Elon Musk Turned Down Tesla-Uber Partnership Offer Made By Travis Kalanick, New Book Says

Soon after Apple announced in May 2016 it was investing $1 billion in Chinese ride-hailing service, Didi Chuxing, Uber CEO Travis Kalanick called up Elon Musk and proposed a self-driving partnership between his company and Tesla. But Musk turned down the offer to team up against Apple, calling it unrealistic, according to a new book to be released May 23. The book by Adam Lashinsky, who writes for Fortune magazine, is titled "Wild Ride: Inside Uber's Quest for World Domination." In it, Lashinsky writes about Kalanick recounting the call to Musk: "I said, 'Look man, we should partner. Elon spent the rest of the call convincing me that it's too far out, and it's not realistic, that I should just stick to what we do best and be focused, or I'm going to f--- it all up. That's when I knew Tesla was competing."