Autopilot tech supplier fears Tesla is pushing safety envelope too far

The chief technology officer of a technology supplier that enables Tesla’s semi-autonomous Autopilot driving technology believes the carmaker is pushing the safety envelope too far.

“It is not designed to cover all possible crash situations in a safe manner,” Amnon Shashua, CTO and executive chairman at Israel-based Mobileye NV, told Reuters Wednesday.

Shashua’s comments came the same day a second fatal accident was revealed through a lawsuit filed against Tesla by the father of a man allegedly driving a Model S with the Autopilot engaged.

Solar Energy Faces a Rocky Road Ahead

The takeaway from the last 10 months in the solar industry should be that the long-term picture is bright, but there’ll be a lot of bumps along the way. Right now, the bumps will be in utility-scale solar and changing trends in the residential solar market. But by 2019 the market will be back to growth across the board.

Investors will want to stick to solar companies with solid balance sheets and technology differentiation. Long term, those are the companies that are going to win, even if it takes a few more years to sort out the industry’s winners and losers.

SolarCity Raises $305 Million, but There’s a Catch

There are a couple of implications from the new financing announcement. One is that SolarCity’s funding costs are getting higher over time, meaning it’s generating less value for investors. Another is that it’s selling most of the cash flows it will get from customers, meaning there’s less and less upside potential in the future.

The flip side is that SolarCity has been able to get funding for its projects, keeping the company’s operations afloat for now. That’s a positive as SolarCity attempts to be bought out by Tesla Motors and transitions its business from financing leases and power purchase agreements to selling solar systems to customers with third-party financed loans.

The final point may be most important for those looking at the company today. If SolarCity can transition to cash sales or loans, it will generate up-front cash, lessening its reliance on financing transactions. If that’s the case, today’s rising financing costs won’t matter nearly as much as they would otherwise. But that’s a lot for a company like SolarCity to juggle, especially in the middle of a buyout process.

2 Reasons SolarCity May Be Headed for a Power Failure

“SolarCity is in dire need of cash. It’s already gotten two bridge loans from Tesla and it needs this deal to go through,” said Gordon Johnson, an Axiom senior analyst, told Real Money this week. Axiom, in its June 28 report on SolarCity, estimated the company wasquickly burning through its cash and would likely fall to near zero, or $1.4 million, by the fourth quarter. As a result, some Wall Street watchers have been whispering the “bankruptcy” word as it relates to SolarCity.

This shows why Tesla-SolarCity is a ‘crazy’ merger, Jim Chanos says

Jim Chanos called Tesla Motors’ proposed merger with SolarCity”crazy” and “the height of folly” while outlining his short positions in the stocks on Tuesday.

The short-seller from Kynikos Associates estimated the combined company would burn through $1 billion per quarter and “constantly need access to capital markets.” He described SolarCity’s business model as “just plain uneconomic.”

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