Tesla shares a slide
After the Cybercab robotaxi was announced, Tesla shares a slide.
Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, debuted the Cybercab, the company’s much anticipated robotaxi, at the Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, California.
With its two wing-like doors and lack of a steering wheel or pedals, the futuristic-looking car dropped Mr. Musk in front of an audience that was excited to learn more about a project he believed would be crucial to Tesla’s next phase.
But investors do not seem to be as excited as he is; following Friday morning’s US market opening, Tesla’s share price dropped.
The stock’s value had decreased by about eight percent as of 11:45 Eastern Time (16:45 BST), selling at about $219.
Uber and Lyft, two competitors in the ride-hailing space with their own autonomous goals, had a 10% increase in share prices during this same period.
Regarding Mr. Musk’s estimate that the Cybercab’s production will start “before 2027,” concerns have been raised considering his history of missing deadlines.
“I am usually optimistic when it comes to timelines,” he joked at the occasion.
He said that the price of the Cybercab, which would go up against rivals like Waymo, owned by Alphabet, would be less than $30,000 (£23,000.
Analysts, however, question the viability of that proposal.
“It does not seem feasible to launch at anything near to that pricing this decade without external subsidies or Tesla making a loss on every vehicle,” he continued.
worries about safety
Additionally, Mr. Musk stated that he anticipated having “totally autonomous unsupervised” technology available in Texas and California in 2019 for Tesla’s Model 3 and Model Y, “with permission anywhere ever regulators permit it.”
But there is no guarantee that you will get approved.
“Safety issues are huge since it is a big chunk of metal going on roadways at high speeds.
Cornell University associate professor of engineering Samitha Samaranayake said.
Tesla’s goals for self-driving cars are dependent on cameras.
Which are less expensive than the radar and Lidar (light detection and ranging) sensors that power many rivals’ cars.
However, Mr. Samaranayake stated that the scientific community.
Is not sold on whether the Tesla method of doing things can deliver the safety guarantees that we would like.”
Keeping current with the times
The cybercab project was supposed to be released in August, but there have been delays.
In a post published on X, the former Twitter, this summer, Mr. Musk stated that he thought the wait was necessary because of improvements to the design.
Competing robotaxis are already in use on certain US roadways, though.
How San Francisco is being divided by robotaxis
Robotaxi technology advances, but will they be profitable?
Although sales have slowed, competitors are flooding the electric vehicle market, and Tesla appears certain to report its first-ever yearly sales decrease.
Notwithstanding the somber background, Tuesday’s celebration featured a lot of entertainment, including dancing and drink pouring by Tesla’s humanoid robots.
Additionally, Mr. Musk presented a second prototype for a “Robovan” that can transport up to 20 people at once.
Attending the ceremony in person, Dan Ives, managing director at Wedbush Securities.
Stated that Tesla “might leverage” the elegant shuttle as a means of transit in the years to come.
According to another expert, the incident both marked the way forward and felt like a trip down memory lane.
Head of insights at Edmunds Jessica Caldwell remarked.
Even still, there remain questions regarding his ability to carry out the vision he outlined, despite his impressive showmanship.
“There are still a lot of unanswered issues regarding how this will be accomplished practically,” Caldwell continued.
Current status of the market for robotaxis
Robotaxis deployment has faced obstacles. In San Francisco, driverless cars operated by General Motors subsidiary Cruise were halted when a pedestrian was hit by one of the vehicles.
Nonetheless, the industry is still growing.
Early in October, Waymo announced that the Hyundai Ioniq 5 would join its fleet of robotaxis following on-road testing of
In August, it declared a multi-year partnership with Cruise, a developer of autonomous vehicles.
According to reports, Chinese internet giant Baidu is also hoping to take its robotaxi business, Apollo Go, outside of China, where the vehicles are currently in use in a number of Chinese cities.
