Tesla officially launched its limited robotaxi service in Austin, Texas, on Sunday, with the first ride officially taken and fee charged. Participants, including several Tesla social media influencers, had received "early access" invites sent Friday. Tesla stock closed a fraction higher in Friday's stock market action, and edged higher in aftermarket trade.
Chief Executive Elon Musk had previously announced a "tentative" June 22 date for the robotaxi service launch. An afternoon post from Musk on Sunday said, "Super congratulations to the @Tesla_AI software & chip design teams on a successful @Robotaxi launch!!"
An early post from Musk had said customers would pay a flat rate of $4.20 per ride. Emails sent out to early Tesla customers invite them to take part in an "early access" program. The email, shared on social media, outlines what the initial launch will look like.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Friday signed a bill listing pre-launch requirements for robotaxi operators. The rule does not take effect until Sept. 1. However, a group of legislators previously informed Tesla that a June 22 launch would be permitted only if the company provided proof of compliance with the safety rules.
Tesla stock advanced as high as 332.36 intraday Friday and closed up 0.03% to 322.16 during Friday's stock market. The stock moved 1.8% higher on Wednesday. The stock is right at its 21-day exponential moving average and slightly above the 200-day moving average.
What Tesla Is Saying
The invite email stated that the "early access phase" is invitation-only and that a "Tesla Safety Monitor" will be "sitting in the front right passenger seat" to "accompany you in your trip."
Recently, numerous videos of Model Y robotaxis have been posted to social media showing a supervisor in the passenger seat and a support vehicle following the Tesla Model Y robotaxi.
It is currently unclear if the ride-hailing service will also have a support vehicle following the robotaxis.
The number of Model Y robotaxis that will be operating on Sunday is also not yet known. Musk has said that it will likely be around 10-20 vehicles on day one.
The email Friday also outlined that the service will be geofenced and excludes airports. A map of the geofenced area will be available in the robotaxi mobile app. The app has not yet been made available.
The Tesla ride-hailing service will run from 6 a.m. to midnight every day of the week, but may be suspended for bad weather.
Early access invitees will be allowed to bring one fellow passenger with them per trip. Service may be suspended or terminated if passengers violate terms of agreement, according to Tesla.
Tesla includes using "instruments or equipment intended to record, measure, reverse engineer, collect information about, or conduct surveillance of any feature, equipment, component, or area" of the robotaxi as a reason for suspension or termination. However, separately the Tesla email states that "photos and video of the experience are OK."
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Austin And The Robotaxi
Tesla is a "known" autonomous vehicle, or AV, operator in Austin, according to Austin's Transportation and Public Works website. As of June 20, the EV giant is still in the "testing" phase of autonomous driving operation in the city.
Seven Democrats in the Texas state legislature late on Wednesday requested Tesla delay its Sunday robotaxi launch to Sept. 1, when new autonomous driving regulations are scheduled to go into effect. The letter says that Tesla can proceed with the June 22 launch if it responds "to this letter with detailed information demonstrating that Tesla will be compliant with the new law upon the launch of the driverless operations in Austin."
There was no indication as of Sunday morning that Tesla had replied to the letter, which was first reported by Reuters.
Both chambers in the Texas legislature passed the new autonomous vehicle legislation. Gov. Greg Abbott signed the bill, SB 2807, on Friday. The rules mark a reversal from the state's prior anti-regulation stance on autonomous vehicles, determined in a 2017 law that prevented local regulations related to self-driving vehicles.
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The new requirements include proof of ability to operate within state traffic laws, according to NBC Austin affiliate KXAN. They must also provide the state Department of Public Safety with plans detailing how first responders should interact with the vehicles in various scenarios.
Robotaxi operators must also verify that the vehicles are "capable of achieving a minimal risk condition if the automated driving system is rendered inoperable."
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, or NHTSA, in a letter made public in early May asked Tesla about its plan to launch its robotaxi service. The NHTSA wrote that it sought more information "to assess the ability of Tesla's system to react appropriately to reduced roadway visibility conditions."
The regulatory body also noted it has an ongoing investigation into Tesla Full-Self Driving collisions in reduced roadway visibility conditions. KXAN reported that the NHTSA said Tesla had responded to its inquiry, and that the response was being reviewed and processed.
Analysts Take On The Tesla Robotaxi
Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives, a longtime Tesla bull, wrote Friday that the "golden era of autonomous for Tesla officially kicks off on Sunday in Austin."
"While the Austin launch will start off small with roughly 20 Model Y vehicles in this "geofence" service around Austin this service should steadily ramp throughout the summer in Austin and it's our view Tesla will launch and scale its robotaxi service to roughly 25 cities in the U.S. over the next year," Ives wrote.
"We have seen many FSD Tesla Model Y's around Austin over the last few weeks testing the robotaxi service with this autonomous vision now a reality for Musk and Tesla," Ives added.
Meanwhile, Baird analysts last week downgraded TSLA to neutral from outperform, with an unchanged 320 price target. The analysts wrote that Tesla stock has performed well since Q1 earnings, primarily due to anticipation for the launch of the limited robotaxi service.
Musk's robotaxi ramp up rate predictions "are a bit too optimistic," according to Baird.
Tesla Stock Analysts Split On Robotaxi Impact
TSLA advanced more than 10% in the week through June 13, reclaiming the 200-day moving average and 50-day line. Tesla stock ended Friday's stock market down about 1% during the past week. It has so far declined 7% in June.
Overall, Tesla stock has moved 35% higher on robotaxi bets following the April 22 Q1 conference call. However, TSLA stock is down about 20% for the year. The stock has also retreated 34% from its all-time high of 488.54.
Tesla stock has a 21-day average true range of 5.38%. 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.
Tesla stock has a 70 Composite Rating out of a best-possible 99. The stock also has a 92 Relative Strength Rating and a 59 EPS Rating.
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