Wedbush top analyst Daniel Ives called the Tesla (TSLA) robotaxi launch “the golden era of autonomous” for the electric vehicle (EV) maker. Ives maintained a Buy rating on TSLA stock and a Street High price target of $500, implying 55.2% upside potential from current levels. The top analyst ranks #1,217 out of 9,634 analysts ranked on TipRanks. He boasts a success rate of 51% with an average return per rating of 6.40%.
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Tech giant Alphabet’s (GOOGL) Waymo is Tesla’s biggest competitor in the robotaxi space. The company already operates successful autonomous ride-hailing services in Austin, Phoenix, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Miami.
Ives Sees $2 Trillion Future in AI and Autonomy
The Austin launch began with a small batch of 20 Tesla Model Y autos. Ives believes that Tesla will be able to “steadily ramp up” its service throughout the summer in the city, with the possibility of scaling the service to around 25 cities in the U.S. by 2026.
Ives hails the autonomous and robotaxi chapter as one of the most important for CEO Musk and the company in its history. The long-time Tesla bull believes that the artificial intelligence (AI) future of the company alone will be worth $1 trillion over the next few years. As of June 20, Tesla already had a market capitalization of $1.01 trillion. Combining these two figures suggests that Tesla could be worth a massive $2 trillion in the coming years.
Furthermore, Ives stated that President Donald Trump could help relax regulatory hurdles for the autonomous vehicle (AV) sector as a whole, despite the recent public showdown between Musk and him. He added that the “BFF/frenemy situation” between the two has created a soap opera, but in the end, Trump will favor the sector as he wants the U.S. to stay ahead of China in the AI arms race. Ives believes that having an AI lead will be one of the deciding factors in who wins the race, with Tesla playing a major role on robotaxis.
Tesla Debuts Robotaxi Fleet in Austin
Billionaire Elon Musk’s highly-anticipated autonomous robotaxis debuted in Austin, Texas, on Sunday, June 22, for select riders. Tesla sent out special invites to a select group of influencers to try the ride-hailing service, charging a flat $4.20 fee for each ride.
The initial launch is being conducted within a limited, geofenced area of Austin, with a Tesla employee sitting in the front right seat as a “Safety Monitor.” Moreover, the robotaxi is being monitored remotely by Tesla employees to assist in case of any problems. Several riders shared their experience by posting videos of their drives on X.
Is Tesla a Buy, Hold, or Sell?
Despite the optimism surrounding Tesla’s robotaxi launch, analysts remain divided on Tesla’s long-term stock trajectory. On TipRanks, TSLA stock has a Moderate Buy consensus rating based on nine Buys, six Holds, and one Sell rating. Also, the average Tesla price target of $348.39 implies 8.1% upside potential from current levels. Year-to-date, TSLA stock has lost 20.2%.
