Since it was shown in the last years that legacy car makers are perfectlh able to transition to EVs, regardless of market segment, I think we are approaching the point of realizing that both, EVs and ICEs and everything in between, are just cars. Meaning that purely EV makers should be compared to ICE makers. What that means for companies like Telsa is everyones guess, at the very least so it would just be fair to treat Tesla as a car maker and not some SV style tech company.
No they aren’t. Their sensor stack is handicapped and has literally murdered people. Sure they have “autonomous” cars in customer’s hands now, but that’s only because Musk is reckless, that doesn’t mean they are ahead. GM bought Cruise which I would say is definitely ahead of Tesla in their technology and ethics.
I don't write them off, by no means, even if I was sceptical a couple of years ago. Tesla will remain a car maker for sure.
Battery tech, so, is mostly Panasonic. And other are catching up. Esentially, there are ICE makers that don't have the best engines. And lately I sae mucj more, relative, innovation and transformation cing from the likes of VW than from Tesla.
They are starting to dry roll batteries, technology which no one has achieved before. And many other production innovations. And that was over a year ago.