Tesla has announced the new date for its Robotaxi unveiling event, as CEO Elon Musk confirmed the worldwide reveal of its driverless electric vehicle will take place on October 10.
Tesla had originally scheduled the event for August 8. Back in April, Musk confirmed the company would officially release the design and give more details on the next-generation vehicle platform, which other Teslas will be built upon, in August.
However, Tesla had some internal plans to make changes to the Robotaxi design and felt the event would be more robust with more details and features that would need additional time for development.
Earlier this month, Bloomberg reported that Tesla was having discussions about pushing the event back by two months and stated that the company had already decided to delay the event from August.
Tesla and Musk did not comment on the report, but the CEO confirmed several days later that he had made the decision to push it back based on the need for a redesign:
Requested what I think is an important design change to the front, and extra time allows us to show off a few other things
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 15, 2024
While the new date was not yet decided on when Musk confirmed the delay on X, the company made it official earlier this week on its Q2 Earnings Call. Musk said the new date would be October 10.
Tesla Robotaxi Importance
Tesla has been developing its self-driving platform for several years and has hinted nearly every year since 2016 that it would be capable of developing a car that is completely self-driving. This has not yet happened.
However, with the release of more recent versions of Full Self-Driving (FSD), there is substantially more momentum than in past years, which makes the company more confident that it will be capable of full autonomy before other companies are.
Analysts were unconvinced that Tesla’s delay should have a substantial impact on the company’s stock or the long-term outlook of the automaker.
Dan Ives of Wedbush said:
“While the knee-jerk reaction will clearly be negative on a delay of August 8th based on this report that just hit, we believe the timing of robotaxis, partnerships, and the ultimate autonomous and AI-driven technology does not change at all for our bullish Tesla thesis. To some extent, we believe this 2-month delay could just make the actual Robotaxi event and prototypes even better, and more eye-popping for Tesla as Musk and the team know this unlocks the key to the long-term future of the Tesla story, and investors want MORE details…not less at this historic event.”
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