Tesla CEO Elon Musk over the weekend continued to tout the EV giant's upcoming full self-driving, or FSD, update, but cautioned that while it will be "better than a human," it will take months to "debug." TSLA shares traded around a buy point during Monday's stock market.
Musk posted to X on Saturday that FSD version 14, which he has said should launch in September, will be around two or three times "better than a human" driver. Version 15 could be 10 times superior, he said. However, Musk appeared to then backtrack that statement early Monday.
Musk wrote Monday that "there are so many rare situations" in real life "that even V14, while capable of being much safer than the average human driver, will take a few months to debug post release."
Separately, Musk on Sunday boasted of his vision of how humanoid robots will transform society in coming years. Tesla continues to work on its humanoid Optimus robot.
"Intelligent robots in humanoid form will far exceed the population of humans," Musk wrote on X Sunday. "There will be universal high income (not merely basic income). Everyone will have the best medical care, food, home, transport and everything else."
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The comments come as Musk and Tesla have continued to focus on autonomous driving and expanding its "robotaxi" ride-hailing service instead of targeting new vehicles to add to its aging lineup.
Last week, Tesla launched a new, slightly larger, six-seat Model Y L in China, with a starting price of around $47,180. However, Musk said the new vehicle would only come to the U.S. at the earliest by late 2026 and warned the new vehicle may "never" come.
"This variant of the Model Y doesn't start production in the U.S. until the end of next year," Musk wrote last week. "Might not ever, given the advent of self-driving in America."
Tesla Stock Trend
TSLA shares gained 1.9% to 346.60, hitting an intraday high of 349.53, during Monday's stock market, flirting with a traditional 348.98 buy point, according to MarketSurge. This comes after Tesla stock jumped 6.2% on Friday, rebounding from its 50-day moving average, reclaiming the 200-day line and breaking the downtrend of a handle, offering an aggressive entry.
Reflecting the retail investor interest in TSLA, Tesla stock was one of the top tracked by the subreddit investor group r/WallStreetBets. Website ApeWisdom showed TSLA as the sixth top-trending issue on r/WallStreetBets as of Monday.
Penny-stock real estate play Opendoor Technologies was the top-discussed stock, after roaring 39% higher Friday. Nvidia, Palantir Technologies and Root Insurance made up the rest of the top six discussed stocks on Monday.
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Tesla stock entered Monday's stock market up 10.3% in August, trading in a cup-with-handle base. The current base formed within a much-larger consolidation.
The relative strength line has lagged since late May and the end of last year, reflecting lagging Tesla performance vs. the S&P 500.
Tesla earnings are also on track for a third straight annual decline.
In late July, TSLA undercut its 50-day and 200-day moving averages as Musk warned of a "few rough quarters" ahead in the Q2 conference call.
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As of Friday's stock market close, Tesla stock was up around 43% since the April 22 Q1 conference call, lifted by robotaxi bets. Shares are down about 16% for the year, and 30% below their all-time high of 488.54.
Tesla stock has a 21-day average true range of 3.79%. The ATR metric, available on IBD's MarketSurge charting tool, gauges the characteristic breadth of a stock's behavior. Stocks that tend to make large jumps or dives in daily stock market action, the kind that can trigger sell rules and shake investors out of a stock, have a high ATR. Stocks that tend to make more incremental moves have lower ATRs.
Investors can keep tabs on the IBD Leaderboard watchlist, the IBD 50 list of top growth stocks and IBD SwingTrader along with the IBD Sector Leaders list.
Tesla stock has a 56 Composite Rating out of a best-possible 99. The stock also has a 68 Relative Strength Rating and a 54 EPS Rating.
Please follow Kit Norton on X @KitNorton for more coverage.
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