Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk has already lowered expectations for when the EV maker will fully launch its robotaxi service, which he sees as key to the company’s long-term success. Still, even the smaller rollout he talked about last week may be hard to achieve, according to The Information. In fact, Tesla hasn’t finished the required paperwork to operate in Arizona and Nevada, two of the three new states that Musk said would get robotaxi services by the end of 2025. Additionally, Tesla is still testing with human drivers in California and has not yet applied for a permit to operate a fully driverless service.
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This slow progress could make it difficult for Tesla to meet Musk’s recent goal of bringing robotaxis to eight to 10 U.S. metro areas within the next couple of months. And that’s already a scaled-back version of what he promised in July, when he said robotaxis would reach half the U.S. population by the end of 2025. Because each state, and sometimes each city, has different rules for self-driving cars, Tesla has to deal with a wide range of regulations just to expand.
As a result, Tesla’s robotaxis still rely on human drivers, though Musk says they might remove them soon in parts of Austin. Moreover, the company is hiring for robotaxi-related roles in Florida and other cities, such as Denver and New York, even though some of these places still don’t allow fully autonomous cars. Nevertheless, Tesla plans to eventually switch from using modified Model Ys to a new driverless vehicle called the Cybercab, which Musk says will go into production in 2026.
What Is the Prediction for Tesla Stock?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Hold consensus rating on Tesla stock based on 14 Buys, 11 Holds, and 10 Sells assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. Furthermore, the average Tesla price target of $382.54 per share implies 13.2% downside risk.
