On Tesla's first-quarter earnings call, Musk told investors that Tesla should be viewed as an artificial intelligence (AI) or robotics company and that trying to value it as an auto company is the wrong way to look at it. He added that if you don't think Tesla will solve autonomy that you shouldn't be an investor in the stock.

According to new, anonymously-sourced reports from The Information and TechCrunch, Musk's AI company xAI is currently raising $6 billion on a $18 billion pre-money valuation, and the deal is expected to close in a matter of weeks.

Tesla’s C.E.O. appears to have landed a deal that moves the company closer to bringing fully autonomous driving to a giant market. But Beijing is keen to exploit the visit for its own purposes.