The EV maker plans to soon launch its Cybercab in Austin, Texas, and got the nod to deploy thousands of vehicles in Nevada
The Cybercab was unveiled in October 2024. Now, nearly two years later, it's set to get an official launch in Austin, Texas, according to Tesla.
Major autonomous-driving companies are getting ready to turn Las Vegas into a robotaxi battleground after Nevada gave three big players the OK to deploy more cars.
The Nevada Transportation Authority on Thursday approved Tesla $(TSLA)$, Uber Technologies (UBER) and Waymo to offer commercial robotaxi services in Clark County, which is home to Las Vegas and about 2.4 million people. Together, the companies are allowed to deploy as many as 7,000 self-driving vehicles in the county over the next 12 months.
Tesla was given the nod to deploy 5,000 robotaxis in the county, while Alphabet-backed $(GOOG)$ $(GOOGL)$ Waymo and Uber can each deploy 1,000 autonomous vehicles, the NTA said.
In Las Vegas, Uber is working with the Hyundai Motor-backed (KR:005380) Motional and Amazon.com-owned (AMZN) Zoox to offer driverless trips. Zoox was approved to launch paid rides in Las Vegas earlier in August and has a permit to run up to 100 vehicles that lack steering wheels and pedals.
Tesla's stock was up 5% in midday action on Friday. Alphabet and Uber shares each were up 1%.
It's likely that the companies won't deploy all of the vehicles they've been approved for. A representative for Tesla said at an NTA meeting that the 5,000-vehicle figure was a way to give the company flexibility.
"I don't think we'll be in a position by this time next year to deploy 5,000 vehicles," Eric Earley, chief engineer of Tesla's Cybercab vehicle, told the NTA on Thursday. "I think we would be extremely happy and satisfied if we could get ourselves up to 2,500, maybe a bit higher than that in the next year."
Tesla currently operates 232 vehicles across Texas, California and Florida, according to a crowd-sourced robotaxi tracker. For now, it's far behind Waymo, which has deployed 3,871 robotaxis across six states, according to the tracker.
Tesla plans to initially deploy a small number of Model Y crossover SUVs in Clark County, mirroring a strategy it's employed in Texas, Florida and California. The company's progress on expanding its robotaxi network has been slower than some investors had expected, in part due to what Tesla CEO Elon Musk has positioned as a focus on safety.
"We're going as fast as humanly possible in scaling robotaxi, but while trying to ensure that we do not harm anyone at all and ideally do not even run over a pet," Musk told investors last month. "So that's really the constraint."
Since Tesla unveiled its first ride-hailing operation last year, the company has relied on Model Y electric vehicles to carry out trips. It plans to eventually fill out its fleet with the Cybercab, a designated robotaxi that went into production in late April, and retire the other vehicles. For the last several days, the company has been teasing a "Cybercab launch event" in its hometown of Austin, Texas.
"Robotaxi scaling appears well positioned, with the limited Cybercab test fleet continuing to validate the technology," J.P. Morgan analyst Rajat Gupta said in an Aug. 18 client note after touring Tesla's factory in Fremont, Calif.
Tesla "also noted that further Model Y additions to the robotaxi fleet are being limited, reflecting management's conviction in the near-term scalability of Cybercab," added Gupta, who rates Tesla's stock at neutral.
Tesla shares may also be benefitting from the company's recent disclosure that it would provide details next month about the European launch of its electric Semi truck. Tesla began volume production of the Semi at its plant in Nevada last quarter after introducing the vehicle in November 2017.
-William Gavin