Connect with us

Elon Musk

Tesla Robotaxi and autonomy dreams lean on shareholders: Wedbush

Published

on

Credit: Tesla Europe & Middle East/X

Tesla’s dreams of developing a Robotaxi suite that utilizes a fully autonomous platform developed by the company’s top-tier talent now lean on shareholders and perhaps the most crucial vote in its history.

That’s what Dan Ives of Wedbush said in a new note to investors on Wednesday. As the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting is now just one day away, investors are down to their final chance to vote for or against Elon Musk’s new compensation plan.

Ives wrote that, while the company has made its intentions clear, wanting to maintain Musk, pay him accordingly, and give him the voting power he has long wanted, ultimately, the responsibility falls on investors.

As many retail shareholders have pushed for people to vote for Musk’s compensation package, there are a handful of large-scale funds and firms that have decided to go in another direction. Bullish Wall Street firms, Wedbush being one of them, believe it is crucial for Tesla to maintain Musk.

The vote could have major implications on whether Tesla launches an autonomous Robotaxi suite in the near future, Ives says:

“Getting Musk’s pay package approved tomorrow at the highly anticipated meeting will be a big step towards advancing Tesla’s future goals with the autonomous and Robotaxi roadmap ahead.”

Advertisement
-->

While some investors are convinced the company is ready to go in a different direction simply based on Musk’s political involvement over the past year, many investors are under the impression that the development of Tesla’s autonomy suite, as well as its prowess in the EV sector, would fall if Elon were not at the helm.

Tesla’s Board of Directors has already stated that they have received confirmation that Musk’s political involvement would wind down in a timely manner. Moving forward, his focus will not veer from the mission of any of his companies; at least that’s what can be gathered from some of the Board’s communications over the past month.

Musk’s new compensation package is incentivized by performance metrics and will require him to achieve a handful of lofty tranches. He will not get paid unless he drives shareholder value, which is something many skeptics tend to leave out.

Ives continues:

“This new incentive-driven pay package for Musk would also provide an additional 423 million shares of common stock (~12% of shares), which would increase his ownership of Tesla up to ~25% voting power, which we believe was critical to keep Musk at the helm to lead Tesla through the most critical time in the company’s history. We believe this was the smart move by the Board to lay out these incentives/pay package at this key time as the biggest asset for Tesla is Musk…and with the AI Revolution, this is a crucial time for Tesla ahead with autonomous and robotics front and center.”

Advertisement
-->

Wedbush maintained its Outperform rating and $600 price target on shares.

Joey has been a journalist covering electric mobility at TESLARATI since August 2019. In his spare time, Joey is playing golf, watching MMA, or cheering on any of his favorite sports teams, including the Baltimore Ravens and Orioles, Miami Heat, Washington Capitals, and Penn State Nittany Lions. You can get in touch with joey at joey@teslarati.com. He is also on X @KlenderJoey. If you're looking for great Tesla accessories, check out shop.teslarati.com

Advertisement
Comments

Elon Musk

Elon Musk’s xAI closes upsized $20B Series E funding round

xAI announced the investment round in a post on its official website. 

Published

on

xAI-supercomputer-memphis-environment-pushback
Credit: xAI

xAI has closed an upsized $20 billion Series E funding round, exceeding the initial $15 billion target to fuel rapid infrastructure scaling and AI product development. 

xAI announced the investment round in a post on its official website. 

A $20 billion Series E round

As noted by the artificial intelligence startup in its post, the Series E funding round attracted a diverse group of investors, including Valor Equity Partners, Stepstone Group, Fidelity Management & Research Company, Qatar Investment Authority, MGX, and Baron Capital Group, among others. 

Strategic partners NVIDIA and Cisco Investments also continued support for building the world’s largest GPU clusters.

As xAI stated, “This financing will accelerate our world-leading infrastructure buildout, enable the rapid development and deployment of transformative AI products reaching billions of users, and fuel groundbreaking research advancing xAI’s core mission: Understanding the Universe.”

Advertisement
-->

xAI’s core mission

Th Series E funding builds on xAI’s previous rounds, powering Grok advancements and massive compute expansions like the Memphis supercluster. The upsized demand reflects growing recognition of xAI’s potential in frontier AI.

xAI also highlighted several of its breakthroughs in 2025, from the buildout of Colossus I and II, which ended with over 1 million H100 GPU equivalents, and the rollout of the Grok 4 Series, Grok Voice, and Grok Imagine, among others. The company also confirmed that work is already underway to train the flagship large language model’s next iteration, Grok 5. 

“Looking ahead, Grok 5 is currently in training, and we are focused on launching innovative new consumer and enterprise products that harness the power of Grok, Colossus, and 𝕏 to transform how we live, work, and play,” xAI wrote. 

