Musk's robotaxi misses the mark with Wall Street: Here's what went wrong

Robotaxi is a fully autonomous two-seater with no steering wheel or pedals; Elon Musk hails it as Tesla's most significant launch since the Model 3

After Elon Musk introduced Tesla’s new Robotaxi, Wall Street reacted with disappointment. Tesla’s stock dropped by approximately 8.8 per cent during Friday’s premarket session, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal, resulting in a $40 billion decrease in the company’s valuation.

The Robotaxi, a fully autonomous, two-seat vehicle without a steering wheel or pedals, was described by Musk as Tesla's most important launch since the Model 3's debut in 2017.

Why were investors less enthusiastic about the robotaxi?

The report quoted Tom Narayan, an analyst at Royal Bank of Canada, as saying, “Investors we spoke to at the event thought the event was light of real numbers and timelines. These typically come at Tesla events. This one seemed focused on branding and marketing Tesla’s vision."

 

Musk did present a futuristic scenario where autonomous vehicles would eliminate parking lots and ease rush-hour traffic, but only briefly mentioned that the Robotaxi would enter production in 2026 with a price below $30,000.

Despite this, Tesla’s stock had surged in anticipation of the event, with the company’s market value nearing three times that of Toyota, the world’s top-selling carmaker.

The report quoted Jessica Caldwell, head of insights at Edmunds, as saying that making the leap to full autonomy — especially with unsupervised vehicles that lack steering wheels or pedals — requires such massive technological advancements that it seems overly ambitious within the projected timeline.

Musk also revealed that an unsupervised version of Tesla’s current supervised full self-driving system is planned for release next year, though analysts remain sceptical due to Tesla’s history of missing deadlines.

Tesla’s robotaxi

Elon Musk on Thursday introduced Tesla’s new robotaxi, featuring two gull-wing doors and lacking both a steering wheel and pedals. He also unveiled a robovan, signaling Tesla’s transition from producing affordable mass-market cars to focusing on robotics.

Musk made his entrance in what he referred to as a ‘Cybercab’, which is scheduled for production in 2026 with a price tag of under $30,000. He projected that the operating cost would eventually drop to 20 cents per mile, with inductive charging removing the need for traditional plug-in systems.

These vehicles, as Musk explained, rely on artificial intelligence and camera systems, avoiding the additional hardware used by competitors.

At the event, Musk said, “The autonomous future is here. We have 50 fully autonomous cars here tonight. You'll see model Ys and the Cybercab. All driverless."