Tesla does have a real team working on self driving hardware and software and they're shipping it inside cars.
It's not clear that Nikola has much more than powerpoint. They got a lot of impressive-sounding partnerships going but so did Theranos.
Then you can literally say anything and claim "just not yet!".
Amazing people say things like this with a straight face.
>It's not clear that Nikola has much more than powerpoint.
Nikola has real teams working on real things, too. They are just nowhere near where they claim to be.
To play a little devil's advocate, then...
Wouldn't that put most startups and Silicon Valley into the "fraud" camp?
Net positive revenue is always coming and funds are continuously raised on that promise...
> Nikola has real teams working on real things, too.
Their technology claims are all over the place and includes a large lineup of electric and hydrogen-powered vehicles that would be impressive even for GM and Ford.
I don't think their leadership plans to deliver all of any of those vehicles. Insiders (including Trevor Milton) have cashed out already and it looks more like a pump-and-dump scheme than a real business.
> Amazing people say things like this with a straight face.
Then literally everyone who claims breakthrough in fusion, new energy, medicine, AI, robotics, supersonic travel, would qualify as fraud. Fusion has always been X years away after all.
You've just also described many space projects, notably JWST and SLS. Granted, I'll give you SLS.
[0] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Webb_Space_Telescope
[1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Launch_System
> Nikola has real teams working on real things, too. They are just nowhere near where they claim to be.
The trouble is Trevor didn't just say "just not yet!". He insisted that the Nikola One on stage at their Dec 2016 presentation is real, with this vivid description: "I don’t want someone to end up doing something and driving this truck off the stage…so we’re going to try to keep people from driving off. But this thing fully functions and works, which is really incredible."