TSLA Jun 2025 480.000 call
- Yahoo Finance
Can robotaxis turn a profit? Experts skeptical as Tesla prepares to unveil plans.
As Tesla investors await updates on the company's autonomous vehicles at its robotaxi event on Oct. 10, experts caution that the electric vehicle maker and its rivals still have a number of cost hurdles to overcome.
- Yahoo Finance Video
Tesla, Google, Amazon: Inside the robotaxi market
The launch of Tesla’s (TSLA) robotaxi marks one of the most consequential in the company’s history - if only, because Elon Musk has hailed this as the future for nearly a decade. For eight years, Musk has teased the vision of a shared fleet of fully-autonomous Teslas, with the promise of that technology contributing significantly to the company’s valuation. The long-anticipated launch comes amid increased scrutiny about the promise of self-driving technology. While Google’s Waymo has logged more than 22 million rider miles with few incidents in select cities, accidents involving GM’s Cruise and Tesla’s autopilot technology have raised questions about the technology’s ability to scale safely. Amazon’s Zoox is providing a potential template for the future, building vehicles for the sole purpose of ferrying passengers autonomously, without the traditional controls like a steering wheel and pedals. The company says that their new technology will ensure cost efficiency and safety. Founder Jesse Levinson said that Zoox’s robotaxi is fundamentally different from Tesla’s driver assistance system, as Tesla vehicles require drivers to be ready to take control at any moment. While Zoox doesn’t rely on human drivers for assistance, the company does use remote operators to guide the vehicle in rare situations. “The vehicles are only getting help from humans only 1% of the time,” Levinson said. “As it gets more sophisticated, the amount of time they’re asking for help goes down.” Still, critics question the economics and safety of self-driving taxis, noting that current autonomous rides are more expensive than car ownership, despite being cheaper than traditional rides. While Tesla investors are optimistic about robotaxis, experts believe substantial revenue is still years away.
- Yahoo Finance Video
Cathie Wood talks OpenAI investment and Tesla's robotaxi
OpenAI recently raised $6.6 billion in a new funding round, giving it a valuation of about $157 billion. One firm that has been investing in OpenAI is Ark Invest. Cathie Wood, ARK Invest's CEO and CIO, is betting big on AI. She says OpenAI, along with Anthropic, xAI, Google (GOOG, GOOGL), and Meta Platforms (META) are "stealing the march" in the space. While many investors are concerned about when companies will start seeing returns on their AI investments, Wood is hopeful. When asked about when OpenAI will start to turn a profit, she points to the development of agentic AI, which she thinks will open the door to more profitability, given that companies will be able to charge more for it. Despite some recent executive departures at OpenAI, Wood is confident in the startup's leadership, praising both CEO Sam Altman and CFO Sarah Friar. She notes that "what we witness in companies that are growing very quickly from startup into scaling is you need a different kind of management team." When it comes to competition between AI firms, Wood likes it. "Competition is good. It's going to make this space more competitive and more effective, I think, longer term," she says. On the possibility of a company like OpenAI going public, Wood argues "a lot of companies are staying private longer. They just don't want to deal with the regulation in the public equity markets. And they also don't want to deal with the very short-term oriented or short-term investment time horizon of shareholders in the public equity markets." However, she does think the public market could become more appealing with interest rates coming down and if investors were willing to stomach the longer-term time horizons some of these companies are working with. Watch the video above to hear Wood discuss Tesla (TSLA) and its upcoming robotaxi event. For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Asking for a Trend. This post was written by Stephanie Mikulich.
