Tesla goes open source so you can help build better electric cars

Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk on Thursday announced that the company was throwing all its patents into the public domain in hopes of spurring innovation in the electric car market.

In a blog post announcing the move, Musk said the company used to file for patents out of fear that big automakers would duplicate their technology and then steamroll the competition. But after reconsideration, Tesla determined that major manufacturers weren't interested in electric cars, and that its main competition was actually the "enormous flood of gasoline cars pouring out of the world's factories every day."

Hence, Musk said Tesla would not file lawsuits against anyone who used their technology "in good faith" so the world could "benefit from a common, rapidly-evolving technology platform."

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