Tesla’s Robotaxi progress gives investors proof of the AI dream
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Tesla investors rallied to start the week, and for good reason. The dream of becoming shareholders in an autonomous fleet just inched closer to reality.
Shares of the electric vehicle company aspiring to be an AI and robotics powerhouse rose to their highest level all year, matching prices not seen since last December, after CEO Elon Musk confirmed that Robotaxi testing is underway without a safety driver in the front passenger seat of vehicles.
The ticker (TSLA) rose 4% Monday and 3% Tuesday, eclipsing the record high it reached nearly a year ago, when Donald Trump was newly elected for his second term and optimism surged around Tesla’s autonomous ambitions.
That ambition appears to be paying off. Tesla’s revenue comes mostly from its automotive sales. But the company aims to command an on-demand fleet of autonomous vehicles and to fill households with competent humanoid robots. The progress on Robotaxi testing serves as another signal to investors that such plans are moving forward, aligning lofty aspirations with on-the-ground headway.
“We estimate the AI and autonomous opportunity is worth at least $1 trillion alone for Tesla and we fully expect over the coming 3-6 months these key initiatives will now get fast tracked as the federal regulatory spiderweb that Musk & Co. have encountered over the past few years around FSD/autonomous clears significantly under Trump,” said Wedbush analyst Dan Ives in a note on Monday.
Part of Wall Street’s evaluation of Tesla has to do with just how quickly the company’s Robotaxi era will take shape. Musk had claimed earlier this month that Tesla was weeks away from unsupervised Robotaxis.
Now, he has plans to double the fleet this month, aiming to expand testing to Phoenix and Nevada. Investors have been eyeing next year for the start of mass production of the new Cybercab vehicle.
Tesla bulls like Ives believe the company has already started to unlock its AI valuation potential.
The company is not a first mover. Alphabet’s (GOOG, GOOGL) Waymo has thousands of commercial robotaxis operating in the US.
But Ives estimates that Tesla will control 70% of the global autonomous market over the next decade because “no other company in the world can match the scale and scope of Tesla coupled by its broadening AI footprint.”
Hamza Shaban is a reporter for Yahoo Finance covering markets and the economy. Follow Hamza on X @hshaban.
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