Tesla's much-hyped robotaxi event fails to impress
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Tesla's robotaxi unveil in Hollywood Thursday night as seen from the livestream. Screenshot: Tesla/YouTube
Elon Musk last night did what he does best — put on a show.
Why it matters: The Tesla CEO needed to sell a flashy story about the company's future amid declining present-day demand for its EVs — but in the eyes of most investors after the literal smoke cleared, the unveil failed to live up to the hype.
Catch up fast: The future Musk painted was one filled with robotaxis, robovans and bipedal humanoid robots that dance and play games with your family at the kitchen table.
- Unsurprisingly, longtime Tesla bulls like Deepwater Asset Management's Gene Munster and Wedbush's Dan Ives who were at the event in an LA movie studio lot wrote positive first impressions of the Cybercab last night.
Yes, but: Investors on Robinhood overnight dumped the stock, and it opened down more than 9% Friday.
- By the morning, even Ives "totally" agreed with investors and bears that "ideally Musk and Tesla should have spent more time on details."
What they're saying: "Tesla is down because they are stuck selling the same model Y for many years to come. None of these products are coming anytime soon," investor Ross Gerber posted.
Reality check: The hardware was in the spotlight — but there were also expectations of a software network that would connect the cars, and that was missing from last night's announcement.
- The rave-like presentation also lacked demos of what a Tesla customer-powered robotaxi fleet would look like.
- Analysts have already suggested that Lyft and Uber may come under pressure if Tesla's robotaxi ambitions come to fruition. Shares of both companies jumped over 8% on Friday, with Jefferies analyst John Colantuoni calling Tesla's event "a best-case outcome" for the ride-share stocks.
💭 Hope's thought bubble: As a reporter who covered Tesla's Cybertruck announcement in person in 2019, I wasn't surprised by the theatrics nor the hours-long livestream of the test drives that continued into the night.
- It's all part of Musk's sleight of hand that we've written about before — but let's also be clear: Robotaxis have been in development for over a decade and there's a real threat of the self-driving tech further eroding Tesla's presence in its key China market.
The other side: Despite Friday morning's selloff, Tesla's stock is still up over 30% from when Musk teased the reveal in April. Several analysts Friday said they liked what they saw last night, including BofA's John Murphy and John Babcock, who reiterated their Buy rating on the stock.
What we're watching: Without a steering wheel and pedals, Tesla needs an exemption from federal motor vehicle safety standards to deploy Cybercabs on U.S. roads, Axios' Joann Muller has noted.
