Tesla building vehicle to be used as robotaxi
AUSTIN, Texas – Tesla will build a vehicle dedicated for use as a robotaxi, and it will start making three new vehicles next year, CEO Elon Musk told fans at a party celebrating the opening of a Texas factory.
Musk didn’t give details of the robotaxi other than to say it will “look quite futuristic.”
He also said Tesla will start building the Cybertruck pickup at its new factory near Austin, Texas, next year. After that, it will start building a new Roadster and an electric semi, he said.
He made his remarks Thursday night at the “Cyber Rodeo at Giga Texas,” an invitation-only party for thousands of guests at Tesla’s new billion-dollar-plus factory.
As many as 15,000 people were expected to attend the private event hosted to mark the opening of the new factory in Travis County that also serves as the company’s new headquarters following its move from California.
Musk said at the Thursday night event streamed live on YouTube that Tesla was delivering the first Model Y small SUVs built at the new factory, which he said can make a half million of the SUVs per year.
Tesla and Musk have often missed targets to start producing vehicles.
In 2019, he promised a fleet of autonomous robotaxis would be on the road the following year, but the company’s “Full Self-Driving” software is still being tested by selected Tesla owners on public roads.
The company is the largest maker of electric vehicles in the U.S. and the world.
Musk said this year will be about scaling up the Austin factory as well as a new one in Germany. He also said the company may start building a robot in 2023.“Next year there’s going to be a massive wave of new products,” he told the crowd Thursday night.
Former Goldman Sachs banker guilty of bribery
NEW YORK – A former Goldman Sachs banker was convicted Friday of bribery and other corruption charges accusing him of participating in a $4.5 billion scheme to ransack the Malaysian state investment fund known as 1MDB.
A jury reached the verdict at the U.S. trial of Roger Ng in federal court in Brooklyn.
Jurors had heard nearly two months of evidence about tens of millions of dollars in bribes and kickbacks allegedly orchestrated by Malaysian financier and fugitive socialite Low Taek Jho, better known as Jho Low.
Defense attorney Marc Agnifilo told reporters outside court that he was surprised by the verdict because “the evidence wasn’t reliable,” and that he was considering an appeal.
He also said the defense team was more disappointed than his client.
Ng “is doing better than his lawyers,” Agnifilo said. “He has great fortitude.”
The embezzlement bankrolled lavish spending on jewels, art, a superyacht and luxury real estate.
The spoils even helped finance wild parties and Hollywood movies, including the 2013 Martin Scorsese film “The Wolf of Wall Street” that starred Leonardo DiCaprio.
“With today’s verdict, a powerful message has been delivered to those who commit financial crimes motivated by greed,” U.S. Attorney Breon Peace said in a statement.
Ng faces up to 30 years in prison. No sentencing date was set.
A former head of investment banking in Malaysia, Ng is the only Goldman banker to stand trial in the 1MDB scandal.The 49-year-old had pleaded not guilty to three counts – conspiring to launder money and violating two anti-bribery laws.
Prosecutors alleged that Ng and other Goldman Sachs bankers helped 1MDB raise $6.5 billion through bond sales – only to divert $4.5 billion of it to themselves and their co-conspirators through bribes and kickbacks.
From wire reports