U.S. President Joe Biden will visit with Indonesian President Joko Widodo this week, and reports say the two are expected to discuss a potential partnership on electric vehicle (EV) batteries.
In a Monday visit to the White House, Indonesian President Widodo, often colloquially referred to as Jokowi, is expected to discuss the potential for a battery minerals partnership with Joe Biden, according to three people familiar with the matter in a report to Reuters on Sunday.
Front and center at the meeting will be mutual hopes for a nickel supply partnership from Indonesia, though the Biden administration has expressed some concerns about a potential deal in the past.
According to one of the sources, the White House is addressing environmental, social and governance standard-related concerns in regard to a contract with Indonesia, and consultations with legal and labor experts are expected to occur in the weeks to come.
“There’s a lot of work to do before we are able to formally announce negotiations on a critical minerals partnership,” the source said.
Another one of the sources added that “the overall momentum is promising, but (we) don’t want to minimize the fact that there is a fair amount of work to be done here.”
In April, Indonesian minister Luhut Pandjaitan spoke about the country’s aim for a limited free trade agreement with the U.S. over crucial battery minerals like nickel. In September, Indonesia requested that the U.S. cover some of its exports in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) through a trade deal.
Indonesia is home to the world’s largest nickel reserves, and the majority of the country’s nickel is processed into crude metal, though the need for the metal in EV batteries is also growing as the world adopts battery-electric technology at increasing rates.
Global market value for nickel was estimated to have ballooned to $33.5 billion last year, although the current market is still oversupplied as the EV industry continues to emerge.
The country has also been in regular discussions with U.S. EV maker Tesla several times in the past about building an auto factory in the country, and it has reportedly offered incentives to other automakers, including the Chinese automaker BYD.
Tesla investment hope not yet abandoned by Indonesian President
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Investor's Corner
Tesla analyst says this common earnings narrative is losing importance
“Numbers are going down next year, but that’s ok because it’s all about autonomy.”
A Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) analyst is doubling down on the idea that one common earnings narrative is losing importance as the company continues to work toward new technologies and projects.
This week, Tesla will report earnings for the third quarter, and one thing people always pay attention to is deliveries. Although Tesla reveals its deliveries for the quarter well before it reports earnings, many investors will look for commentary regarding the company’s strategy for responding to the loss of the $7,500 tax credit.
Tesla has made a few moves already, including a lease deal that takes a substantial amount of money off, launching new Standard models, and cutting up to 23 percent off of lease pricing.
Tesla makes crazy move to spur short-term demand in the U.S.
However, analysts are looking at the company in a different light.
Aligning with the narrative that Tesla is not just a car company and has many different projects, Gene Munster of Deepwater Asset Management believes many investors need to look at another part of the business.
Munster said the delivery figures for Q3, which landed at 497,099, the highest in company history, were padded by customers rushing to showrooms to take advantage of the expiring tax credit.
He believes that deliveries will be more realistic in subsequent quarters, but investors should not worry because the focus on Tesla is not going to be on how many cars it hands over to customers:
“Numbers are going down next year, but that’s ok because it’s all about autonomy.”
Here’s the $TSLA preview. Numbers are going down next year, but that’s ok because it’s all about autonomy. pic.twitter.com/mUb9scFtCA
— Gene Munster (@munster_gene) October 17, 2025
Tesla has been working nonstop to roll out a dedicated Robotaxi platform in various cities across the United States, and has already launched in two states: Texas and California.
It has also received regulatory approvals to test driverless Robotaxis in Arizona and Nevada, while seeking permissions in Florida and other states, according to the company’s online job postings.
Munster continued:
“Most people are hyper-focused on the Robotaxi opportunity and not focused as much on FSD.”
While Robotaxi is incredibly important, Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (Supervised) suite is also extremely crucial moving forward, as it sets the stage for the company to roll out a formidable self-driving service.
Tesla rolled out its newest FSD software to more owners last night, and as it expands, the company is gaining valuable data to refine its performance.
Earnings will be reported tomorrow at market close.
News
Tesla rolled out a new feature with FSD v14 to fix a major complaint
One of the most crucial cameras for FSD operation is located at the top of the windshield, and some owners have complained about condensation or other debris accumulating here, which impacts FSD’s availability during drives.
Tesla rolled out a new feature with Full Self-Driving (Supervised) v14.1.3 in an effort to fix a major complaint from owners.
