Electronics Weekly
Tesla’s Robotaxi launch in Austin could be more a sign of technological weakness than a demonstration of technological prowess..
Analysts say that 60% of Tesla’s stock market valuation derives from its expertise in autonomous driving.
But whereas Waymo has 1500 vehicles in five cities offering paid-for robotaxi trips in fully autonomous vehicles without a safety driver, Tesla has 24 cars in one city using robotaxis with a safety driver sitting in the passenger seat charging only $4.20 a ride which is below cost.
Tesla has admitted that what it calls it ‘Full Self-Driving’ option – it’s most advanced automated driving function in its cars – is actually only an ADAS Level 2 capability where Level 5 is autonomous driving.
So the eyes of the analyst world are on Tesla and seeing it to be a long way behind Waymo technologically and concluding that, in that case, why is Tesla worth $1 trillion when Waymo was valued at $45 billion at its last fund-raising.
The threat of a further sell-off of Tesla shares may be what propelled Tesla to start its trial in Austin to try and show to the analyst world that its autonomous driving technology is solid.
There are reports that the local regulators in Austin are watching the trial closely. A lot may depend on what they see.
