Tesla (BDR:) started on Sunday (22) the long -awaited taxi service totally autonomous, restricted to a limited number of users – a discreet release for what Elon Musk sees as a transformative business line.
The first routes took place in a delimited area of Austin, Tesla’s hometown, with an employee sitting on the front passenger seat to monitor security. The automaker has chosen small groups of retail investors and digital influencers to test and broadcast their trips live.
In one of the videos, the fan Herbert Ong praises the car’s speed and capacity to park alone. The influencer @blkmdl3 at X stated that the trip was “softer than with a human behind the wheel.” Sawyer Merritt, an investor who manages a profile about Tesla, considered the experience “amazing.”
With no debut event or formal announcement, Tesla bet mainly on mouth to mouth and press coverage to publicize the debut of robotáxis. The discreet launch runs away from the company’s grand style, which promoted “Cyber Rodeo” to inaugurate the Texas factory in 2022 and an invitation party near Hollywood last year to present autonomous prototypes.
Although Musk warned that autonomy hardly “moving the finances” of Tesla this year, the service advance raised the company’s actions by up to 1.8% at 5am on Monday in New York, before the opening of the regular trading session.
The CEO has been guiding Tesla for advanced technology bets – such as autonomous vehicles and humanoid robots – hoping for new business lines that reverse the 20% drop in stock this year, caused by the retraction of sales and the wear of their public image.
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“Although Tesla is well positioned, we believe that this opportunity is already priced on paper,” said Joseph Spak, UBS analyst with sales recommendation. He raised his price to $ 215, still below $ 322.16 from closing last week.
In the debut video, the robotáxis appears making short routes, crossing intersections, diverting pedestrians and parking – all without a driver. There was even a small mistake: when an influencer called the button to end the race, the car stopped in the middle of the street before traveling.
The initial fare was fixed and defined by Musk: $ 4.20 per trip. The service operates from 6am to midnight, within a specific geographical area of Austin, excluding the airport-according to reports from some of the first users. Under adverse weather conditions, the robotx can be unavailable.
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At first, only 10 to 20 vehicles will be in operation to prove that cars can deal with real traffic, a challenge that has damaged competitors and drew attention from regulatory bodies.
Cruise (GM autonomy company that ended operations at the end of 2023 after an accident in which a pedestrian was injured) and Uber (who ceased tests after another accident in 2018) faced similar obstacles.
Tesla has not yet reported when the service will be made available to the general public, but Musk promises rapid expansion to other US cities soon.
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In Austin, the company will have competitors: Waymo (from Google/Alphabet), which operates in partnership with Uber, and Zoox (from Amazon) also test autonomous vehicles in the city.
Dan Ives, an analyst at Wedbush, with a purchase recommendation for Tesla’s actions, said after a member of his team testing the service that the experience was “better than expected.”
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