Tesla’s approach to self-driving is significantly different than other companies as it only relies on cameras for operation. Tesla Vision was launched several years ago and completely axed any reliance the suite had on sensors, as CEO Elon Musk’s strategy was unorthodox and went against the grain.
However, it has proven to be effective, as Tesla still operates the most refined semi-autonomous driving suite in the United States.
There are some drawbacks, though, and one of them has to do with the obvious: cameras get dirty and need to be cleaned somewhat regularly.
One of the most crucial cameras for FSD operation is located at the top of the windshield, and some owners have complained about condensation or other debris accumulating here, which impacts FSD’s availability during drives:
Image Credit: The Kilowatts/Twitter
Tesla has been working to confront this issue, and in classic fashion, it used a software update to work on resolving it.
With the rollout of Full Self-Driving v14.1.3 and Software Version 2025.32.8.15, Tesla added a new feature that aims to clean the front camera efficiently without relying on the owner to do it manually.
Tesla Full Self-Driving’s new version officially gets a wider rollout
In its release notes for the suite, it said:
“Added automatic narrow field washing to provide rapid and efficient front camera self-cleaning, and optimize aerodynamics wash at higher vehicle speed.”
If the camera starts to have some issues with visibility, the car will automatically clean the front windshield camera to avoid any issues:
Tonight was the first time I experienced the new @Tesla FSD V14 windshield wiper front camera self-cleaning feature.
Tesla: “Added automatic narrow field washing to provide rapid and efficient front camera self-cleaning, and optimize aerodynamics wash at higher speed.” pic.twitter.com/Pu0vRa3tDx
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) October 21, 2025
This new addition is a small but mighty change considering all things. It is a necessary process to keep things operational and avoid any disruptions in FSD performance. It is also a testament to how much better Tesla vehicles can get with a simple software update.
News
Tesla Full Self-Driving’s new version officially gets a wider rollout
So far, v14 has introduced a handful of new features and improvements, but the first versions needed refinement before Tesla made an effort to expand the population. It had issues with a brake stutter, but this has been mostly resolved.
Tesla’s newest Full Self-Driving version is officially rolling out wider to customers outside of the Early Access Program (EAP), in preparation for a total launch of the new v14 suite.
Over the past several weeks, Tesla has been working to refine its new v14 Full Self-Driving (Supervised) in an effort to have it ready for the entire fleet of vehicles in the United States. We are lucky enough to be in the EAP, so we’ve been able to test new features and rollouts first-hand.
So far, v14 has introduced a handful of new features and improvements, but the first versions needed refinement before Tesla made an effort to expand the population. It had issues with a brake stutter, but this has been mostly resolved.
Additionally, the rollout of the new Mad Max Speed Profile has gathered some attention.
🚨 Tesla “Mad Max” testing on FSD v14.1.2
It drives like a human being! Consistent lane changes, keeps up with quicker traffic, very refined
Well done Tesla Team pic.twitter.com/wzTucDhczA
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) October 19, 2025
Now that Tesla has started rolling out v14.1.3 yesterday to EAP members, the company ultimately decided that it was time to expand the software to more vehicles, as many owners are reporting that they’re receiving it:
We are SOOOO BACK!
v14.1.3 installing on my 2024 Model 3!@WholeMarsBlog pic.twitter.com/uNHOc9fyV8— Joseph (@ScarantinoX) October 20, 2025
Additionally, the suite has started to expand to Model S and Model X vehicles, so this rollout is not exclusive to Model 3 and Model Y:
I did over an hour of driving with FSD v14.1.3 in my Model S tonight and experienced 0 disengagements. First impressions video uploading shortly… pic.twitter.com/aFfmBphAsC
— Dan Burkland (@DBurkland) October 21, 2025
The only issue with this rollout is that it still appears to be missing the Cybertruck, which Tesla was transparent about earlier this month. Although the company planned to release v14 to Cybertrucks by the end of the month, there has been no hint that this is going to happen.
This is already the third iteration of v14 in the past two weeks, indicating that Tesla is truly addressing the shortcomings of past versions and rolling out updates as quickly as possible.
Tesla analyst says this common earnings narrative is losing importance
Tesla rolled out a new feature with FSD v14 to fix a major complaint
Tesla Full Self-Driving’s new version officially gets a wider rollout
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