Tencent, Asia's second highest valued tech firm, has bought a five percent share in Tesla. According to a filing, the Chinese firm scooped up 8,167,544 shares for around $1.7 billion to become one of Tesla's largest shareholders.

Tesla says the stake is passive, meaning Tencent will not get a say in how the US firm is run.

Samsung in November said it would acquire Harman International Industries for $8 billion in a bid to grow quickly in the automotive market.

Tesla Motors has announced that all Tesla vehicles - Model S, Model X, and the upcoming Model 3 - will now be equipped with an on-board "supercomputer" that can provide full self-driving capability. This in-vehicle supercomputer is powered by the Nvidia DRIVE PX 2 AI computing platform.

Tesla says it is on track to deliver 50,000 vehicles in the latter half of this year, which reaffirms its previous guidance.

Tesla's offer represented about half of SolarCity's value a year ago, a tumble reflecting the solar company's slowing growth, complex financial structure and the increased scrutiny of government incentives for rooftop solar.

US authorities are investigating the first death potentially caused by self-driving technology.

Tesla's owner, Elon Musk, has said it is an "open secret" that Apple is making a rival electric car.

The consumer electronics company says it plans to spend up to US$1.6 billion on an advanced battery factoryan with electric-car maker Tesla Motors.

One of the greatest risks to Apple's iPhone and iPad sales is its ability to secure enough DRAM (at a reasonable cost) when the inevitable shortage occurs in the future.

Tesla Motors' second-quarter sales jumped 52%, higher than the company had forecast, giving the Silicon Valley auto maker important momentum ahead of the debut of its Model X sport-utility later this year.

According to Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Apple has made a major push to recruit talent from the electric carmaker, offering massive bonuses and significant salary bumps for those willing to come to work in Cupertino.

Tesla has hired Doug Field, Apple's hardware engineering chief for the Mac line-up of notebooks and desktops, the automotive giant announced Thursday.

Tesla has incorporated Infineon's power semiconductors in its battery-powered Roadster, and is also testing them for its Model S, which is scheduled to begin production in 2012, according to Infineon spokesperson Christian Hoenicke.

Tesla will be the first automaker to go public since the Ford Motor Company held its initial public offering in 1956. It expects the stock sale to raise up to $185 million, The Associated Press reports.