson, Matthew Lewis Organizations: General Motors, Ford, of Automotive Engineers, SAE, North, Thomson Locations: U.S, United States, San Francisco

☆ Washington state plans to mandate Tesla's charging plug -official
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-26 | by ( Jarrett Renshaw | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

June 23 (Reuters) - Washington state plans to require electric vehicle charging companies to include Tesla's plug if they want to be part of a state program to electrify highways using federal dollars, an official told Reuters on Thursday. Washington follows the move by Texas to mandate Tesla's technology, The North American Charging Standard (NACS), adding momentum to CEO Elon Musk's hope of making it the national charging technology. GM (GM.N), Ford (F.N) and Rivan (RIVN.O) have said they would embrace Tesla's NACS, shunning efforts by the Biden administration to make the Combined Charging System (CCS) the dominant charging standard in the United States. Buell said state officials are still trying to determine the right mix of NACS chargers based on current federal requirements. The plan by Washington may add pressure on other states and the federal government to adopt Tesla's NACS.

Persons: Elon Musk's, Tesla's, Biden, I’m, Tonia Buell, Kris Rietmann Abrudan, Buell, Jarrett Renshaw, Hyunjoo Jin, Peter Henderson, Daniel Wallis, Jamie Freed Organizations: Reuters, GM, Ford, Washington state's Department of Transportation, Washington State Department of Transportation, Thomson Locations: Washington, . Washington, Texas, United States

☆ Exclusive: Washington state plans to mandate Tesla's charging plug
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-23 | by ( Jarrett Renshaw | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

June 23 (Reuters) - Washington state plans to require electric vehicle charging companies to include Tesla's plug if they want to be part of a state program to electrify highways using federal dollars, an official told Reuters on Thursday. Washington follows the move by Texas to mandate Tesla's technology, The North American Charging Standard (NACS), adding momentum to CEO Elon Musk's hope of making it the national charging technology. GM (GM.N), Ford (F.N) and Rivan (RIVN.O) have said they would embrace Tesla's NACS, shunning efforts by the Biden administration to make the Combined Charging System (CCS) the dominant charging standard in the United States. We want to provide access to as many makes and models as possible," said Tonia Buell, alternative fuels program manager at Washington state's Department of Transportation. The plan by Washington may add pressure on other states and the federal government to adopt Tesla's NACS.

Persons: Elon Musk's, Tesla's, Biden, I’m, Tonia Buell, Buell, Jarrett Renshaw, Hyunjoo Jin, Peter Henderson, Daniel Wallis Organizations: Reuters, GM, Ford, Washington state's Department of Transportation, Thomson Locations: Washington, . Washington, Texas, United States

☆ Exclusive: Tesla standard: BTC Power joins move to add to EV chargers
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-20 | by ( Abhirup Roy | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SAN FRANCISCO, June 20 (Reuters) - BTC Power will add Tesla's (TSLA.O) standard to its electric vehicle chargers next year, its chief executive told Reuters on Tuesday, days after Ford (F.N) and General Motors (GM.N) sent shockwaves through the industry by adopting the technology. Privately-owned BTC, a supplier to 7-Eleven and fleet operators, is the fourth major fast charger maker to embrace Tesla's standard, following ABB E-mobility North America (ABBN.S), Tritium DCFC (DCFC.O), and SK Signet (260870.KN). "By including the NACS (North American Charging Standard) connector to our chargers we can eliminate the need for unreliable and unpredictable adapters that are being utilized by drivers using our equipment," BTC CEO Frank Meza said. Reuters first reported on Tuesday that electric pickup maker Rivian (RIVN.O) would adopt Tesla's charging standard. Reporting by Abhirup Roy in San Francisco; Editing by Peter Henderson and Alexander SmithOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Frank Meza, Elon Musk's, Biden, Rivian, Abhirup Roy, Peter Henderson, Alexander Smith Organizations: FRANCISCO, BTC, Reuters, Ford, General Motors, ABB, America, SK Signet, EV, Detroit automakers, Tesla, Thomson Locations: Santa Ana , California, America, San Francisco

June 9 (Reuters) - The White House on Friday said electric-vehicle charging stations using Tesla (TSLA.O) standard plugs would be eligible for billions of dollars in federal subsidies as long as they included the U.S. charging standard connection, CCS, as well. The statement follows separate announcements by U.S. automakers Ford Motor (F.N) and General Motors (GM.N) that they were adopting the Tesla model of charging, known as the North American Charging Standard (NACS). Tesla shares rose 4.1%. Some of them said on Friday that they would work to adapt to the Tesla standard. [1/2] Tesla charging stations are pictured in a parking lot in Shanghai, China March 13, 2021.

