Tesla plans to launch a limited robotaxi service in Austin, Texas, next month, and last week Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas, a longtime Tesla bull, met with the EV giant and received details on the plans for its autonomy push. TSLA advanced early Tuesday.
Jonas wrote on Friday that the robotaxi launch in Austin is "a go" but there will be significant limits.
"Think 10 to 20 cars. Public roads. Invite only. Plenty of tele-ops to ensure safety levels ('we can't screw up')," Jonas wrote Friday. "Still waiting on a date," he added.
Jonas also noted that there may be an Optimus event by the end of the year. The Morgan Stanley analyst said the Tesla team is "hopeful" investors can tour low-scale manufacturing by the fourth quarter. Jonas added that Tesla is targeting a $20,000 cost for the Optimus humanoid robot, while the Tesla CyberCab will have a $30,000 price tag.
These details come after Chief Executive Elon Musk said during the Q1 earnings call in April that Tesla was still debating what the robotaxi service would look like but that there will be "maybe 10 to 20" vehicles on day one. Based on Jonas, it looks like that is now the plan for next month.
Meanwhile, Musk also made it clear on the Q1 conference call that the robotaxi vehicles in Austin will be Model Ys.
"We expect to be selling fully autonomous rides in Austin in June," Musk said. "The team and I are laser focused on bringing robotaxi in Austin in June," adding that "unsupervised autonomy will first be solved for the Model Y in Austin."
Separately, the CyberCab product is on track for production next year, according to Tesla. The CyberCab will use the "unboxed" manufacturing system. Tesla executives said on the Q1 earnings call that the unboxed process is "progressing," suggesting it's not yet ready.
"I feel confident predicting large scale autonomy around the middle of next year, certainly the second half of next year," Musk said in April. It is unclear what vehicles would be self-driving capable.
Musk has predicted for a nearly a decade that Tesla will achieve self-driving "this year" or "next year."
TSLA advanced 3% to 352.17 at the opening bell for Tuesday's stock market action. The stock slid 2.3% to 342.09 on Monday as the markets broadly responded to Moody's downgrade of the U.S. sovereign debt rating on Friday. Tesla stock gained 17.3% to 349.98 last week that started with the announcement of a trade deal between the U.S. and China.
Tesla Stock Performance
Currently, aside from broad market optimism about Trump's China deal, investors are bullish on Tesla's self-driving efforts.
Tesla stock is up 21% in May. On May 9, shares blasted above the 200-day moving average, offering investors an aggressive entry. However, Tesla is stock is extended now and there still is a lot of overhead resistance.
Shares are still down about 15% this year as of Monday's stock market close, even as it has surged as the general analyst consensus was positive coming out of the Q1 conference call. There is also still significant overhead, with shares down about 30% from its 488.54 peak on Dec. 18.
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Tesla stock has a 21-day average true range of 5.75%. The ATR metric is available on IBD's MarketSurge charting tool that gauges the characteristic breadth of a stock's behavior. Stocks that tend to make large jumps or dives in daily 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.
With the S&P 500 and Nasdaq now in a power trend, investors can buy stocks with ATRs up to 8%, though they should be wary of being too concentrated in high-octane names.
Tesla stock has a 77 Composite Rating out of a best-possible 99. Shares also have a 93 Relative Strength Rating and a 59 EPS Rating.
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