By Martin Baccardax, TheStreet, 2024-09-05
Tesla shares moved higher in early Thursday trading after the carmaker said it's ready to roll out its driver-assistance technologies early next year and preps for the launch of its Cybercab robotaxi next month in California.
As part of a road-map update for investors, posted on Chief Executive Elon Musk's X social media website, Tesla said its Full Self-Driving advanced driver-assistance software will be available in Europe and China next year, pending final regulatory approval.
The move comes as Tesla TSLA continues to shift focus away from its traditional electric-vehicle-production roots and toward next-generation products, such as robotaxis, that are powered by the group's artificial-intelligence technologies.
Musk himself touted the profit potential of AI technologies, particularly with respect to the group's ambition to offer self-driving software to its near 7 million global EV fleet. He added that capital spending would likely rise to around $10 billion this year as a result.
Dojo is Tesla's self-designed supercomputer focused on computer vision processing and recognition.
"Anyone who doesn't believe that Tesla would solve vehicle autonomy should not hold Tesla stock," Musk said. "They should sell their Tesla stock."
Tesla's ability to prove this ambition will take a big step forward next month when it unveils its first robotaxi, dubbed the Cybercab, at an event that will reportedly be held at a Warner Bros. Discovery WBD studio in Los Angeles.
Robotaxi reveal in focus
Musk said the robotaxi event, originally slated for early August, was delayed to "make some important changes that I think would improve the vehicle." He added that he would be "shocked" if the first unsupervised rides couldn't take place by the end of next year.
FSD is key to Tesla's profit-margin growth
Tesla has claimed to have data based on around 300 million miles of driving, a figure Musk said would "soon be billions of miles and tens of billions of miles."
That would provide a huge competitive advantage for the company as it ramps up investments in AI and other technologies to harness its potential.
More Tesla:
- Analyst updates Tesla stock forecast before October's key event
- Tesla paying a startling hourly rate to train its Optimus robot
- Tesla quietly made a controversial change to the Cybertruck
Related: Top analyst defends Tesla stock price target despite earnings slump
Gene Munster, an analyst at Deepwater Asset Management and a longtime Tesla bull, has said the licensing of FSD technology could generate as much as $20 billion in annual revenue within five years of the first agreement.
Related: Veteran fund manager sees world of pain coming for stocks
