Tesla is involved in the development of a smartwatch, according to a new FCC filling. The questions are, to what extent and why?
Tesla and Xplora Smartwatch
It was announced that the automaker would split from the company of electric cars, but this would be a whole new venture for Tesla.
Xplora Technologies, a wearable company in Norway that focuses on smartwatches for children, has submitted an application to the FCC for a new smartwatch and Tesla is reported to be involved in the project.
In an application to keep aspects of the project confidential, the company mentioned “Tesla Motors” in full:
The undersigned XPLORA Technologies AS hereby authorizes Mr. Wu Xuewen of Shenzhen BALUN Technology Co., Ltd., to act on behalf of XPLORA Technologies AS only in matters relating to the application for FCC IDC FCC Equipment Authorization: 2AVMJX5P including signing of documents related to this application. Necessary operations performed by Shenzhen BALUN Technology Co., Ltd. in connection with the application will have the same effect as actions of Tesla Motors, Inc.
The connection was first detected by My Healthy Apple.
Here the authorization letter is complete:
Why is Tesla involved in smartwatch development?
What is unclear is why Tesla would be involved in such a project.
In particular, they are seeking FCC approval for the use of Connectivity on their X5 Play / X5 Play eSIM smartwatches, which are built to track children’s activities and allow them to send voice messages and predefined text messages.
It’s hard to believe that Tesla would be involved in smartwatches for kids, but there could be a few possible explanations.
First off, Tesla might have sold Xplora Technologies – explaining why it’s mentioned in the filling.
It might have gotten the company for its employees, but then it would be strange for them to still ask for FCC approval, which aims to launch the product in the US.
Therefore, it is possible that Tesla is actually looking to use the Xplora smartwatch platform.
We’ve seen app developers create third-party Apple Watch apps to monitor Tesla cars with smartwatches.
With Tesla switching to using phones instead of Model 3 and Model Y key phones, it is possible that Tesla is looking to offer a smartwatch as an optional key.
What do you think? Let us know in the comments section below.
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