Tesla delays Robotaxi unveiling, stock drops 8.4%

Tesla Inc. is delaying its robotaxi reveal until October, citing the need for more prototypes. CEO Elon Musk originally set an August date, boosting Tesla's stock, which dropped 8.4% on the delay news. Uber and Lyft shares rose in response. Musk has long championed autonomous tech amid Tesla's production challenges..Sign up for your early morning brew of the BizNews Insider to keep you up to speed with the content that matters. The newsletter will land in your inbox at 5:30am weekdays. Register here..Join us for BizNews' first investment-focused conference on Thursday, 12 September, in Hermanus, featuring top experts like Frans Cronje, Piet Viljoen, and more. Get insights on electricity and exploiting SA's gas bounty from new and familiar faces. Register here..By Dana Hull and Ed Ludlow.Tesla Inc. is postponing its planned robotaxi unveiling to October to allow teams working on the project more time to build additional prototypes, according to people familiar with the decision. .___STEADY_PAYWALL___.The roughly two-month delay has been communicated internally, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information hadn't been publicly announced. The design team was told this week to rework certain elements of the car, one of the people said. .Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk set the initial Aug. 8 date for the event months ago, and optimism about the spectacle has contributed to an 11-day streak of gains that added more than $257 billion to Tesla's market capitalization. The stock closed 8.4% lower on Thursday, its largest drop since January..Musk didn't respond to requests for comment..Read more: 🔒 Institutional investors flee Tesla amid growth concerns: What next for the electric car giant?.Shares of would-be taxi rivals Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft Inc. both surged on the news. Uber's stock rose 6.1% on Thursday. Lyft shares jumped 4.6%..The idea of creating an autonomous taxi service has been kicking around Tesla for years, dating at least as far back as when Musk authored a second "master plan" for the company in 2016. The CEO has prioritized the project in recent months over work on an electric vehicle cheaper than Tesla's most affordable car, the Model 3 sedan..Read more: 🔒 Hedge funds hit by Tesla's surprise rally after shorting stock.Musk has talked up Tesla's work on autonomous-vehicle technology for over a decade and convinced customers to pay thousands of dollars for a suite of features the company markets as Full Self-Driving, or FSD. The name is a misnomer — FSD requires constant supervision and doesn't render Teslas autonomous — but Musk and top engineers have been increasingly bullish about FSD in recent months as the company's vehicle sales have slowed..Tesla delivered 6.6% fewer cars in the first half of the year, despite the company adding a new model — the Cybertruck — to its lineup. The automaker also produced 14% fewer vehicles in the second quarter than it did a year earlier to help curtail swelling inventory..Read also: .🔒 Only Tesla's AI Robotaxi can save investors now: Liam Denning🔒 Donald Trump eyes Elon Musk as potential policy adviserElon Musk's Neuralink knew of brain implant wire issues before human trials.© 2024 Bloomberg L.P.

Tesla delays Robotaxi unveiling, stock drops 8.4%

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