![elonmusk.jpg](https://images.hive.blog/DQmSzQnsgn2nNQegTNPrfWBNiyoNtn2eabPVyrKYW6rwqU7/elonmusk.jpg) Elon Musk is now the fourth richest person in America. He makes $8 BILLION per day. Elon Musk has made more money than any other billionaire. Today I will tell you how he earns this big amount of money and his future plans. Here it goes. . .

Tesla

Tesla's mission is to accelerate the world's transition to sustainable energy. To be fair, they have and are. More so than other companies on the planet. You may think Tesla is a car company. But not. Tesla is not a car company. Tesla is an energy company whose core technologies are batteries and software. ![teslaelonmusk.jpg](https://images.hive.blog/DQmeUfEi74T2jVGPtNygQ9LLK7JBEViE6YWuKod7zBT8ySG/teslaelonmusk.jpg) Both of which are in most of their products, including vehicles. NOTE, I did not use the word "Car". Tesla is not a car. It is a computer on wheels. While its external form looks familiar, that's about as far as similarities go. Most people still don't get this, but they will. And because a Tesla vehicle is a computer on wheels, Elon Musk has found and is capitalizing on a handful of residual capabilities worth billions, that no automaker or self-driving company has a hope of replicating. This matters. . .

Full self-driving:

Tesla will win full self-driving. I rarely make such audacious claims, but this is one I am willing to stand by so, hold me accountable, the internet. There are many companies attempting to solve full self-driving. The two most notable besides Tesla are Cruise, owned by General Motors, and Waymo, which was spun out of Google's self-driving project. Cruise and Waymo have a very narrow focus on solving full self-driving. ![fullselfdrivingtesla.jpg](https://images.hive.blog/DQmTML2C2CCprqSM7QcvQ1xio8BGCDBiuCk2ZKUwzm6mCTo/fullselfdrivingtesla.jpg) To do this, they both fit an expensive sensor suite to an existing vehicle, and then effectively pay engineers on six-figure salaries to drive the vehicles and collect data. This is both arduously slow and stupendously expensive but data is how full self-driving will be one. I won't give a lesson in deep learning today, but the importance of data. Lots of it cannot be overstated. Whoever has the most data will win. To date, Cruise has driven just a few million autonomous miles. Waymo, about 20 million miles. Tesla? A little over two billion miles. Tesla's data lead is about two orders of magnitude more than second place. This data is incredibly valuable in monetary terms. Autonomous driving will be a trillion-dollar industry. And this is out the first example of a residual capability. While Cruise and Waymo are spending six figures per vehicle to collect a piddly amount of data, and falling further behind, Tesla has outsmarted everyone and is pulling further ahead. See Tesla has been manufacturing vehicles for years with all the necessary sensors to not only drive autonomously in the future but those same sensors today are collecting data and training the AI a residual capability. Tesla's fleet is a million strong and every time a driver intervenes with autopilot engaged, the data is sent back to base to base and used to improve the self-driving AI. It is like when you search Google. Every time you do this, you are training Google's search AI to better. Once Google's user base hit a critical mass, no one had a hope of catching them. This is why we don't "Search" for things now. We "Google" them. In effect, when a customer buys a Tesla, they are paying Tesla for the privilege of collecting data to improve their self-driving AI. Meanwhile, Cruise and Waymo first buy a car, then fit expensive hardware, then pay someone to drive it around. At this point, no one has a hope in hell of catching Tesla on full self-driving. It's game over. Over the Air updates and Upgrades. Can you believe that in 2020 there's only one vehicle manufacturer on earth who can provide over the air updates and upgrades to their vehicles? Like, seriously. It is 2020. In fairness, this makes sense. Automotive manufactures are good at hardware and manufacturing but in general, suck shi* at software. Then along comes Tesla, who makes a computer on wheels, and is great at software. By building “smart” vehicles, Tesla created a number of residual capabilities. Tesla’s get better after you buy them. I just don’t mean the infotainment. I don’t just mean new features like sentry mode, dog mode, or smart summon. Although those are cool. I am talking about over the air performance and feature upgrades. Being a computer on wheels, Tesla can basically overclock their vehicles. Tesla has increased its range over the air. Increased acceleration over the air. Decreased braking distance over the air. Increased charging speeds. These are real, legitimate performance improvements that are simply impossible to offer in a "dumb car". Many of these are free but others come with a price, like a $2000 acceleration upgrade or $300 rear heated seats upgrade. The amazing part is for Tesla, this is money out of thin air. Just a few lines of code. Truly absurd. In the future, we will no doubt see a slew of new infotainment and performance upgrades., along with an expansive app store. All able to make your car better after you buy it. And the only reason any of this is possible is because of the residual capabilities of a computer on wheels. Are you noticing a pattern? . .

Robotaxis:

This is the holy grail. Once Tesla solves full self-driving and has regulatory approval for robotaxis, everything changes. This is the single most important example of a residual capability. All Tesla vehicles manufactured since October 2016 have the necessary hardware for full self-driving. ![robotaxistesla.webp](https://images.hive.blog/DQmev8keNjo4AkQxg1NMHyhY234Uu8PyJwUKee7Cdk4P52v/robotaxistesla.webp) With the push of a button, Tesla will launch its Robotaxi app, and overnight, practically its entire fleet awakens. Suddenly your Tesla can go to work and earn you money any time of day or night. Not only will this cause one of the biggest ever step-changes in asset value. Think about it, a car that can passively bring in twenty, forty, fifty thousand dollars a year in revenue is surely worth more than one that can’t. But it will send Tesla’s valuation is skyrocketing. They will take a cut of every robotaxi fare. Out of seemingly nowhere, Tesla will see a flood of BILLIONS in annual profits. All the result of a residual capability. Once again, Elon Musk has swung his giant brain around and outsmarted everyone. Finding another way to print billions out of thin air. It is this next-level thinking, and Tesla’s ability to stack innovation upon innovation, to find new ways to monetize existing products and to move at such an embarrassingly disruptive pace that no has a hope of catching them on anything that matters. It is because Tesla makes up the vast majority of my stock portfolio. I am not just investing in Tesla for today. I am investing because I see so many residual capabilities that will increase revenue and profits in the future. . .

