LYFT - Tesla's Robotaxi Plans Face Major Challenges

2024-04-12 09:39:16 ET

Summary

• Tesla, Inc. CEO Elon Musk confirms plans to reveal a robotaxi service in August 2023.
• Tesla's potential entry into the ride-hailing market could be profitable, given its technology and production capacity.
• However, Tesla faces challenges such as scaling costs, competition from other car manufacturers and ride-hailing companies, and the need to improve its autonomous driving technology.
• Add on top of this how pricey shares still are, and investors have reasons to be pessimistic.

These are interesting times for the electric vehicle market. As I just wrote about in an article published recently, Rivian Automotive ( RIVN ) seems to be facing an existential crisis, while other companies like Ford Motor Company ( F ) are bracing for weak demand. Increased competition is pushing prices down, and consumers are not wholly sold on the transition from internal combustion engines and hybrids to electric vehicles. Amidst all of this uncertainty, the CEO of Tesla, Inc. ( TSLA ), the controversial Elon Musk, recently came out and confirmed that the company will be revealing a robotaxi service in August of this year.

Historically speaking, I have been very skeptical of Tesla. The first article that I wrote about the company after the "strong buy" through "strong sell" recommendations came out on Seeking Alpha was an article , published in June of last year, in which I rated the enterprise a "sell" because of how expensive shares looked. So far, that call has proven effective. Shares are down 32.4% at a time when the S&P 500 (SP500) is up 17.6%. I reiterated that rating in an article published in early February of this year. And shares are still down from that time, while the S&P 500 has risen. But these weren't the first times that I wrote about the company. I did have one article that came out in August 2018. And it tackled this very topic....

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