New Tesla Robotaxi Could Wreck Stock or Drive It Higher

By Douglas A. McIntyre Updated Oct 7, 7:04AM EDT · Published Oct 6, 9:10AM EDT

Follow 24/7 Wall St. on Google

This post may contain links from our sponsors and affiliates, and Flywheel Publishing may receive compensation for actions taken through them.

New Tesla Robotaxi Could Wreck Stock or Drive It Higher — © Tesla Motors Model S-1 (BY 2.0) by jurvetson

24/7 Wall St. Insights

The Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA | TSLA Price Prediction) robotaxi is supposed to be America’s first fully autonomous vehicle.
If it is anything short of a perfect self-driving car, Tesla stock will be in trouble.
Also: Dividend legends to hold forever.

Elon Musk will unveil Tesla Inc.’s (NASDAQ: TSLA) so-called robotaxi on October 10 instead of August 8, as originally planned. The robotaxi is supposed to be America’s first fully autonomous vehicle, meaning it can drive without human help. Tesla already has a product called “self-driving mode.” Tesla says it “reduces your overall workload as a driver.” However, the driver must watch the road with hands close to the steering wheel.

The robotaxi will be based on very advanced artificial intelligence. It will also rely on data Tesla has gathered from cameras and software, which has tracked the millions of miles of highways and roads Tesla owners have traveled over recent years. So, this driving data probably covers every road in America, even small ones.

One aspect of robotaxi operation is reacting to unexpected events. This could be a child darting into the street, for example.

A truly self-driving car is as large a leap in car technology as in the auto industry’s history. It will revolutionize the driver’s relationship with their cars and every road they drive on, no matter where the road is or the difficulty of navigation.

What does the robotaxi launch mean to Tesla’s stock? Everything. If the company has radically altered the functions of a car to be completely self-driving, Tesla will be one of the leading AI companies in the world. This justifies why Tesla has a valuation that is many times higher than that of other global car companies.

If the robotaxi is anything short of a perfect self-driving car, Tesla’s shares will be in trouble.

Will China Take a Big Bite Out of Elon Musk’s Tesla?

About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.