By Investing.com — Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) shares dipped in early US trading on Friday after the group unveiled its “Cybercab” robotaxi at a much-anticipated event in Los Angeles, with analysts flagging that CEO Elon Musk provided few answers to crucial questions surrounding the technology.
The Cybercab model, which has no steering wheel or pedals and seats two, will likely go into production before 2027 and will be available for less than $30,000, Musk said. However, the tech tycoon, who entered the event riding in a Cybercab, noted that the service would still need to clear a variety of regulatory hurdles.
“It’ll save lives,” Musk said, adding that autonomous vehicles will be “ten times” safer than human drivers.
Tesla also showed off a prototype for “the Robovan,” an autonomous vehicle capable of seating up to 20 people, as well as an updated model of its humanoid robot, called “Optimus.”
Tesla’s pivot into artificial intelligence and autonomous driving comes as the company grapples with a steady decline in sales stemming from increased competition in top market China and sluggish sales in the West. Annual deliveries are at risk of declining for the first time ever in 2024, analysts have noted.
Meanwhile, Tesla is trying to keep pace with autonomous driving firms like Alphabet-subsidiary Waymo and General Motors-owned Cruise, which both offer robotaxi services in select American cities.
Shares in Tesla have surged since it first announced a “robotaxi day” in April, as Musk estimated that the new offerings could boost the company’s valuation to as high as $5 trillion from its current level of just over $748 billion.
However, analysts noted some disappointment among investors that the event did not include strict timelines or specific numbers.
“These typically come at Tesla events. This one seemed focused on branding and marketing Tesla’s vision, rather than giving concrete numbers for us to model out,” analysts at RBC Capital Markets said in a note to clients.
(Ambar Warrick contributed reporting.)