Tesla stock is down by more than eight percent in trading today after Elon Musk’s reveal last night of the new Cybercab robotaxi failed to impress.
The “We, Robot” event, which took place on a set at the Warner Bros. Studio, was fittingly filled with imagination and spectacle. Humanoid robots danced and served drinks, and Musk showed off his new ultra-sleek Art Deco-style vehicles, including a public transport option the company calls a Robovan.
But investors were not looking for entertainment. What they wanted was detail — specifically on whether Tesla’s autonomous driving technology, known as Full Self-Driving (FSD), is ready for showtime and can deliver new sources of revenue for the automaker through subscriptions and autonomous taxi services.
Alexander Potter, a senior transport technology research analyst at Piper Sandler, said that “many investors had expected this event to deliver something more concrete,” so “it’s difficult to make upward revisions to [the Tesla] 2025/2026 estimates.”
Musk provided none of those financial details, and that’s why Tesla stock has dropped.
The Tesla founder did make a few promises. Musk said Tesla would begin building the Cybercab in 2026. Its sale price, he claimed, would be below $30,000, making it competitive with mainstream gasoline-powered sedans, giving Tesla access to a much larger market.
But Musk has developed a reputation for overpromising and underdelivering. In 2019, he said, “Next year, for sure, we will have over a million robotaxis on the road.”
In the five years since, Tesla’s FSD remains at Level 2 autonomy, meaning that it still requires the driver to be ready to take full control at any moment. Google’s Waymo has achieved Level 4 autonomous driving — its vehicles can operate without human intervention in specific conditions and designated areas. Waymo has about 700 autonomous taxis on the road in Arizona and California.
Over the past month, Tesla’s stock has taken a beating, dropping by more than 16 percent. Amid Tesla’s troubles, Musk has spent much of his time focused on divisive politics, trolling on X (formerly known as Twitter), and supporting the campaign of former President Donald Trump.
Musk attended a Trump rally in Scranton, Pennsylvania earlier this month and has donated tens of millions of dollars to a pro-Trump super PAC. According to The New York Times, Musk, the world’s richest man, talks to Trump “multiple times a week” and “has effectively moved his base of operations to Pennsylvania.”
These distractions are good news for Tesla’s competitors. Uber and Lyft stocks have soared by more than nine percent today.
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