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Fisker’s optimistic 2023 forecast “borderline ludicrous:” CFRA analyst

Credit: Fisker

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Electric vehicle maker Fisker opted to maintain its production forecast for the year. The update was received warmly by investors, as evidenced by Fisker stock rising 30.28% to $7.40 per share on Monday. However, some Wall Street analysts received Fisker’s forecast with skepticism, with CFRA Research analyst Garrett Nelson dubbing it “borderline ludicrous.” 

The past months have been very challenging for electric vehicle makers like Fisker. Even EV giant Tesla saw notable challenges last year amidst supply chain shortages and Covid-related shutdowns in China. As noted in an Automotive News report, some EV makers may now be facing waning demand amid rising interest rates and recession fears. 

Yet as per Fisker, the company is still looking to hit its 2023 production target of 42,400 vehicles with manufacturing partner Magna Steyr. This was despite some suppliers still facing headwinds. In a conference call, CEO Henrik Fisker told analysts that Magna was ready to produce 20 cars daily, with a “strong” ramp in Q2 2023. 

“Yes, we only made 56 cars since November last year, but that was on purpose. Today, and actually even last week, and weeks before, Magna can already make 20 cars a day on average. That’s 100 cars a week, already now. So the key here — the key takeaway is that when we are ramping up, specifically in Q2, we are going to have such a strong ramp that any units that may have been lost early on can easily be caught up later in the year. And that’s why we maintain our guidance of 42,400 vehicles for the year, extremely important note here,” Fisker said.

Wall Street analysts have responded to Fisker’s stance. Raymond James analyst Pavel Molchanov noted that the stock rise on Monday was a “classic example of a relief rally.” The analyst noted that there were also “some fears that the production startup of the SUV Ocean was getting delayed.” 

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CFRA Research analyst Garrett Nelson was more skeptical. He noted that Fisker’s 2023 target of 42,400 vehicles was “borderline ludicrous given the struggles of EV peers.” Nelson also highlighted that the target is extremely optimistic considering “Fisker’s production of 56 vehicles so far.”

Fisker also pointed out that its potential Tesla Model Y fighter, the Fisker Ocean, saw its reservations rise to over 65,000 as of February 24, 2023, an improvement from the 62,000 reservations the vehicle saw in October last year. 

If Fisker can pull off the Ocean, it could prove competitive in the EV sector. The Ocean is expected to start at $37,499, lower than industry leaders like the Tesla Model Y, which starts at $54,990 even with the company’s price cuts last January. Henrik Fisker, for his part, noted that the company’s pricing is bearing fruit. “We were well-priced from the beginning. That’s something that, I think, now is bearing fruit,” the CEO said. 

The Teslarati team would appreciate hearing from you. If you have any tips, contact me at maria@teslarati.com or via Twitter @Writer_01001101.

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Maria--aka "M"-- is an experienced writer and book editor. She's written about several topics including health, tech, and politics. As a book editor, she's worked with authors who write Sci-Fi, Romance, and Dark Fantasy. M loves hearing from TESLARATI readers. If you have any tips or article ideas, contact her at maria@teslarati.com or via X, @Writer_01001101.

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Tesla adds new feature that will be great for crowded parking situations

This is the most recent iteration of the app and was priming owners for the slowly-released Holiday Update.

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Credit: Grok

Tesla has added a new feature that will be great for crowded parking lots, congested parking garages, or other confusing times when you cannot seem to pinpoint where your car went.

Tesla has added a new Vehicle Locator feature to the Tesla App with App Update v4.51.5.

This is the most recent iteration of the app and was priming owners for the slowly-released Holiday Update.

While there are several new features, which we will reveal later in this article, perhaps one of the coolest is that of the Vehicle Locator, which will now point you in the direction of your car using a directional arrow on the home screen. This is similar to what Apple uses to find devices:

In real time, the arrow gives an accurate depiction of which direction you should walk in to find your car. This seems extremely helpful in large parking lots or unfamiliar shopping centers.

Getting to your car after a sporting event is an event all in itself; this feature will undoubtedly help with it:

Tesla’s previous app versions revealed the address at which you could locate your car, which was great if you parked on the street in a city setting. It was also possible to use the map within the app to locate your car.

However, this new feature gives a more definitive location for your car and helps with the navigation to it, instead of potentially walking randomly.

