Tesla was reportedly working on a plan to cast the entire underbody of its next-generation car in one piece. But according to a new report from Reuters, the company has scrapped plans to use a new generation of "gigacasting" in its future products.
That would be a heavy evolution of Tesla's current gigacasting strategy, which is used in the Model Y and Cybertruck to assemble the entire underbody of the product out of three large casted pieces. Tesla's current approach is already vastly simpler than traditional automotive manufacturing, which usually requires dozens of casted parts.
Tesla's reported retreat from its ambitious gigacasting plans comes amid what's being seen as a major strategy shift for the company. A month ago, it cut 10 percent of its workforce, and on Tuesday it laid off its entire Supercharging team.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk seems to be betting everything on solving autonomy with a vision-only system, and monetizing that into something beyond what existing robot taxi companies have been able to manage. That could pay off, but if it doesn't, Musk will have gutted the thriving, industry-leading parts of his business in favor of an A.I. dream he can't achieve anytime soon.
Source: Reuters
