Bidness Etc - Apple Gets a New Patent, And a Self-Driving Rumored iCar Sighted

A mysterious self-controlled car has been sighted in Concord Bay Area. It is rumored to be another one of Apple’s experiments for their product expansion.
Apple is keen on ensuring quality in terms of mapping service, hence it was no surprise spotting the minivan having at least 12 cameras fixed on its top, it came across at the one used in Street View car. Besides this, two disc-shaped small antennas were also fitted, along with LiDAR sensors that look like spinning cylindrical devices, seems to be hanging over the rear end and front, also to measure rotations of the wheel as far as guesses are being made.
A number of minivans have been sighted in California, having LiDAR sensor fixed on its roof and rear. LiDAR is basically a laser-based technology which is used to create high-resolution maps, and is of significance for the sensing systems that is placed in self-driving vehicles. LiDAR has also been used by Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG), in their self-driving cars.
It is also being said that almost identical minivan in white, was witnessed in Brooklyn last September, with a license plate of California. Moreover, the California Department of Motor Vehicles has confirmed that a Dodge Caravan spotted along with the van carrying equipment is leased by Apple.
It is nothing new about Apple wanting to try its hands on the electric car. The tech giant has been rumored long to be interested in smart cars. A patent was granted on Tuesday for "Apple Electric Car, Inc.," which doesn’t come much as a surprise but surely did raise eyebrows.
The patent, which was discovered by a blog Patently Apple, was basically to support an adjustable pedestal for the computerized display view in a golf cart, which is highly unlikely for Tim Cook to be interested in anything of that sort. According to the filing, the patent allows the golf cart’s display to be seen by the diver despite whether the driver or user is inside the golf car or outside of it.
The news about Elon Musk being spotted at Apple’s Cupertino headquarters was enough to make the tech world go insane with the news. However, the speculations weren’t completely shattered when Mr. Musk reported that the visit was about an acquisition.
The Wall Street analysts have quite for long been claiming that the company might be interested in making an investment in order to purchase an electric car company. But nothing of material has occurred so far, except a development ELEKS creating an Apple iWatch app to allow control of Tesla using their wrists.

Bidness Etc - Factors affecting Tesla motors (NASDAQ:TSLA)

During the last several months oil prices have had a great fall, which had a negative impact on the automaker’s capitals. According to a report by Morgan Stanley, there are few regions in which Tesla Motors could confront issues which would eventually allow them to redeem their stance.
Sales of luxury Model S sedan are not likely to suffer due to this issue, however, upcoming Model 3, which has a lower value point, might become the victim of this tyranny.
Another issue Tesla Inc. can face is US dollar volatility, Jonas said. As US dollar strengthens it will affect Tesla because of its exposure to international market. Tesla’s production cost will go up as its production is entirely based in the United States. However, its sales will go down as more than 50% of the automaker's business is situated outside United States.
According to Adam Jonas analyst at Morgan Stanley, if the dollar strengthens by 10% against euro, there would be a adverse impact up to $100 million on Tesla Motors. Since 30% of its volume will arrive from Western side of Europe this year. Thus, Tesla Motors cut $70 million from their working figure during the current year and $20 million from the final quarter.
Jonas has said; “continuous volatility will complement, but for investors who believe in the company, Tesla stock is a worthy choice”.
On Thursday, a better buying opportunity was shown by Tesla Motors.US dollar affecting the stock price of Tesla Motors and the main reasons behind that are decreasing oil prices, sluggish sales in china and stronger, Morgan Stanley brings down its price target on Tesla Motors from stock price of $290 to $280 per share.
Jonas also reported that he had reduced his fourth quarter prediction to 9,993 from 11,165 units. As a result of the whole estimation, it comes to 31,814 units which means more than 1000 units are are there. And just because of lower volume estimate and strengthening of the US dollar, Jonas lowered his estimation regarding gross margin from 29.6% to 28%.
Last week at Detroit Auto show Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk said, they assume GAAP to be profitable by 2020 in the U.S, however, according to Jonas forecast by the end of 2020, Tesla will earn approximately $1.6 billion in U.S GAAP profit.
The analyst noted that there’s been a shift in emotion are positive on Tesla Motors because of believe that the automaker’s technology will make traditional car engines “outdated” in coming years.