Tesla’s secret weapon… The world’s biggest rideshare firm should be worried… How your car can earn you extra cash… In the mailbag: “Socialism is already here in the U.S.”…
Our mission at The Daily Cut is to put you ahead of the money-making trends shaping the market.
And one of the biggest trends we’ve been tracking for you is the electric vehicle revolution.
By now, most folks know dramatic changes are coming for the automobile… as electric engines replace gas guzzlers.
But that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
As you’ll learn in today’s dispatch… the real game changer will be what we do with our cars when we’re not using them.
This is not only going to radically redefine what it means to be a car owner. It could also drive a stake through the heart of the world’s biggest rideshare company, Uber.
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As we told you last Thursday, they’ll also come equipped with artificial intelligence (AI) systems.
They’ll be able to sense their surroundings… avoid collisions… use GPS to track their location and destination – and drive themselves.
These smart cars will drive you wherever you want to go. This will free you up to catch up on emails… read the newspaper… watch your favorite TV show… even catch up on some sleep.
That’s just step one.
Step two will happen when rideshare firms such as Uber and Lyft replace their fleets of human-driven gas guzzlers with networks of self-driving cars.
When you hail them in an app on your smartphone, these cars will drive themselves to you. Then they’ll whisk you off to where you want to go… without the need for a human driver behind the wheel.
In fact, the two companies are already testing out this technology.
As Jeff Brown has been telling readers of our tech investing flagship advisory, The Near Future Report, Tesla owners will soon be able to opt in to their own network of self-driving cars.
This will allow them to earn extra cash with their Tesla when they’re not using it.
And that’s going to be most of the day.
The average car owner uses his car for just 5% of the day. For the other 95% of the time, it’s parked. Here’s Jeff with more…
Imagine this… You arrive at work in your Tesla, get out of the car, then press a button on a smartphone application that instructs your Tesla to “join the fleet.” While you’re at work, your Tesla is out driving itself… giving rides, earning money… and returns back to your office at the end of your workday.
This turns your car into an income-producing asset. It will be out there generating extra cash for you every day.
This isn’t just some pie-in-the-sky idea. It’s fast becoming a reality.
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Three years ago, this startup out of Culver City, California, became the first rideshare service operated exclusively by Teslas in self-driving mode. (All Teslas come with full self-driving hardware.)
Tesloop started with a shuttle service between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. It then expanded to include routes across Southern California.
So far, it’s ferried its customers a total of 2.5 million miles. That’s an average of 17,000 miles per car, per month.
Tesloop is now launching a new app-based service called Carmiq.
It’s what Tesloop calls a “connected car network”… And it’s bringing to life the scenario Jeff described above.
You connect your Tesla Model S, Model X, or Model 3 to the network to earn credits for other rides.
And you earn cash when someone rents your car via the Carmiq app.
Why would Tesla let a third party profit from connecting idle Teslas with folks who want to use one?
It won’t. Instead, Jeff says it will launch its own Tesla rental service.
Want to get from A to B? Just hail a self-driving Tesla from an app on your smartphone.
Want to make some extra cash? Connect it to the network and rent it out while you’re in the office.
But this isn’t just great news for Tesla owners. It’s great news for Tesla shareholders, too.
Right now, Wall Street is valuing Tesla as the fastest-growing car company in the world. And according to Jeff, Tesla is growing at an impressive clip…
Tesla’s sales for 2017 came in at $11.7 billion. In 2018, it came in at $21.5 billion – an 83.4% increase. And in 2019, it’s estimated to bring in $28.3 billion – a 142% increase over 2017. Pretty incredible growth for a company of Tesla’s size.
But as Jeff’s been telling his Near Future Report readers, this misses what could be the biggest part of Tesla’s story…
That Tesla makes the most advanced cars in the world is almost secondary to me. The company’s real assets are its AI platform for self-driving – which is streets ahead of the competition – and its future network of shared autonomous vehicles.
Uber is still a private company. But it’s expected to go public this year at a valuation of $120 billion.
That would make it twice as valuable as Tesla, with a market value of almost $54 billion.
As we mentioned earlier, Uber has plans to switch to a self-driving fleet. This would help cut costs, as the company’s biggest line item is its drivers.
But Tesla could beat it to the punch. Here’s Jeff again with more…
Uber has about 750,000 drivers in the U.S. By the end of the year, I expect Tesla will have more of its cars connected to its own network in the U.S. than Uber has drivers.
Tesla will be able to launch a nationwide network of self-driving cars with a simple download of software. This will allow it to create a business worth tens of billions of dollars essentially overnight. No other company has this advantage. And for Tesla, it is hidden in plain sight.
It’s just one of many reasons why Jeff has been telling our paid-up Near Future Report subscribers that Tesla is on its way to becoming one of the most profitable tech companies in the world.
In fact, he believes its shares will be between 50% and 100% higher within the next three years.
Right now, Tesla is above Jeff’s buy-up-to price of $300. But he advises anyone interested in buying shares to take advantage of dips below that level.
Last Wednesday, we passed along this essay from Legacy Research cofounder Bill Bonner about newly elected Democratic Socialist Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. And today, the conversation turns back to the growing trend toward socialism in America…
I hate to break it to you, but socialism is already here in the U.S. and it’s not going anywhere.
Think Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, unsustainable pensions for government workers, etc. And nobody is going to vote for anyone who wants to reduce or eliminate those benefits.
Meanwhile, we’re living longer and longer which stresses the system more and more. And rather than raise taxes and not get re-elected, our politicians borrow more and more money and keep kicking the can down the road. It doesn’t take a genius to see this won’t end well!
– Bill T.
Socialism IS NOT a form of government, no more than Communism, Nazism, or Fascism. These are all economic systems, differentiated by the amount of control over the means of production.
Communism is total ownership. Socialism is total control and/or ownership of the major means of production. Nazism and Fascism control the major means of production while allowing varying degrees of private enterprise.
The form of government under each of these economic systems is an oligarchy (rule by the few) or a dictatorship, which is also an oligarchy.
And, by the way, they are all capitalistic systems. They all use capital. Our system WAS laissez-faire capitalism. Today, the “United States” government controls all the major means of production (and most of the minor means!).
– Greg D.
Meanwhile, a fresh take on the debate over pot legalization that’s been raging on in the mailbag…
It’s laughable to regard liberty as a license for vice. Ben Franklin is credited with: “Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.” Vice is corrupt. We can say, “Every man to himself, no harm, no foul” but that discounts the effect of a society whose idol is vice. It leads to needing mastering.
Liberty is only viable for people who make virtuous decisions – integrity and self-control. We will self-destruct if we are not virtuous and have no master.
– Kyle S.
Is America already a socialist country? Will it have a happy ending?
And what about Jeff’s bullish investment case for Tesla? Do you agree that it’s on its way to being the most profitable tech company in the world? Write us at feedback@legacyresearch.com.
Regards,
Chris Lowe
February 4, 2019
Delray Beach, Florida