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Tesla Q4 2019 earnings call: 'Full Self-Driving', battery day and insurance discounts

It looks like Full Self-Driving is still a ways off, but a Tesla battery tech day isn't.

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Tesla's got big plans for 2020 including taking production for Models 3 and Y global.

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Another quarterly earnings call has come and gone, and from it, we've learned a few things. Namely that there's still a ways to go until "Full Self-Driving" is realized and that Tesla owners will be able to take advantage of using their vehicles for Tesla ridesharing even before the robotaxi fleet gets off the ground.

According to Elon Musk , Tesla's Full Self-Driving system is just months away from being feature complete. What does feature-complete mean? Well, it's not as exciting as it might sound. According to Musk's definition, a feature-complete FSD system would have a non-zero chance of getting you from your home to your place of business without intervention.

If that takes the wind out of your sails, metaphorically speaking, then we apologize, but it's almost refreshing to hear Musk talk about autonomy in such grounded terms. When it comes to Autopilot as a whole, we also found out that eventually, Tesla insurance policyholders will receive a discount based on how often they use the system. Musk cites this as making sense because the company will receive nearly real-time updates about a driver's habits, allowing more accurate actuarial tables.

The other significant bit of news was Musk's announcement that Tesla would be holding a "battery day," which we assume would take a similar form as the company's Autonomy Investor Day that it held back in April of 2019. During this event, the company will likely outline its plans for future battery technologies, production advancements and more. Musk speculated that it would likely take place in April of 2020.

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Kyle Hyatt Former news and features editor
Kyle Hyatt (he/him/his) hails originally from the Pacific Northwest, but has long called Los Angeles home. He's had a lifelong obsession with cars and motorcycles (both old and new).
Kyle Hyatt
Kyle Hyatt (he/him/his) hails originally from the Pacific Northwest, but has long called Los Angeles home. He's had a lifelong obsession with cars and motorcycles (both old and new).

Article updated on January 29, 2020 at 5:25 PM PST

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Kyle Hyatt Former news and features editor
Kyle Hyatt (he/him/his) hails originally from the Pacific Northwest, but has long called Los Angeles home. He's had a lifelong obsession with cars and motorcycles (both old and new).
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