Elon Musk Talks Self-Driving, Batteries, Space, Neuralink, COVID-19 Vaccines, Bitcoin In Clubhouse Appearance

Tesla Inc TSLA CEO Elon Musk appeared on Clubhouse on early Monday morning and talked about a wide variety of subjects ranging from colonization of Mars to the latest on his companies.

On The Future of Tesla: The entrepreneur said that the automaker wants to make 20 million cars and trucks per year.  Musk touched on increasing the utility of vehicles equipped with full-self-driving technology — a familiar theme as he had talked about this at the company’s latest earnings. The CEO explained that cars equipped with FSD could be useful for 60 hours a week, while conventional cars are useful for only about 12-hours a week.

See Also: Elon Musk Says Tesla Valuation Justified If Utility Of Robotaxis Is Factored

“We are trying to grow car production as fast as possible. The primary limiting factor is battery cell production,” said Musk. 

The auto executive said Tesla was not trying to put the company’s battery partners out of business and said they were “great suppliers.” The executive named Panasonic, LG Chem, and others and stressed the need to increase production. 

Musk also said he had no antagonism towards LiDAR technology but thinks that when it comes to “driving on real-world” roads, you have to solve vision.

See also: How to Invest in Tesla Stock

On Space Exploration: The CEO admitted that going to Mars would be “hard” for the early explorers and would be akin to keeping the “candle of civilization alive in the dark.”

The CEO said there is no conclusive evidence to support the existence of aliens but did not deny the possibility of the existence of alien technology. 

Bitcoin and Dogecoin: Musk said that Bitcoin is on the verge of getting broad acceptance by “conventional finance people.” The executive said he jokes about Dogecoin and his jokes should be taken as such. 

“The most entertaining and ironic outcome would be if Dogecoin becomes the currency of Earth in the future,” said Musk, claiming he was a fan of ironic outcomes. 

See Also: Elon Musk Says 'I'm A Supporter Of Bitcoin'

On Vaccines and COVID-19: Musk touched upon the advances made in medicine, especially mRNA technology. He noted that vaccines for COVID-19 were developed using such tech. A company that he mentioned specifically in relation to this was Moderna Inc MRNA. He also noted that Moderna and Pfizer Inc PFE vaccines needed ultracold temperatures as they were MRNA-based.  Musk said there’s an “avalanche of vaccine” coming and the resultant glut would mean that some of it would have to be “thrown away this year.”

Neuralink: On Neuralink, Musk said that it was about staying “relevant.” The entrepreneur said people are already cyborgs and a direct neural interface would increase the bit-rate of communication between people and devices such as phones. Musk revealed that the earliest applications of Neuralink would be for people who are suffering from brain injuries.

Photo courtesy: Daniel Oberhaus via Flickr