The Federal Trade Commission signed off on Tesla's plan to buy the solar panel installer. CEO Elon Musk is SolarCity's chairman and its largest shareholder.
The ride-hailing company expects to include a human in case something goes wrong, but the driverless vehicles would be the first available for commercial use. They could be on the road in a few weeks.
Virtually all major car and tech companies are pursuing self-driving technology as the future of transportation. But Tesla and Google are the earliest innovators, taking very different approaches.
The fatal crash of a Tesla Model S car that was in autopilot mode when it collided with a truck on a Florida highway last month is prompting a preliminary evaluation of the feature.
Tesla is building what it says is the world's largest battery factory. The scale is expected to drive down the cost of electric cars and batteries that homeowners can use to store surplus solar power.
Before the Model 3 was even unveiled, people lined up at Tesla stores to put down a deposit. With a base price of $35,000, the car will go on sale late next year at the earliest.
The long-promised Model 3 will be revealed in March — and Elon Musk has confirmed to Bloomberg that it will, as planned, be sold for $35,000 before any tax incentives.
The electric car company Tesla is now becoming the self-driving carmaker. Today it releases software to tens of thousands of Model S owners to automate steering, lane change and parallel parking.
Tesla says the Model X is the safest and fastest SUV in history. Among its notable features are the "Falcon Wing doors" that lift upward instead of swinging outward — and a price upward of $130,000.