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A robotaxi could still be many years out.
Short on Details
We’re one week away from Tesla’s long-awaited “robotaxi” event — and investors are already attempting to manage expectations.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk promised to unveil an autonomous vehicle at the event, which was initially slated for August.
But whether the beleaguered EV maker will have anything to show beyond some flashy renderings remains unclear at best.
During a recent appearance on CNBC, Deepwater Management partner Gene Munster warned that the event will be “light on details,” despite unveiling not just one but three vehicles: a “Robovan,” a “robotaxi,” and an ultra-cheap $25,000 EV.
The development of an affordable passenger vehicle has long been a point of contention, with investors worried that Tesla’s focus on a robotaxi could end up delaying its development.
Meanwhile, the company’s so-called “Full Self-Driving” driver assistance software has also met several stumbling blocks, with regulators investigating hundreds of collisions and dozens of deaths related to the company’s overarching Autopilot system.
Launch Party
According to Munster, the Robovan will be “some time off,” suggesting we’d have to wait years until it hits the market. Case in point, the Cybertruck hit the market four long years after Musk unveiled it in 2019.
Munster predicted that Musk will use the event as a mere “launch party” that won’t go into the nitty-gritty of the company’s actual plans.
“The one detail that I’m going to hyper-focused on is that cheaper $25,000 car, when they expect to ramp production,” he told CNBC.
Investors are hoping that such a vehicle could boost the company’s lagging growth numbers.
And Tesla could really use a boost right about now. The company announced its third-quarter deliveries on Wednesday, falling short of expectations and causing shares to slump. That’s despite global sales increasing 6.4 percent.
We’ve already watched as Tesla has spread itself thin, choosing to double down on the development of the Cybertruck, a significant and seemingly flawed engineering departure.
Musk has made it abundantly clear that he believes Tesla’s future will ultimately be determined by the success or failure of its autonomous driving department.
But given many regulatory hurdles ahead and plenty of potentially dangerous software shortcomings plaguing its current crop of “self-driving” features, Tesla has its work cut out.
“Tesla is behind in gaining regulatory approval for robotaxis… and it may be difficult to overcome without local, ongoing trials,” asset management firm Bernstein wrote in a Wednesday note.
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