Persons: Biden, Tesla, Robyn Patterson, Patterson, Tesla's, Oleg Logvinov, Aly, Logvinov, Sam Houston, Danni Hewson, AJ Bell, Blink, Jonathan Levy, We've, They've, Asaf Nagler, ChargePoint, Jarrett Renshaw, Abhirup Roy, Hyunjoo Jin, Chavi Mehta, Bhanvi, Sayantani Ghosh, David Gaffen, Peter Henderson, Matthew Lewis Organizations: U.S, Ford Motor, General Motors, American, CCS, Analysts, Ford, GM, EV, Reuters, Volkswagen, Hyundai Motor, Kia, IoTecha, REUTERS, CharIN, Union of Concerned, Tesla, ABB, America, Thomson Locations: United States, Shanghai, China, CharIN North America, Swiss, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Bengaluru

☆ White House welcomes Tesla to take advantage of federal dollars
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-09 | by ( Jarrett Renshaw | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

June 9 (Reuters) - The White House on Friday said electric-vehicle charging stations using Tesla (TSLA.O) standard plugs would be eligible for billions of dollars in federal subsidies as long as they included the U.S. charging standard connection, CCS, as well. Tesla shares rose as much as 7.5% on Friday but pared gains to close 4.1% higher at $244.40. Analysts said the Ford and GM news was a big win that could make Tesla Superchargers an industry standard in the United States. GM and Ford shares closed up 1.1% and 1.3%, respectively. Musk on Friday said in a tweet it would be "ideal" for Tesla chargers to need only CCS adapters to meet federal charging standards.

Persons: Biden, Tesla, Robyn Patterson, Patterson, Tesla's, Sam Houston, Danni Hewson, AJ Bell, Blink, Jonathan Levy, ChargePoint, Musk, Jarrett Renshaw, Hyunjoo Jin, Abhirup Roy, Chavi Mehta, Bhanvi, Sayantani Ghosh, David Gaffen, Peter Henderson, Matthew Lewis Organizations: U.S, Ford Motor, General Motors, American, CCS, Ford, GM, EV, Reuters, Volkswagen, Hyundai Motor, Kia, Union of Concerned, Tesla, Elon, Thomson Locations: United States, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Bengaluru

☆ Apple to sell Vision Pro AR headset for triple Meta's top-line price
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-05 | by ( Stephen Nellis | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

[1/4] People use cameras as Apple's Vision Pro headsets are on display at Apple's annual Worldwide Developers Conference at the company's headquarters in Cupertino, California, U.S. June 5, 2023. Apple's headset will be available early next year in the U.S. with more countries coming later in 2024. The Vision Pro has two hours of use with an external battery, which Apple said would reduce the weight on the user's head. Investors and tech fans alike are focused on how much Apple's view of the virtual reality market overlaps with Meta's. In addition to Meta, Sony Group Corp (6758.T) and ByteDance-owned Pico both recently released virtual reality devices.

Persons: Loren Elliott CUPERTINO, Apple, Alan Dye, Tim Cook, Walt Disney's, Mark Zuckerberg, there's, John Ternus, Apple's, Craig Federighi, Stephen Nellis, Yuvraj Malik, Dawn Chmielewski, Katie Paul, Peter Henderson, Aditya Soni, Lisa Shumaker Organizations: Developers, REUTERS, Apple Inc, Pro, Apple, Vision, Reuters, Adobe, Microsoft, Unity, Meta, Sony Group Corp, Pico, Research, IDC, Mac Pro, Mac, Intel, Thomson Locations: Cupertino , California, U.S, Loren Elliott CUPERTINO , California, Bengaluru, Dawn, Los Angeles, New York

☆ In challenge to Meta, Apple expected to unveil mixed-reality headset
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-02 | by ( Stephen Nellis | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

"Meta and Apple are competing with each other. The difference is that Meta is doing it publicly, while Apple is doing it privately," said Anshel Sag, principal analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy. Analysts say that the Apple device, which Bloomberg has reported could cost near $3,000 and look like a pair of ski goggles, is a place holder of sorts. While Meta has products on the market, Apple has major advantages in defining the emerging field among software developers, said Jitesh Ubrani, a research manager who tracks the XR market at IDC. "And Apple is in a much better position to give you an experience that works across devices than Meta is."

