It is no secret that Tesla wants to become a major electric utility using solar power produced by its subsidiary SolarCity's solar panels. The company's new software system, "Autobidder," is bringing the company one step closer to achieving this goal. While Tesla has made great strides in both its solar panel and battery production, there are still many issues consumers face when attempting to monetize their Tesla solar products. Autobidder is Tesla’s answer to this problem. The software uses AI to forecast energy load requirements, energy prices, and energy grid needs in real time. This allows customers to more effectively sell or trade the power they produce, and the software acts as a platform for these sales.
Elon Musk claims that the new software has directly contributed to the company’s success with its "Big Battery Farm" in South Australia. In an effort to achieve its goal of becoming a major electric utility, the company has made the software available to both large battery farms and even homeowners with solar panels. Interestingly enough, Tesla has not limited the software to Tesla products only, but rather has made it compatible for any type of energy storage system. This may be especially relevant in places like the UK where Tesla has struggled to get grounding with its solar panel programs.
While the current market for the energy sector is extremely volatile, it appears that Tesla has developed software to monitor and adapt to the fluctuating market, thereby allowing consumers offset the cost of the solar panels, and even provide a passive income. Using AI to monitor changing market trends is nothing new, but it appears Tesla has made it more accessible for the average user, and in typical Tesla fashion has made the product seamlessly compatible with its other products.
