Tesla’s shares dipped by almost 9% following a long-hyped unveiling of its robotaxi Cybercab, leaving investors somewhat disappointed. Although the presentation was quite ambitious by Elon Musk, the CEO of the company, analysts said the event was unhelpfully vague about timelines, product execution, and what Tesla plans in the near term. The show has set a fresh Cybercab, which is an autonomous two-seater vehicle without a steering wheel or pedals, but there were no details on regulatory challenges or a clear roadmap for commercialization.
Many analysts had already favorably pitted Tesla’s Cybercab against competitors like Waymo, which was already ahead with services that have been fully functional since inception. In fact, the presentation offered little by way of updates on Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) system and other related important developments that investors had eagerly awaited. Such failure to meet aggressive timelines understandably fueled skepticism over whether Tesla could really cope with stiff competition in the autonomous vehicle marketplace.
Poorly presented, Tesla’s stock suffered the biggest single-day drop in history with a loss of around $60 billion in market value of the company. Unclear near-term opportunities along with unclear strategies about how it is going to execute, this puts in serious doubt its ability to sustain leadership in the ever-changing EV and autonomous markets.
