Tesla has postponed the disclosing of its robotaxi, which was scheduled for next month, by two months. It was an event that raised questions on whether Tesla’s technology could enable autonomous driving, and the postponement has halted the corporate’s strong stock price rise.
Bloomberg reported on the twelfth, citing inside sources, that Tesla had postponed the disclosing of its robotaxi, originally scheduled for August 8, to October.
In keeping with the report, Tesla’s design team was instructed this week to remodel certain elements of the robotaxi, giving other teams more time to develop prototypes.
Last April, when Tesla’s stock price was hitting all-time low as a consequence of poor performance, CEO Elon Musk suddenly announced on X (Twitter) that “we’ll unveil a robotaxi on August eighth.” The stock price rebounded with this announcement, but internally, there was a response of bewilderment.
There’s an issue about whether Tesla, which is currently at Level 2 autonomous driving, can operate robotaxis without human drivers. In response, CEO Musk boasted through the first quarter earnings announcement, “When you don’t think Tesla will achieve autonomous driving, you should not be an investor.”
CNBC explained, “At Tesla, ‘revealed’ doesn’t suggest a launch within the near future.” For instance, “Tesla unveiled its electric heavy-duty truck in 2017, but deliveries didn’t start until five years later, in December 2022.”
This will not be the primary time that a robotaxi has been promised. In 2019, it was announced that a robotaxi can be launched by 2020, but this promise was not kept. Some say that this delay was somewhat expected.
Tesla’s stock price has been rising for 11 consecutive days recently as a consequence of expectations about robotaxis and other aspects. It has brought back the stock price that was lost at first of the 12 months to the extent at the top of last 12 months.
Nevertheless, when the news of the event’s postponement was announced, the stock price on that day recorded an 8.4% drop, the most important since January. As an alternative, ride-sharing services reminiscent of Uber and Lyft rose 6.1% and 4.6%, respectively.
Reporter Im Dae-jun ydj@aitimes.com
