At least, wouldn’t they be able to pick and choose certain items to copy and innovate on in order to save some portion of RnD costs?
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First off, Tesla’s patents are still owned by Tesla. If they choose to do so, they could pursue legal action against someone using their patents.
If you don’t want that legal action taken against you, you have to sign the [Tesla Patent Pledge.](https://www.tesla.com/legal/additional-resources#patent-pledge) There is a part of this pledge that is concerning for a company that I’ll bold:
>A party is “acting in good faith” for so long as such party and its related or affiliated companies have not:
>**asserted, helped others assert or had a financial stake in any assertion of (i) any patent or other intellectual property right against Tesla** or (ii) any patent right against a third party for its use of technologies relating to electric vehicles or related equipment
The bolded part means that by using Tesla’s patents, you can’t prevent them from using any patents you register. That essentially means that in return for Tesla’s patents, they get all of yours. That’s a tradeoff that a LOT of companies are not willing to make.
Nothing. That’s (ostensibly) the point. Musk didn’t want to stifle the technology. He wants the major firms to be able to make these cars for the betterment of the world (again, ostensibly).
Note: As the first commenter pointed out, Tesla could still sue; they still have the rights, but they’ve said they won’t pursue lawsuits against those who use the tech “in good faith”. So my “nothing” isn’t exactly correct. They’ve just claimed they won’t enforce it.
Edit: I curious why I’m being downvoted? I only gave the reason Elon gave for being open source. Am I wrong? Or do people just hate Elon so much they have to downvote people who repeat things he said? I never meant to claim the above as fact; only that it was what he claimed.
tesla is tech company not a car company, they have to much users data ,that is what car companies can’t get
Tesla has some open-source software that is legitimately open-source, but that’s marginally of value. Nothing stops anyone from using it, but everyone has some custom Linux stack that they think fits their specific needs better.
Tesla also makes all their other stuff free to use (including their patents), but with the provision that you never sue them for patent infringement. No company (almost none) wants that deal.
That said, Tesla welcomes negotiation for other license terms, and companies apparently have negotiated to use this and that under different terms.
Their most valuable tech is most certainly NOT open source. Only their Linux subsystems are.
The legalese and the fact that you can’t beat Tesla at being Tesla, but you can beat Tesla as a car company.
There is a lot of EV owners where I work, and we debate all day long on who has the best car. But every car has its pro’s and cons.
For example, Model3’s lose more range in winter than Hyundai Kona’s or Chevy Bolts, but can outrun both of them easily. Tesla’s Superchargers charge fast, but there is a lot less of them in Quebec than SAE Combo chargers….etc etc etc.
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