Persons: Tim Cook, Mark Zuckerberg, Zuckerberg, Greg Joswiak, iPhones, Sag, Ben Bajarin, Meta, Jitesh Ubrani, Ubrani, Stephen Nellis, Peter Henderson, Matthew Lewis Organizations: FRANCISCO, Apple Inc, Apple, Worldwide Developers, Meta, Moor, Strategy, Analysts, Bloomberg, Sony Group Corp, Quest, Creative, IDC, San, Thomson Locations: California, Cupertino , California, Silicon Valley, San Francisco

☆ EV maker Rivian takes bold bet with higher-priced vehicles amid heating competition
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-11 | by ( Abhirup Roy | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

"We see demand from customers for what we're building" Rivian CEO R.J. Scaringe told Reuters on Wednesday. Rivian is confident of maintaining prices in the face of growing competition, he said, adding that extra-large batteries, better performance and premium features would distinguish the company from rivals. Any immediate impact on Rivian's demand will be difficult to gauge as the company, along with rival Lucid, stopped disclosing current orders in a move that has concerned analysts. "You'll absolutely see prices come down when they're able to have more economies of scale and when there's more competition. Reporting by Abhirup Roy in San Francisco; Editing by Peter Henderson and Jamie FreedOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Apple beats revenue, profit estimate on iPhone sales growth
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Stephen Nellis | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Profit was flat at $1.52 per share, compared with estimates of a 5.7% fall to $1.43 per share, according to Refinitiv data. IPhone sales rose 1.5% to $51.33 billion, compared with analyst expectations of a 3.3% decline to $48.9 billion, according to Refinitiv. Mac sales fell more than 30% to $7.17 billion compared with analyst estimates of a 25% decline to $7.8 billion, according to Refinitiv. Apple's sales fared only slightly better than PC unit shipments in the market, which fell 33% in the calendar first quarter, according to Canalys data. Both were roughly the same as the 23 cents-per-share dividend and previous $90 billion share repurchase increase the company announced a year ago.

But Nvidia has created variants of its chips for the Chinese market that are slowed down to meet U.S. rules. Even the slowed Nvidia chips represent an improvement for Chinese firms. The back-and-forth between government and industry exposes the U.S. challenge of slowing China's progress in high tech without hurting U.S. companies. Chip industry sources said that was an effective action. Some in the AI industry believe that is still plenty of speed.

Google used the term 52 times on its first-quarter call on Tuesday, up from 45 in the fourth quarter. Both companies said AI was already juicing sales, but neither said when or if they would start breaking out any sales, costs, or profits from the technology. Bing has lagged Google search for decades but Nadella said that Bing downloads had jumped since the addition of AI features and now had 100 million daily users. Toyama said Google already used AI to monetize their search algorithms and he did not expect AI advances from its rivals to be as much of a threat as some thought. Meta, which has admitted it is playing catch-up in AI, has published an AI model that can pick out individual objects from within an image.

[1/2] A Tesla Model 3 vehicle drives on autopilot along the 405 highway in Westminster, California, U.S., March 16, 2022. Tesla denied liability for the accident and said in a court filing that Hsu used Autopilot on city streets, despite a user manual warning against doing so. "This case should be a wakeup call to Tesla owners: they can't over-rely on Autopilot, and they really need to be ready to take control and Tesla is not a self-driving system," he said. The Hsu trial unfolded in Los Angeles Superior Court over three weeks, with testimony from three Tesla engineers. The main question in Autopilot cases was who is responsible for an accident while a car is in driver-assistant Autopilot mode - a human driver, the machine, or both?

After the verdict on Friday, juror Mitchell Vasseur, 63, told Reuters that he and his fellow jurors felt badly for Hsu, but ultimately determined that Autopilot was not at fault. Jury foreperson Olivia Apsher, 31, said the Autopilot system reminds drivers when they are not adequately taking control. "There are audible warnings and visual warnings both for the driver, indicating that it is your responsibility." The trial unfolded in Los Angeles Superior Court over three weeks and featured testimony from three Tesla engineers. Reporting by Abhirup Roy in Los Angeles, and Dan Levine and Hyun Joo Jin in San Francisco Editing by Peter Henderson and Matthew LewisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

[1/2] A Tesla Model 3 vehicle drives on autopilot along the 405 highway in Westminster, California, U.S., March 16, 2022. It said in a court filing that Hsu used Autopilot on city streets, despite Tesla's user manual warning against doing so. The main question in Autopilot cases is who is responsible for an accident while a car was in driver-assistant Autopilot mode - a human driver, the machine, or both? That executive, Ashok Elluswamy, director of Autopilot software at Tesla, testified during the Hsu trial last week about the videotape. Also at issue in the Hsu trial is the airbag.

