EV maker Tesla (NAS100:TSLA) has set a date of June 22 for the rollout of robotaxis with a potential expansion soon after.
Tesla trades at the $330 level after the recent correction and could be back at the $360 level soon. That will be a test of the April bounce high and a chance to recover the bull move.
Tesla’s pilot will begin with a small fleet of vehicles, with full-scale production scheduled for 2026, if it is successful. Elon Musk has hinted at a rapid expansion of the initiative if the scheme goes well.
The timing of the June rollout is a strategic one as the company sees its core electric vehicle sales losing momentum. Deliveries declined in the first quarter, with little indication of a strong rebound in the second quarter as competition continues to build in China. The company also started to see weakness in Europe after Musk’s political work created division.
A robotaxi rollout can see the company target more home-grown business and reinvigorate the data-driven growth prospects pushed by the likes of Ark Invest’s Cathie Wood. Another initiative planned by Tesla for 2026 is the production of its humanoid robot Optimus robot, targeted at the manufacturing sector.
Wood maintains her bullish stance on Tesla, with a price target of around $2,500 by 2030. She believes that the robotaxi business will account for 63% of the company’s revenue and 86% of its EBITDA by 2029.
In the company’s recent earnings call, Musk said he doesn’t see anyone being able to compete on robotaxis, “at present”. “At least as far as I’m aware, Tesla will have, I don’t know, 99% market share or something ridiculous,” he added.
“If a company that needs to pay engineers and mechanics and remote assistance has to compete with Uber drivers who might be making less than minimum wage to maintain their own older vehicle, that’s kind of hard to do,” a scholar at Stanford Law School told CNN.
