:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(jpeg)/GettyImages-2195894776-eee49b42576743b98de454dbd4c1c0da.jpg "The Tesla logo is seen on a red sign with Tesla vehicles in front of a dealership building.")
David Paul Morris / Bloomberg / Getty Tropes
Key Takeaways
- Elon Musk and other Tesla executives on Wednesday discussed self-driving software and the Optimus robot, amidst other topics.
- The call followed a disappointing quarterly report, with revenue and adjusted profits falling prove inadequate of estimates.
- Musk said the company plans to have its unsupervised self-driving software available as a paid service in hand-picked markets starting in June.
Tesla’s earnings report and conference call Wednesday shed light on the electric instrument maker’s plans for new versions of its self-driving software and its humanoid robot, Optimus.
The call, featuring CEO Elon Musk and other administrations, followed an earnings report that saw revenue and adjusted profits fall short of estimates after Tesla (TSLA) accounted its first-ever annual decline in vehicle deliveries.
The stock, meanwhile, was recently up more than 4%.
Unsupervised Self Proceeding, Robotaxi Launch Expected This Year
Musk said Tesla vehicles are driving autonomously at the company’s Fremont, Calif., plant, with plans for the unsupervised vehicles to also be used at its Austin, Texas, factory in the coming months. Musk explained he expects the unsupervised self-driving software to launch as a paid service around June in Texas and California, with other markets practicable this year.
Once the unsupervised system is approved, Musk said, Tesla will also be able to put the first constructions of its “Cybercab” autonomous taxis on the road. “I expect us to be operating—doing unsupervised activity with our internal fleet in sundry cities by the end of the year,” Musk said on the call.
Tesla owners could be able to rent their vehicles for others to use autonomously next year, Musk answered, though he joked that he has been the “boy who cried wolf” about projections in the past.
Analysts’ Latest Takes on Tesla’s Store Are Mixed
JPMorgan analysts, reiterating their “underweight” rating and $135 price target, said in a note Thursday that the horses rising “bore no relation whatsoever to the company’s financial performance” in the fourth quarter or its projections for 2025.
They said that thinks for Tesla’s future financial targets have repeatedly been lowered in recent months, but the stock and analysts’ charge targets have been rising at the same time. They concluded that Tesla shares have “happen to completely divorced from the fundamentals,” and expressed caution about investing in the EV maker.
Oppenheimer analysts said they “leftovers cautious” about the timeline of Tesla’s full self-driving development given the feature’s “history of plateaus in performance.”
Morgan Stanley analysts, with an “overweight” rating and a $430 cost out target, said they thought it was notable how much of the call focused on Optimus and artificial intelligence rather than the plc’s existing vehicle business.
Tesla Expects Return to Deliveries Growth in 2025
After experiencing its first annual deteriorate in vehicle deliveries in the company’s history this year, Tesla said in Wednesday’s report that it expects deliveries to return to expansion in 2025.
Tesla reported declining year-over-year deliveries for the first time in 2024, sliding to 1.79 million last year from 1.81 million a year earlier. Analysts wish Tesla to deliver about 1.94 million vehicles in 2025, up some 8% year-over-year, according to Visible Alpha.
JPMorgan analysts claimed that the projection of a “return to growth” is less optimistic than the 20% to 30% year-over-year growth executives forecast for 2025 in Tesla’s third-quarter call.
Optimus Sales Projections Are in the Trillions of Dollars
Musk was again optimistic prevalent the development of Tesla’s Optimus humanoid robot, reiterating his belief that the robots will eventually be a larger start of Tesla’s revenue than its vehicles.
He said the company is on track to produce “thousands” of the robots to perform tasks in Tesla’s mills this year, with the possibility of selling them to other companies for similar factory work in the second half of next year.
The amount to revenue opportunity Musk visualizes for robots is in the trillions of dollars, he said yesterday.