Musk Says Tesla’s Autopilot Software Is ‘Not Great.’ Investors Don’t Care.

In fairness, Musk said his AI team was “rallying to improve as fast as possible” and later tweeted that an updated version—Beta 9.3—was “much improved.”

The race to build the best self driving vehicles is hotly contested and closely watched by investors. The timing of Musk’s comments, therefore, ought to raise eyebrows. Last week, Tesla championed a big push into autonomous technology at its AI Day, even unveiling plans for a humanoid robot.

Just days earlier The National Highway Safety Administration launched an investigation into Tesla’s autopilot software, following a number of crashes.

Tesla shares currently sit 20% below January highs, but the stock has gained close to 10% in the past month, after a near 4% jump on Monday. It may take more than a few disparaging remarks from Musk to slow it down.

—Callum Keown

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Biden to Discuss Afghanistan Evacuation With G-7 Allies on Tuesday as Chaos Continues

President Joe Biden is attending a virtual meeting on Tuesday with leaders from The Group of 7 nations to discuss continuing efforts to evacuate citizens, local staff, and “vulnerable Afghans,” and the need to forge a shared approach to Afghanistan policy, the White House said.

• The meeting comes as Biden considers extending the Aug. 31 deadline after the U.K., France, and other allies said they need more time to evacuate. “Our hope is that we will not have to extend. But there are going to be discussions, I expect, about how far along we are in the process,” he said.
• But the Taliban view any extension beyond Aug. 31 as a “red line.” In an interview with Sky News, a Taliban spokesperson said a delay would “provoke a reaction.” A Taliban official told The Wall Street Journal that “We don’t allow them their presence after that date.”
• Complicating matters, the State Department doesn’t know how many Americans are left in the country. According to the Journal, estimates range between 10,000 and 15,000 Americans before evacuations began. As of Monday, the U.S. has helped evacuate more than 37,000 people from Afghanistan, White House officials said.
• Adding to the chaos, an “unknown hostile actor” shot an Afghan soldier at Kabul’s international airport on Monday, and the Afghans returned fire in self-defense, said Navy Capt. William Urban, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command. One Afghan soldier was killed and three were wounded.

What’s Next: National security adviser Jake Sullivan said the exact number of Americans is difficult to assess because many didn’t register with the U.S. embassy when they arrived or left. Biden said people arriving on U.S. soil will have been fully screened and vetted at a staging location outside Afghanistan.

—Janet H. Cho

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More Employers Expected to Enact Vaccine Mandates Following FDA’s Full Approval

After the U.S. Food and Drug Administration fully approved Pfizer and BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine for people 16 and older, President Joe Biden urged employers to enact vaccination mandates or make unvaccinated workers “face strict requirements.”

• “Do what I did last month. Require your employees to get vaccinated or face strict requirements,” Biden said Monday, referring to the rules for many federal workers. He also told Americans hesitant to get vaccinated until there was full approval that “the moment you’re waiting for is here.”
• The approval spurred New York City on Monday to require all 148,000 workers in the nation’s largest school district to get at least one dose of a Covid vaccine by Sept. 27. The United Federation of Teachers supports the push. School starts Sept. 13.
• The Department of Defense, the world’s largest employer, told service members earlier this month that it would require Covid-19 vaccines once FDA approval was confirmed. According to The Hill, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will issue updated guidance requiring all military members to be vaccinated in the coming days.
• United Airlines will require its 67,000 U.S. employees to get fully vaccinated by Sept. 27 or face dismissal, with some exceptions, a company spokesperson said.
• And before the FDA’s announcement Monday, Chevron mandated vaccines for offshore workers in the Gulf of Mexico and some support staff by Nov. 1, The Wall Street Journal reported, as the industry grapples with recent outbreaks. Hess and Valero Energy have also mandated vaccines for some employees.

What’s Next: More companies and employers are expected to announce mandates. Meanwhile, Pfizer is expected to apply for FDA approval of booster shots and vaccines for children under 12. An Israeli study published Sunday found that third shots of Pfizer’s vaccine offered four times more protection against infection than two doses, among people 60 and older.

