Excessive automation at Tesla was a mistake: Elon Musk
San Francisco, April 14: Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk has admitted for the first time that his electric vehicle-making company has been too reliant on robots for production and the human workforce is underrated.
"Yes, excessive automation at Tesla was a mistake. To be precise, my mistake. Humans are underrated," Elon Musk tweeted late on Friday while responding to a reporter's tweet.
The journalist from Wall Street Journal had tweeted: "Humans are underrated."
This comes at a time when reports of Tesla Model 3 having missed production targets and manufacturing challenges have surfaced.
Tesla reported a record loss of $675.4 million -- $4.01 per share -- on a revenue of $3.29 billion in the fourth quarter of 2017.
The Palo Alto car company partly blamed the worst-ever figures on the high costs related to the production of its Model 3 electric sedan, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Tesla, which lost $121 million in the same quarter last year, said revenue was up 36 per cent over the same period in 2016 because of the deliveries it made of the luxury electric Model S sedan and Model X crossover.
Tesla has been under fire amid a production slowdown for its Model 3 which is its lower-priced vehicle.
Musk, however, is hopeful that the company will be profitable in the third quarter.
Tesla CEO recently sent Roadster tied to a Falcon Heavy rocket by SpaceX to reach Mars' orbit.
According to reports, the Roadster won't actually be close to Mars until early October of 2020. The car does not have any landing equipment or thrusters to land it on the surface.
"If we can send a Roadster to the asteroid belt, we can probably solve Model 3 production. It's just a matter of time," said Musk.
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TMC leader killed in Bengal's Birbhum
Kolkata (PTI): A local Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader was murdered by unidentified assailants in West Bengal's Birbhum district, police said on Saturday.
Rajbehari Sardar (65), TMC's booth chief in Patisara gram panchayat, was stabbed and severely beaten up by around five-six people at a function in Nanoor area around 10 pm on Friday, a police officer said.
Sardar was taken to Mangalkot Hospital in neighbouring Purba Bardhaman district where he was declared dead by doctors, he said.
The deceased's son alleged that Sardar was killed by members of a rival faction of the party.
The local TMC leadership said Sardar was a committed party worker and was popular in the area, but claimed that there was no report of the involvement of anyone from the party in the murder.
"We demand a thorough and prompt investigation into the incident," a local TMC leader said.
