Musk's vision for Tesla's future heavily relies on the success of self-driving robotaxis. Despite previous unfulfilled promises, Musk maintains that self-driving Teslas will be ready next year. He plans to deploy fully autonomous versions of Tesla's Model 3 and Model Y in Texas and California. However, Tesla's stock fell 9% following Musk's announcement due to a lack of concrete product details. Since the election, Tesla shares have increased by over 30%, adding nearly $200 billion in market value, as investors anticipate more favorable autonomous-driving and artificial-intelligence regulation.
Key takeaways:
- Tesla CEO Elon Musk is staking the company's future on his vision for self-driving robotaxis, despite the massive technological and regulatory obstacles.
- Musk has the potential to influence the next Transportation Department secretary, which could lead to significant changes to the self-driving rules at a national level.
- Tesla is currently behind rivals in autonomous vehicle testing and deployment, with companies like Alphabet's Waymo having logged millions of testing miles and secured multiple regulatory approvals.
- Despite less regulation in states like Texas, Tesla would face immense legal liability for crashes the moment it claims its vehicles are fully autonomous.