Key Stats for Tesla Stock
- Price Change for Tesla stock: 3.6%
- $TSLA Share Price as of Dec. 15: $475
- 52-Week High: $488
- $TSLA Stock Price Target: $391
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What Happened?
Tesla (TSLA) stock jumped 3.6% on Monday after CEO Elon Musk announced that the company is now testing fully driverless Robotaxis in Austin, Texas, without any humans inside the vehicles.
“Testing is underway with no occupants in the car,” Musk wrote on X over the weekend. This marks a significant step forward for the electric vehicle maker, which launched its limited Robotaxi service in Austin back in June with safety drivers present.
The announcement has reignited investor excitement around Tesla’s autonomous driving ambitions. For over a decade, Musk has promised that Tesla vehicles would eventually operate as self-driving robotaxis.
While the company still hasn’t achieved full autonomy at scale, removing the safety driver represents meaningful progress toward that goal.
Tesla’s vice president of AI software, Ashok Elluswamy, responded to a video of what appeared to be a driverless Tesla in Austin by posting “And so it begins!” on X.
The company’s official account added cryptic messages suggesting the fleet expansion would happen “slowly then all at once.”
Tesla’s Austin fleet currently consists of just 30 or fewer vehicles, with plans to double that to 60 by the end of 2025. That’s tiny compared to competitors like Waymo, which already operates commercial robotaxi services at a much larger scale in multiple cities.
Safety concerns also remain as Tesla reported seven collisions in its Austin fleet as of mid-October, even with human safety supervisors present in the vehicles.
Philip Koopman, an autonomous systems safety researcher at Carnegie Mellon University, said that with such a small fleet, “there should have been fewer than seven reportable accidents, especially considering that there is a safety supervisor in each one whose job is to prevent crashes.”
The company also hasn’t secured the necessary permits to test driverless vehicles in California, where it operates another Robotaxi service in the Bay Area.
California regulators confirmed that Tesla hasn’t applied for the permits needed to remove safety drivers or operate a commercial robotaxi service in the state.
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What the Market Is Telling Us About Tesla Stock
Despite the regulatory hurdles and safety questions, investors are clearly excited about Tesla’s progress toward unsupervised autonomy. Tesla stock is now marginally below its all-time high reached in December 2024, and up 18% for the year.
The market appears willing to look past the current limitations and focus on the massive potential opportunity.
During Tesla’s most recent earnings call, Musk said the company expects to operate Robotaxis in 8 to 10 metro areas by the end of the year, pending regulatory approvals. He also expressed confidence that Austin would have no safety drivers “within a few months.”
For long-term Tesla stockholders, the real question is whether the company can translate these early tests into a profitable, large-scale autonomous ride-hailing business that competes with Waymo and other established players.
The technology is clearly advancing, but Tesla still has significant ground to cover before it can claim leadership in the robotaxi market.
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Disclaimer:
Please note that the articles on TIKR are not intended to serve as investment or financial advice from TIKR or our content team, nor are they recommendations to buy or sell any stocks. We create our content based on TIKR Terminal’s investment data and analysts’ estimates. Our analysis might not include recent company news or important updates. TIKR has no position in any stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading, and happy investing!