Revenue and earnings for the first quarter came in roughly in line with the average analyst estimates from Refinitiv. Shares of Netflix dropped as much as 11% in after-hours trade following the report but recovered to gain 1.4%. From January through March, Netflix added 1.75 million streaming subscribers, missing analyst estimates of 2.06 million additions. The clampdown on password sharing will begin in the United States during the current quarter, Netflix said. UBS media analyst John Hodulik wrote that the password- sharing crackdown could well fuel Netflix's nascent advertising business, as it drives these "sharers" to the lower-priced version of the service.

Revenue and earnings for the first quarter, revealed in an earnings report on Tuesday, came in roughly in line with Wall Street expectations, according to analyst estimates from Refinitiv. From January through March, Netflix added 1.75 million streaming subscribers, missing analyst estimates of 2.06 million additions. Wall Street had been projecting $8.476 billion for revenue and $3.05 for diluted EPS. The company has said 100 million households are sharing passwords, including about 30 million households in the U.S. and Canada. If Netflix could convert 100% of those password-sharers, that would generate $4.4 billion in incremental revenue, according to MoffettNathanson estimates.

☆ Porn on Amazon's Kindle app prompts warnings from Apple, Alphabet
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Greg Bensinger | Thomson Reuters | Greg Bensinger Joined Reuters As A Technology Correspondent In Focusing On The World'S Largest Technology Companies. He Was Previously A Member Of The New York Times Editorial Board | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

Reuters learned of the issue when two families told Reuters their pre-teen sons downloaded the explicit material via Amazon's Kindle Unlimited e-book subscription service and viewed the full-color photographs on the Kindle iPhone app. Pornography also is available through Amazon's Kindle online store and viewable on versions of the Kindle app. The adult material at issue is primarily self-published through Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing arm. The Apple app store’s guidelines “prohibit apps dedicated to portraying overtly sexual or pornographic material,” the company said in a statement. As of Monday, adult materials were still accessible on Kindle and Kindle Unlimited via the iOS and Android apps.

[1/4] A view of a computer-rendered image of Climeworks' Mammoth direct air capture plant is seen in this undated handout picture obtained by Reuters, June 28, 2022. Leading the charge, the U.S. government has offered $3.5 billion in grants to build the factories that will capture and permanently store the gas - the largest such effort globally to help halt climate change through Direct Air Capture (DAC) and expanded a tax credit to $180/tonne to bolster the burgeoning technology. The sums involved dwarf funding available in other regions, such as Britain which has pledged up to 100 million pounds ($124 million) for DAC research and development. That compares with $12 billion in federal spending to drive demand for personal and commercial electric vehicles, Boston Consulting Group estimated. Occidental Petroleum has said it is well positioned for federal grants for what could be the biggest Direct Air Capture plants in the world.

Some are turning to startups who are pivoting to using powerful chips to run quantum-inspired software on regular computers as they bide their time. In the past 18 months, quantum software startups including SandBoxAQ - an Alphabet spinoff - raised about $1 billion, according to data firm PitchBook. Ultimately, the software inspired by quantum physics won't perform well on quantum computers without some changes, said William Hurley, boss of Austin-based quantum software startup Strangeworks. Still, he said companies that start using them will have engineers "learning about quantum and the phenomenon and the process, which will better prepare them to use quantum computers at the point that they do so." Strangeworks, which also operates a cloud with over 60 quantum computers on it, raised $24 million last month from investors including IBM (IBM.N).

[1/2] The sun sets on the U.S. Supreme Court building after a stormy day in Washington, U.S., November 11, 2022. REUTERS/Leah MillisApril 14 (Reuters) - New court-imposed restrictions on the abortion pill mifepristone could cut off access to the drug entirely for months, the Biden administration and the drug's distributor, Danco Laboratories, said in petitions asking the U.S. Supreme Court to lift the curbs. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday will require a new approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and new labeling, they said. Danco, whose sole product is the abortion pill, said that if the Supreme Court does not act, it may have to halt its operations. Some Democratic-led states have said that they have taken steps to stockpile mifepristone in case it becomes unavailable.

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