Elon Musk, the founder of Tesla Motors, will make an announcement on Monday, with various industry experts predicting it will have to do with improvements in the cars’ driver assistance abilities.
Musk fuelled speculation when he tweeted last weekend that Tesla would make a product announcement on October 17, “unexpected by most”.
MCT reports that Musk had previously hinted at an upcoming “quantum leap” in the cars’ controversial Autopilot driver assistance system, telling investors the next generation would “blow people’s minds”.
Analyst Karl Brauer from Kelley Blue Book said the most valuable announcement for Tesla’s shares would be one that would make its production goal of 500,000 vehicles a year more believable.
“That could be news that they’ve reached some sort of production-line breakthrough (to deal with ongoing delivery challenges) or that they’re ready to produce all their own batteries (at Tesla’s in-progress Gigafactory in the Nevada desert),” he said, according to MCX.
Over the weekend Reuters reported that Germany’s transport ministry requested the electric car maker stopped using “Autopilot” in advertisements, as this could lead to misunderstandings and endanger drivers.