Apple or Google should take over Tesla
Apple TV, itunes, and App Store into its automotives, literally turning its vehicles into icars. And it could replace its clunky operating system with macos. I am sure that all Tesla owners—such as me — would love to be able to download apps and music onto a console that’s more user friendly than Tesla’s present one.
Apple would bring its world-class manufacturing and inventory-management process to Tesla and create new types of automobiles, in different sizes and shapes — and at lower prices.
This would give it a second chance to wow markets it has largely lost, specifically India and China.
Google’s interests too coincide with Tesla’s. Google doesn’t have Apple’s manu- facturing capability, but its maps and selfdriving software are one or two notches above any other. Tesla’s mapping software is substandard, and its self-driving software can use a major upgrade. Google’s self-driving-car spinoff, Waymo, could focus on the software and let Google’s Tesla arm deal with the hardware.
Given that Morgan Stanley has just valued Waymo at $175 billion, Tesla’s $70 billion price would be a no-brainer, and the combination would be formidable.
Would Musk even entertain such an offer? Given that he reportedly turned down an offer from Google in 2013 and laughed off the idea of Apple’s buying Tesla in emails I exchanged with him in April 2014, and in an earnings call last year, it would seem very unlikely. Yet, having reached his personal limits and being close to burnout, as Musk has admitted; after seeing the disastrous impact of his tweet about having secured funding; and with Saudi Arabia offering investment in a competing startup, things may have changed.
I’ll bet that Musk would take an offer that solved his financial problems and gave him autonomy. With the headaches of funding and quarterly stock pressure taken away, the world’s greatest innovator would be free to develop world-changing ideas that transform entire industries, including automotive, energy, and space. That would be a winwin for Tesla — and for humanity.
Vivek Wadhwa is a Distinguished Fellow at Harvard Law School and Carnegie Mellon University at Silicon Valley. His forthcoming book, Your Happiness Was Hacked, explains how you how you can live a more balanced technology life. The views expressed are personal