It's usually a mistake to bet against Elon Musk. The recent performance of Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) stock is a good example. True, Elon Musk may say some wacky things and make some big mistakes. But in the end, he always seems to find ways to achieve his lofty goals. Earlier in the year, TSLA appeared to be in a bleak situation, and there was many questions about its outlook.

Tesla has acquired a small artificial intelligence startup called DeepScale in order to help build its self-driving technology and reach its goal of building a giant fleet of robotaxis. CNBC is reporting that Tesla has acquired DeepScale, a Bay Area-based startup that focuses on "Deep Neural Network (DNN)". DeepScale CEO Forrest Iandola confirmed on LinkedIn that he joined Tesla as a "senior staff machine learning scientist": "I joined the Tesla #Autopilot team this week. I am looking forward to working with some of the brightest minds in #deeplearning and #autonomousdriving." Furthermore, the publication says that two additional sources confirmed that DeepScale was acquired by Tesla and its small team will be joining the automaker.

Word on the street is that Tesla has now equipped its ever-growing tech-arsenal in the form of DeepScale. This UC Berkeley computer vision startup has proved their mettle last year with their work on SqueezeNet and Carver 21. The news of this acquisition was followed by DeepScale CEO's Forrest Iandola post on social media announcing his association with Tesla as a senior staff machine learning scientist. I joined the @Tesla #Autopilot team this week. I am looking forward to working with some of the brightest minds in #deeplearning and #autonomousdriving.

FILE - In this March 14, 2019, file photo Tesla CEO Elon Musk speaks before unveiling the Model Y at Tesla's design studio in Hawthorne, Calif. Musk says in an internal memo that Tesla has enough orders to set a record, but it's having trouble This week Tesla acquired DeepScale, which is a startup that focuses on developing computer vision technologies (the price of the deal was not disclosed). This appears to be a part of the company's focus on building an Uber-like service as well building fully autonomous vehicles. Founded in 2015, DeepScale has raised $15 million from investors like Point72, next47, Andy Bechtolsheim, Ali Partovi, and Jerry Yang. The founders include Forrest Iandola and Kurt Keutzer, who are both PhD's.

Tesla is determined to win the autonomous race without lidar. Tesla has big plans in store, if we're to follow CEO Elon Musk's timeframe laid out during the Autonomy Investor Day. In an effort to achieve these goals, the electric-car maker may have made a solid purchase. CNBC reported Tuesday that Tesla has fully acquired a tech startup company called DeepScale. The startup focuses on computer vision and not on lidar, which many other companies and automakers bank out to give their self-driving car prototypes the gift of sight.

Tesla has reportedly acquired the four-year-old startup DeepScale, which provides interesting insight into the state of Artificial Intelligence in assisted and automated driving. Operating on $18M in venture funding, DeepScale described themselves as developers of perceptual systems for semi-autonomous and autonomous vehicles, focusing on low-wattage processors used in mass-market automotive crash avoidance systems to power more accurate perception. This is an important niche in the intelligent vehicle eco-system; the volumes of systems like automatic emergency braking (AEB) are increasing rapidly due to OEMs making them a standard feature. JATO reports that AEB sales as standard equipment have increased from 6% in Model Year 2016 to 39% in Model Year 2018, with the fitment rate rising to 49% of vehicles sold for Model Year 2019. As one who well remembers the refrain "safety doesn't sell" in automotive circles during the 1990's, this is remarkable and gladdening.

After 11 autopilot engineers left Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) in May amid department restructuring, Tesla found itself in need of new software talent. On October 1, Tesla announced its acquisition of Deepscale, a Silicon Valley, California-based startup that will help actualize Tesla CEO Elon Musk's desire for its vehicles to become self-driving robotaxis. On LinkedIn, Deepscale's CEO Forrest Iandola announced his new role as a senior staff machine learning scientist at Tesla. CNBC reported that Tesla bought Deepscale "outright," but no financial details have surfaced. Deepscale is Tesla's sixth acquisition, including Maxwell Technologies in May 2019.

Tesla has acquired DeepScale, a Silicon Valley startup that uses low-wattage processors to power more accurate computer vision, in a bid to improve its Autopilot driver assistance system and deliver on CEO Elon Musk's vision to turn its electric vehicles into robotaxis. CNBC was the first to report the acquisition. TechCrunch independently confirmed the deal with two unnamed sources, although neither one would provide more information on the financial terms of the deal. Tesla vehicles are not considered fully autonomous, or Level 4, a designation by SAE that means the car can handle all aspects of driving in certain conditions without human intervention. Instead, Tesla vehicles are "Level 2," and its Autopilot feature is a more advanced driver assistance system than most other vehicles on the road today.

Tesla bought Deepscale, an artificial intelligence vision company. In January, 2019, DeepScale introduced Carver21 which is AI building blocks for intelligent cars. Carver21 offers a portfolio of perception software modules that give Tier-1s and OEMs the flexibility they need to create modular, scalable ADAS. Carver21 can be used in small SoCs that would be embedded in edge ECUs, which typically require less than 5W power consumption and are still the status quo for the distributed electrical architectures used in today's ADAS. DeepScale's full-stack deep learning methodology enables cohesive integration of AI software with various processors and sensors for customizable automated driving features.

Tesla has quietly acquired an artificial intelligence company to build out its Autopilot autonomous driving system. Tesla this week closed the acquisition of DeepScale, a company that uses sophisticated "deep neural networks" and other aspects of artificial intelligence to help a vehicle's in-car autonomous driving technology more effectively "see" what's around it. The news was first reported by CNBC, who cited sources claiming Tesla had acquired DeepScale. Tesla did not respond to Fortune's request for comment, and has so far remained quiet on the acquisition's details, but DeepScale CEO Forrest Iandola updated his LinkedIn account on Tuesday, saying that he has joined Tesla's Autopilot team to work on deep learning and autonomous driving. Tesla makes small acquisitions from time to time, but DeepScale appears to be its most significant acquisition since February, when the company announced that it would acquire Maxwell Technologies to improve its battery technology.