Continue Reading

Elon Musk

Elon Musk’s Biggest Revelations on AI, Robots, and the Future of Work from the Moonshots Podcast

Published

on

By

Elon Musk’s appearance on the Moonshots with Peter Diamandis podcast was packed with bold predictions, candid admissions, and surprising tech insights. The nearly three-hour conversation covered everything from artificial intelligence to humanoid robots, geopolitics, and the future of work. Here are the top 10 most intriguing takeaways:

  1. Aggressive AGI Timeline Predictions

    Musk offered a detailed view on when artificial general intelligence (AGI) could emerge, suggesting it may arrive sooner than many expect,  emphasizing both transformative potential and risks.  

  2. U.S. vs. China in the AI Race

    He discussed the strategic competition between the United States and China over AI development, noting that geopolitical dynamics will shape how and who leads in the next decades.  

  3. Future of Job Markets

    Musk touched on how AI and automation could reshape employment, predicting massive boosts in productivity alongside potential disruptions in traditional work structures.  

  4. Clean Energy Transition

    A recurring theme was the role of clean energy in future economies, with Musk reiterating the importance of scaling sustainable power generation and storage.  

  5. Humanoid Robots Are Coming

    On the podcast, Musk elaborated on Tesla’s work on humanoid robots, hinting at timelines and applications that go beyond factories to general-purpose assistance.

  6. Tesla Roadster “Last Human-Driven Car”

    Outside the core discussion topics, Musk teased features of the upcoming Tesla Roadster — calling it “the best of the last of the human-driven cars” and suggesting safety won’t be its main selling point.  

  7. The Role of AI in Clean Energy and Robotics

    Linking AI to both energy optimization and robotics, Musk explained how smarter systems could accelerate decarbonization and task automation across industries.  

  8. U.S. Innovation Leadership

    Musk argued that maintaining American leadership in key tech sectors like AI, space, and robotics should be a national priority, with thoughtful policy and investment.  

  9. Job Creation vs. Job Elimination

    While acknowledging automation’s disruptive effects, he also outlined scenarios where new industries and opportunities could emerge, particularly in AI, space, and advanced manufacturing.  

  10. Long-Term Vision for Humanity

    Throughout the conversation, Musk revisited his long-term philosophical views — including a belief in humanity’s responsibility to become a multi-planetary and technologically empowered species.  

Whether you agree with Musk’s optimism or not, the podcast offers a window into the thinking of one of the most influential figures in tech today, in and why his visions continue to spark debate and inspiration.

Continue Reading

Elon Musk

Elon Musk just said some crazy stuff about the Tesla Roadster

Published

on

Credit: Teslarati via Riccardo Cestarelli

Elon Musk appeared on the Moonshots podcast with Peter Diamandis today to discuss AGI, U.S. vs. China, Tesla, and some other interesting topics, but there was some discussion about the upcoming unveiling of the Roadster, the company’s electric supercar that will arrive several years after it was initially slated for release.

Musk made some pretty amazing claims about the Roadster; we already know it is supposed to be lightning-fast and could even hover, if Tesla gets everything to happen the way it wants to. However, the car has some pretty crazy capabilities, some of which have not even been revealed.

On the podcast, Musk said:

“This is not a…safety is not the main goal. If you buy a Ferrari, safety is not the number one goal. I say, if safety is your number one goal, do not buy the Roadster…We’ll aspire not to kill anyone in this car. It’ll be the best of the last of the human-driven cars. The best of the last.”

Musk makes a good point: people who buy expensive sports cars with ridiculous top speeds and acceleration rates do not buy them to be safe. They hope they are safe in case of an emergency or crash, but safety is not at the forefront of their thoughts, because nobody buys a car thinking they’ll crash it.

The Roadster is truly going to push the limits and capabilities of passenger vehicles; there’s no doubt about that. Tesla plans to show off the new version car for the first time on April 1, and Musk has only hinted at what is possible with it.

Musk said back in November:

“Whether it’s good or bad, it will be unforgettable. My friend Peter Thiel once reflected that the future was supposed to have flying cars, but we don’t have flying cars. I think if Peter wants a flying car, he should be able to buy one…I think it has a shot at being the most memorable product unveiling ever. [It will be unveiled] hopefully before the end of the year. You know, we need to make sure that it works. This is some crazy technology in this car. Let’s just put it this way: if you took all the James Bond cars and combined them, it’s crazier than that.”

Production is set to begin between 12 and 18 months after the unveiling, which would put the car out sometime in 2027. Hopefully, Tesla is able to stay on track with the scheduling of the Roadster; many people have been waiting a long time for it.

Continue Reading