Photo: Original photo by autoevolution
This might come as a pretty surprising bit of news for most of the automotive industry, but the Palo Alto-based EV manufacturer recently hinted that the company may giveaway its patents sometime in the future to facilitate electric vehicle development.
Don't think for a moment that this is just a far-fetched speculation. In a recent interview with the BBC's Theo Leggett, Elon Musk responded with a convincing "You're on the right track," when asked if he's planning to give technology away freely.
Musk further declared: "We're trying to figure out how to accelerate the advent of electric cars and to the degree that we create technological barriers for them, it's not going to happen. We don't want to cut a path through the jungle and then lay a bunch of landmines behind us."
The Tesla CEO offered cryptic messages about breaking down technological barriers a number of times before, but this is the most straight statement yet. As if that wasn't enough evidence to support the carmaker's intentions, Musk declared at the annual shareholder meeting that Tesla "was playing with doing something fairly significant on this front which would be kind of controversial with respect to Tesla's patents."
Let's presume that sometime in the near future Tesla will limit its patents to a 5-year long cycle. If that happens, we can think of a couple of possible scenarios: this Good Samaritan way of offering technological insights for free will backfire on the company's sales volume while electric vehicle research will kick into overdrive.
This is a pretty risky move coming from a carmaker getting closer to the prime of its life. Although Tesla deserves a big round of applause if this actually happens, the Palo Alto-based company is prone to meet its end sooner than expected by giving away patents and having no proprietary claim over drivetrain and related technologies.
Musk further declared: "We're trying to figure out how to accelerate the advent of electric cars and to the degree that we create technological barriers for them, it's not going to happen. We don't want to cut a path through the jungle and then lay a bunch of landmines behind us."
The Tesla CEO offered cryptic messages about breaking down technological barriers a number of times before, but this is the most straight statement yet. As if that wasn't enough evidence to support the carmaker's intentions, Musk declared at the annual shareholder meeting that Tesla "was playing with doing something fairly significant on this front which would be kind of controversial with respect to Tesla's patents."
Let's presume that sometime in the near future Tesla will limit its patents to a 5-year long cycle. If that happens, we can think of a couple of possible scenarios: this Good Samaritan way of offering technological insights for free will backfire on the company's sales volume while electric vehicle research will kick into overdrive.
This is a pretty risky move coming from a carmaker getting closer to the prime of its life. Although Tesla deserves a big round of applause if this actually happens, the Palo Alto-based company is prone to meet its end sooner than expected by giving away patents and having no proprietary claim over drivetrain and related technologies.
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