—Janet H. Cho

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Samsung Announces $206 Billion Investment Spree

Samsung Electronics said Tuesday that it is planning to invest some 240 trillion Korean won ($206 billion) over the next three years in both its key chip-making industry and other growth areas such as robotics.

• Korea’s largest conglomerate didn’t provide a breakdown of its future investment figures but said that new areas of interest, beside robotics, include biopharmaceuticals or artificial intelligence.
• The group said it was notably planning to expand through mergers and acquisitions, adding that this “aggressive investment” was a “survival strategy.”
• The announcement comes a week after Jay Y. Lee, Samsung’s vice chairman and de facto leader, was released from jail on parole following convictions for bribery and embezzlement.
• The investment is 30% larger than the previous three-year plan announced in 2018. The company had been waiting for Lee’s release to deploy a $82 billion cash pile.

What’s Next: The expected investment strategy came sooner than thought, and the company’s stock price rose 3% Tuesday. It is unclear whether Samsung’s $17 billion project to build a chip factory in the U.S. is included in this plan.

—Pierre Briançon

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Visa Jumps Into NFTs by Buying CryptoPunk for Nearly $150,000

Visa announced it bought a “CryptoPunk” nonfungible token, or NFT, for nearly $150,000, jumping “feet first” into the growing frenzy around virtual assets. “We want to have a seat at the table as the crypto economy evolves,” Cuy Sheffield, Visa’s head of crypto, said Monday.

• NFTs are unique digital certificates of authenticity that allow artwork, music, videos, and other digital assets that exist only on screens to be traded and tracked using blockchain technology. Anyone can view an asset represented by an NFT, but only the buyer officially owns it.
• Visa bought CryptoPunk #7610, a female avatar with a mohawk and green eyes, one of about 10,000 unique pixel-art CryptoPunks that Larva Labs made in 2017. In June, Israeli entrepreneur Shalom Meckenzie bought CryptoPunk #7523 for nearly $11.8 million at Sotheby’s.
• Sheffield said Visa bought the avatar to better understand how a global brand buys, stores, and leverages an NFT, to “support our customers as they enter the space.” Visa in March started allowing payments on its own network with digital currency.
• Sheffield said Visa wanted to signal its support of NFTs to the creators, collectors and artists driving virtual commerce, and the small- and medium-size businesses that could benefit. Visa expects other companies will recognize the value of NFTs to express their brand identities and connect with fans.

What’s Next: Visa’s purchase comes as cryptocurrencies heat up again. The price of Bitcoin surpassed $50,000 early Monday and has climbed dramatically from its July low. The broader crypto complex rose to a value of $2.1 trillion. Both were their highest levels since May, according to MarketWatch.

—Janet H. Cho

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The Commercial Space Race Heats Up With Two More Public Companies

Two commercial space companies are set to go public via special-purpose acquisition company mergers, with one of them drawing an investment from Boeing. It’s a positive sign that new space technology is ready for prime time.

• NextGen Acquisition Corp II announced Monday that it plans to merge with Richard Branson’s start-up Virgin Orbit. Unlike Virgin Galactic, Branson’s space tourism business, Orbit will take payloads to space for commercial customers.
• Shareholders of Vector Acquisition approved a merger with commercial space company Rocket Lab, clearing the way for the company to start trading Wednesday.
• Both Orbit and Rocket Lab have similar business models, offering both launch and satellite services. Rocket Lab, however, has conducted about 18 successful launches. Orbit has completed about three.
• Orbit will go public with the help of Boeing. SPAC deals usually include a so-called private investment in public equity, or PIPE. It’s a source of cash for a start-up in addition to what it receives in the deal that brings it public. Boeing will invest through the PIPE offering.
• The deal values Orbit at about $3.2 billion. Rocket Lab is currently valued at about $4.4 billion. Orbit plans to have about $1.5 billion in 2025 sales. Rocket Lab expects about $749 million in 2025 sales.

What’s Next: Vector Acquisition’s stock symbol “VACQ” will flip to “RKLB” Wednesday morning. And Rocket Lab announced Monday that NASA approved the ESCAPADE small satellite interplanetary mission. That means Rocket Lab is going to Mars in the coming years.

—Al Root

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