Tesla Unveils Robotaxi Cybercab, But Stock Down

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(RTTNews) - Shares of Tesla Inc. were losing more than 8 percent in the early morning trading on the Nasdaq on Friday following the electric vehicle maker's long-awaited robotaxi event, which showcased Cybercab self-driving concept car. The event perhaps failed to impress investors and Wall Street analysts.

Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk unveiled the Cybercab robotaxi concept vehicle during the event on Thursday night at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, California. It showcased a silver two-seater, without any steering wheels or pedals.

Tesla said it is hoping to produce the Cybercab before 2027. Musk noted that the car would be capable of driving itself autonomously when it launches, and that consumers would be able to buy one for a price tag under $30,000.

Musk further said that he expects Tesla to have unsupervised Full Self-Driving or FSD up and running in Texas and California next year in the company's Model 3 and Model Y electric vehicles.

FSD, Tesla's premium driver assistance system, is currently available in a supervised version for Tesla electric vehicles, and requires a human driver at the wheel.

Musk previously was expecting to unveil the new CyberCab robotaxi model on August 8 during a public event.

Meanwhile, Bloomberg had earlier reported that the company postponed the planned unveiling by two months to October so that teams working on the project would get more time to build additional prototypes. The design team reportedly was asked to rework certain elements of the car.

In 2019, Musk had promised that Tesla would have one million robotaxi-ready vehicles on the road in 2020.

The company is also expecting to ramp up its production of Optimus humanoid robot. Further, in early September, Morgan Stanley said Tesla's Dojo supercomputer could add $500 billion in the electric vehicle maker's market value.

These new projects are expected to revive the weakening financial performance of the automaker amid increasing competition.

In July, Musk had sent a warning to Bill Gates and the EV maker's short sellers for holding a position against the company after reports emerged that short sellers believed about Tesla being on the verge of financial decline.

In a post on social media platform X, Musk then said, "Once Tesla fully solves autonomy and has Optimus in volume production, anyone still holding a short position will be obliterated. Even Gates."

Among Tesla's peers, auto giant General Motors Co., through its autonomous vehicle company Cruise LLC, and tech major Alphabet Inc., through its autonomous driving unit Waymo LLC, are already offering robotaxi services.

On the Nasdaq, Tesla shares were losing around 8.3 percent to trade at $218.94.