Tesla delays Robotaxi event in blow to Musk’s autonomy drive
- Optimism about the spectacle has contributed to an 11-day streak of gains that added more than US$257 billion to Tesla’s market capitalisation
Tesla 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.
The roughly two-month delay has been communicated internally, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information had not 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 August 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 US$257 billion to Tesla’s market capitalisation. The stock closed 8.4 per cent lower on Thursday, its largest drop since January.
Musk did not respond to requests for comment.
Shares of would-be taxi rivals Uber Technologies and Lyft both surged on the news. Uber’s stock rose 6.1 per cent on Thursday. Lyft shares jumped 4.6 per cent.