It also reveals the distance you are from your car, which is a big plus.

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Along with this new addition, Tesla added Photobooth features, Dog Mode Live Activity, Custom Wraps and Tints for Colorizer, and Dashcam Clip details.

All in all, this App update was pretty robust.

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Tesla CEO Elon Musk shades Waymo: ‘Never really had a chance’

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla CEO Elon Musk shaded Waymo in a post on X on Wednesday, stating the company “never really had a chance” and that it “will be obvious in hindsight.”

Tesla and Waymo are the two primary contributors to the self-driving efforts in the United States, with both operating driverless ride-hailing services in the country. Tesla does have a Safety Monitor present in its vehicles in Austin, Texas, and someone in the driver’s seat in its Bay Area operation.

Musk says the Austin operation will be completely void of any Safety Monitors by the end of the year.

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With the two companies being the main members of the driverless movement in the U.S., there is certainly a rivalry. The two have sparred back and forth with their geofences, or service areas, in both Austin and the Bay Area.

While that is a metric for comparison now, ultimately, it will not matter in the coming years, as the two companies will likely operate in a similar fashion.

Waymo has geared its business toward larger cities, and Tesla has said that its self-driving efforts will expand to every single one of its vehicles in any location globally. This is where the true difference between the two lies, along with the fact that Tesla uses its own vehicles, while Waymo has several models in its lineup from different manufacturers.

The two also have different ideas on how to solve self-driving, as Tesla uses a vision-only approach. Waymo relies on several things, including LiDAR, which Musk once called “a fool’s errand.”

This is where Tesla sets itself apart from the competition, and Musk highlighted the company’s position against Waymo.

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Jeff Dean, the Chief Scientist for Google DeepMind, said on X:

“I don’t think Tesla has anywhere near the volume of rider-only autonomous miles that Waymo has (96M for Waymo, as of today). The safety data is quite compelling for Waymo, as well.”

Musk replied:

“Waymo never really had a chance against Tesla. This will be obvious in hindsight.”

Tesla stands to have a much larger fleet of vehicles in the coming years if it chooses to activate Robotaxi services with all passenger vehicles. A simple Over-the-Air update will activate this capability, while Waymo would likely be confined to the vehicles it commissions as Robotaxis.

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Tesla supplier Samsung preps for AI5 production with latest move

According to a new report from Sedaily, Samsung is accelerating its preparation for U.S. production of the AI5 chips by hiring veteran engineers for its Customer Engineering team.

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla supplier Samsung is preparing to manufacture the AI5 chip, which will launch the company’s self-driving efforts even further, with its latest move.

According to a new report from Sedaily, Samsung is accelerating its preparation for U.S. production of the AI5 chips by hiring veteran engineers for its Customer Engineering team, which will help resolve complex foundry challenges, stabilize production and yields, and ensure manufacturing goes smoothly for the new project.

The hiring push signals that Tesla’s AI5 project is moving forward quickly at Samsung, which was one of two suppliers to win a contract order from the world’s leading EV maker.

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TSMC is the other. TSMC is using its 3nm process, reportedly, while Samsung will do a 2nm as a litmus test for the process.

The different versions are due to the fact that “they translate designs to physical form differently,” CEO Elon Musk said recently. The goal is for the two to operate identically, obviously, which is a challenge.

Some might remember Apple’s A9 “Chipgate” saga, which found that the chips differed in performance because of different manufacturers.

The AI5 chip is Tesla’s next-generation hardware chip for its self-driving program, but it will also contribute to the Optimus program and other AI-driven features in both vehicles and other projects. Currently, Tesla utilizes AI4, formerly known as HW4 or Hardware 4, in its vehicles.

Tesla teases new AI5 chip that will revolutionize self-driving

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AI5 is specialized for use by Tesla as it will work in conjunction with the company’s Neural Networks, focusing on real-time inference to make safe and logical decisions during operation.

Musk said it was an “amazing design” and an “immense jump” from Tesla’s current AI4 chip. It will be roughly 40 times faster, and have 8 times the raw compute, with 9 times the memory capacity. It is also expected to be three times as efficient per watt as AI4.

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AI5 will make its way into “maybe a small number of units” next year, Musk confirmed. However, it will not make its way to high-volume production until 2027. AI5 is not the last step, either, as Musk has already confirmed AI6 would likely enter production in mid-2028.

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