Tesla’s Self-Driving Reveal Disappoints, But This Revolution Is Accelerating

For the past several weeks, amid a flurry of positive developments in the self-driving industry, we have been pounding the table on autonomous vehicle stocks. 

Indeed, just consider: Waymo is already delivering 100,000-plus autonomous rides per week throughout Phoenix, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. And it’s set to expand to Austin, Texas and Atlanta, Georgia within the coming months. Baidu’s Apollo Go is also apparently delivering around 100,000 autonomous rides per week in various cities throughout China and is looking to aggressively expand as well.

In Texas, Aurora and Kodiak Robotics aim to put their driverless trucks on public roads to autonomously haul freight by the end of the year. And in Arizona, Uber Eats is tapping Waymo to autonomously fulfill some online food delivery orders.

And last week, it was Tesla’s turn in the spotlight. At its “We, Robot” event on Oct. 10, the automaker finally unveiled its self-driving cars, the Cybercab and Cybervan… and the market was left largely unimpressed. 

Since that reveal, Tesla stock has dropped about 10%. 

It seems Musk’s disappointing debut let a lot of air out of investors’ tires. As we’ve mentioned before, the long-running joke has been that self-driving cars are ‘five years away from being five years away.’ And last week’s nebulous “We, Robot” event seems to have solidified that thinking for many.

But here’s the twist: this may actually be the perfect moment to double down on AV stocks. 

Despite Tesla’s lackluster debut, self-driving cars are here – and they’re set to transform our world over the coming years. 

Tesla’s Reveal: Style vs. Substance

Now, we aren’t saying this as relentless Tesla stock bulls, either. 

Yes, we are bullish on TSLA. But we, too, walked away from the company’s robotaxi reveal with mixed feelings. 

The company just didn’t provide much detail about its new products. 

Reportedly, the Cybercab will cost less than $30,000. But Tesla is still struggling to make a non-autonomous car for less than $30,000. So, without further details, we find that price point hard to believe. 

Additionally, Cybercab production was promised by 2027… but there was no discussion of what’s being done right now to prepare for that. And considering Musk’s history of being overly optimistic about production timelines, perhaps 2028 or 2029 would be a more realistic expectation here. That is still a long way off. 

Not to mention, no technical details about Cybercab or Cybervan were discussed. No timeline was provided for Optimus’ launch. And while certain demonstrations were impressive – Tesla’s robots were seen having full conversations with guests, playing rock-paper-scissors, and pouring drinks – rumors have been swirling that the bots were actually being teleoperated at this event.