Latest news with #TimGoessman
CNBC
10 hours ago
- Automotive
- CNBC
Tesla stock pops 8% as Musk touts 'successful' robotaxi Austin launch
KEY POINTS Tesla rolled out autonomous robotaxis in Austin, Texas, on Sunday to a limited group of testers. CEO Elon Musk said in a post on social media platform X that customers were charged a flat fee of $4.20. The launch puts Tesla head-to-head with Alphabet-backed Waymo, which is already operating a fleet of robotaxis in several cities. A Tesla Inc. robotaxi on Oltorf Street in Austin, Texas, on June 22, 2025. Tim Goessman | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Toronto Sun
19 hours ago
- Automotive
- Toronto Sun
Tesla shares jump most in two months on Robotaxi service launch
Elon Musk sees the long-promised driverless taxi service as a transformative new business line Published Jun 23, 2025 • 3 minute read A Tesla robotaxi vehicle in Austin on June 22. Photo by Tim Goessman / Photographer: Tim Goessman/Bloom Tesla Inc. shares surged after the automaker rolled out its long-promised driverless taxi service to a handful of riders, a modest debut for what Elon Musk sees as a transformative new business line. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account The first robotaxi trips were limited to a narrow portion of Tesla's hometown of Austin on Sunday, with an employee sitting in the front passenger seat of each vehicle to monitor for safety. The carmaker hand-picked a friendly group of retail investors and social-media influencers to serve as initial riders and live-stream their trips. In one video, Herbert Ong, who runs a fan account, marveled over the speed of the vehicle and its ability to park autonomously. Another influencer with the X handle @BLKMDL3 deemed his trip smoother than with a human driver. Sawyer Merritt, a Tesla investor who runs an account focused on the company, called the experience 'awesome.' With no kickoff event and little in the way of formal announcements, Tesla relied largely on word of mouth and media coverage ahead of the robotaxi launch. The unveiling was uncharacteristically low-key for a company that held a 'Cyber Rodeo' to mark its Texas factory opening in 2022 and an invite-only party last year near Hollywood to unveil autonomous vehicle prototypes. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. While Musk has cautioned that autonomy is unlikely to 'move the financial needle' at Tesla for at least another year, progress toward getting the service started has boosted the company's shares. The stock jumped 11% as of 11:19 a.m. Monday in New York, the biggest intraday gain since April 9. The debut was 'largely uneventful' and free of major missteps, with the start of revenue service marking a 'critical milestone' for bulls in the stock, Barclays analyst Dan Levy said in a note. Musk has been reorienting the carmaker around still-unproven technologies including self-driving vehicles and humanoid robots. Some investors are counting on new business segments to revive Tesla from a vehicle sales slump and consumer backlash against its chief executive officer. The company's shares are still down 20% this year. 'While Tesla appears to be well positioned, we believe the opportunity is already priced into the stock,' Joseph Spak, a UBS Group AG analyst with a sell rating on the shares, wrote in a report Monday. He raised his price target to $215, well short of its close at $322.16 last week. Videos of the robotaxi launch posted Sunday were largely mundane, showing Model Y SUVs driving short distances, navigating intersections, avoiding pedestrians and parking — all with no one sitting in the driver's seat. There were some hiccups, like when one streamer tested a button to have the vehicle pull over and it instead briefly stopped in the middle of a road before the vehicle began moving again. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. The first riders were charged a flat rate of $4.20 per trip, Musk said Sunday. Robotaxis will be available between 6 a.m. and midnight daily within a geofenced area of the city, not including the airport, according to terms some early riders posted. Service may be limited or unavailable in inclement weather. Tesla is deploying only 10 to 20 vehicles initially, aiming to show its cars can safely navigate real-world traffic, which has tripped up some other companies and brought regulatory scrutiny. Cruise, the now-defunct autonomy business of General Motors Co., grounded its fleet in late 2023 and had its operating license suspended in California following an accident that injured a pedestrian. Uber Technologies Inc. ceased testing self-driving vehicles after one of its SUVs struck and killed a pedestrian in Arizona in 2018. Less than three years later, the company agreed to sell its self-driving business. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Tesla hasn't said when the robotaxi service will open to the general public, though Musk has pledged to scale up quickly and expand to other US cities in the near future. The carmaker will have some company in Austin. Waymo, the driverless-car unit of Google parent Alphabet Inc., is scaling up in the city through a partnership with Uber. Inc.'s Zoox is also testing there. Dan Ives, an analyst with Wedbush Securities with the equivalent of a buy rating on Tesla shares, said he expects robotaxis to be competitive with Waymo from the start. After a member of his team rode in one Sunday, the analyst told Bloomberg the robotaxi user experience was 'better than expected.'
