4 ms·

I don't understand. Why license it out? Isn't this like the iPhone?

• jlgreco 14y ago
  All those other car companies? They are the ones with the brands and the cars people want. They are the iphones in this situation. Sure, if you're pushing a new powertrain you can do okay making one or two of your own cars (which will take years) and you can shortcut the time to build up a brandname to a degree by being exclusive, but none of that effort is warranted because this technology does not require that sort of vertical integration. If your competency is not making cars but rather automated cars, why would you want to get into the business of making cars?
  • logn 14y ago
    Google has loads of money. They can buy a car company. Tesla has a $4B market cap. Or they could invest significantly in a car company. Or they can strike exclusive agreements.
    • jlgreco 14y ago
      Google can buy a lot of different companies. But why would they want to?
    • dagw 14y ago
      Why deal with the hassle of actually owning a car company and factories and all the related problems of actually building things. Also what does Google gain by offering an exclusive agreement to a nice car maker? Wouldn't it be better to offer the tech to everybody, sit back, focus on R&D and take a percentage of every sale made while let them deal with all the problems of actually building and selling cars.