Tesla Inc. is delaying the launch of its robotaxi until October to construct more car prototypes, per reports.
Tesla's market value rose over $257 billion after CEO Elon Musk announced the date for August 8. Anticipation led to an 11-day string of increases. However, the EV maker's shares fell more than 8% Thursday after Bloomberg News revealed Tesla's robotaxi delay.
Tesla acknowledged the delay internally but not publicly. It has been developing an autonomous taxi service since Musk's second "master plan" for the firm eight years ago. Musk recently prioritized this project over a cheaper electric vehicle than the Model 3 sedan.
Musk has pushed Tesla's Full Self-Driving (FSD) offering for over a decade, charging thousands of dollars. While FSD claims to make Teslas driverless, it still requires driver oversight. As Tesla's vehicle sales have slowed, Musk and his senior engineers are more enthusiastic about FSD.
Elon Musk has long seen Tesla owners earning money by sending their autonomous vehicles to pick up and drop off people. His company is previewing a ride-hailing feature in its app.
Tesla's Mounting Challenges
Few of Musk's completely autonomous vehicle promises have come true. Tesla's Autopilot and FSD technologies need drivers to stay alert and ready to take control. In comparison, Waymo operates completely autonomous robotaxis in various US cities, per The Verge.
In its earnings report, Tesla referred to the impending robotaxi as "purpose-built," a term in the autonomous vehicle industry for vehicles constructed from the bottom up to be self-driving and without steering wheels and pedals.
Musk laid off more than 10% of Tesla's worldwide personnel weeks after the robotaxi event and underlined the company's autonomous focus, per TechCrunch.
Tesla's better-than-expected delivery report this week disappointed price-fall speculators. The company's shares rose 17% on the two trading days after the second-quarter release, costing short sellers $3.5 billion, according to S3 Partners.
From April's yearly low, Tesla shares rose 73%. The stock is nearly erasing its year-long losses after closing at $246.39 on Wednesday. CNBC reports 3.5% of Tesla's float, or 97 million shares, is short, valued at $22.4 billion.
Tesla Rival Threatens to Overtake It as Top EV Maker Soon
Later this month, Tesla's earnings report will disclose its health. After plummeting 9% in the first quarter, analysts expect revenues to decline 2.9% to $24.2 billion, as previously reported by TechTimes.
Tesla finance promotions increased volume growth but dragged demand forward, making it hard to generate new demand in the third quarter and beyond, according to Guggenheim Partners analyst Ronald Jewsikow.
A recent Counterpoint Research study forecasts that BYD will outsell Tesla in battery electric vehicle (BEV) sales this year, strengthening its market dominance.
BYD produced over 3 million battery-only and hybrid cars last year, surpassing Tesla's 1.84 million. While Tesla led BEV production, BYD produced 1.6 million battery-only passenger vehicles and 1.4 million hybrids.
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