SpaceX:

The mission of SpaceX is to make life multi-planetary. The most important step in achieving this is developing a fully and rapidly reusable rocket. I shed tears of joy when I watched SpaceX land its first Falcon 9 booster in 2015. ![spacex.jpg](https://images.hive.blog/DQmX3XyYwLF6c1wYNzpbuGeQkdPYETNhvBLURoK4qk2FrUM/spacex.jpg) As a lifelong space nerd, I knew how monumental this moment was. Since then, SpaceX has nailed dozens of Falcon landings. It is becoming routine, but there is still some work to go. From a hardware point of view, SpaceX is moving toward a single product. Starship. ![spacexelonmusk.jpg](https://images.hive.blog/DQmb1YdxR71LGfRr6qwBwxoEau63Kh6Abnr8xVMKq7hs4hH/spacexelonmusk.jpg) . .

Starship:

This massive ship is how we will colonize Mars. Elon Musk estimates we will need about 1000 starships. In the meantime, Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy will be used to launch payloads to orbit until Starship is ready. ![starspace.jpeg](https://images.hive.blog/DQmNNLZUc5e2Te9nE61G1zUHFxitoacbQ7Qzf1dR6uirjvN/starspace.jpeg) . .

Starlink:

To date, SpaceX is the only company that can re-use their orbital-class rockets. This brings their launch costs down by a staggering amount and accounts for why SpaceX is doing more than half of all launches worldwide. And with lower launch costs come residual opportunities that were previously impossible. ![starlink.jpg](https://images.hive.blog/DQmQAE5nEqR333GKteydJsmSjYQK2myLAciVrvgtC9brgBo/starlink.jpg) Non only can SpaceX launch other people’s stuff for pennies on the dollar, but they can launch their own stuff which creates an opportunity to do things that literally no other company on planet earth can. Like Starlink, an internet constellation that will ultimately provide broadband access to every square inch of the planet, give or take. Starlink looks set to bring in billions of revenue annually and the entire business is only possible because of reusability. Starling, which could become a $100 billion-dollar company is basically a happy accident of trying to colonize Mars. Talk about residual capability. . .

Starship Earth to Earth:

In a nutshell, Starship will be used to transport people anywhere on earth in under an hour. It sounds pretty whack, but SpaceX President and COO Gwynne Shotwell have been very clear that Starship Earth to Earth will happen. With capacity for 100 passengers, the ability to fly more than a dozen times in a day since the trips are so short, and with tickets set to be priced somewhere between an economy and business class flight. ![starspaceearthtoearth.jpg](https://images.hive.blog/DQmNaWaDhP5rUoRYPhpVDx8Gft4rYdryLdj1ut2RRKk8f7g/starspaceearthtoearth.jpg) A few thousand dollars. The numbers get crazy real fast. I know it sounds mad, but SpaceX will be competing with major airlines and private jets but the end of this decade. All because of a residual opportunity coming from reusability. It will not just be celebrities, SEOs, presidents, and athletes using the service, but business travelers, holidaymakers, and more. And then there’s the time thing. If you need to move something or someone to another place on earth as fast as possible, Starship will be the only option. Imagine a medical emergency or an urgent matter of national security. While Starship Earth to Earth transport probably won’t become the next American Airlines, it will nevertheless be an important piece of the revenue pie which is kind of amazing considering that is not why Starship’s being built. . .

The Boring Company:

The Boring Company digs tunnels. Faster, smarter, and better than everyone else. Elon Musk innovating again. But it is not just the greatly improved speed or significantly reduced costs of tunneling that show the innovation of The Boring Company. ![boringcompany2.jpg](https://images.hive.blog/DQmfX1tiNefnp81GYBv1ewojmCu3neuFgmzVyxonyiD6KxQ/boringcompany2.jpg) It is what they do with the mess. Instead of having to dispose of tonnes of muck as they dig, The Boring Company makes bricks out of the waste. Some of these bricks can be used to reinforce the tunnel walls, others are given away for public housing, and the rest, sold. ![theboringcompany.webp](https://images.hive.blog/DQmXfAZje8ByosRaxVMQ3a93FehdYKeXVsMbKrH6HGW8kSb/theboringcompany.webp) When you have a big brain and innovate for breakfast, you can even find a way to sell dirt. Elon Musk has proven himself as a master of extracting new value and opportunity from an existing product or technology. Not once, not twice, but many times, across many companies. The end result is that these 170 IQ moves will make billions out of thin air, embarrass much of the so-called “competition” and inspire others to follow suit. ![boringcompany.jpg](https://images.hive.blog/DQmQbXBC27UpFLqn2EAYFskaZq99FBc8n7B7cPLhs1niirg/boringcompany.jpg) Elon Musk is operating on another level. People fail to see the hidden potential buried in the products and technology his companies create. He is laying foundations for future revenue and no doubt, he will think of dozens of more ways to print billions in the future. ![Elon-Musk-2010.jpg](https://images.hive.blog/DQmaMrdNsdZLudUZs9nYoiEat9aKzEPHzmqVHkT36kvaX9p/Elon-Musk-2010.jpg) Hey thanks for reading. If it is helpful please share. And follow me on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/istlocker/ #tesla #business #money #elonmusk #elon #musk #tesla #spacex #theboringcompany #trending #hiveblog #hiveblock