Tesla's Q2 Earnings: Musk's Vision Meets Market Reality

Elon Musk Talks Up Robotaxi and Dojo Supercomputer as EV Profit Slides

"By far the biggest differentiator for Tesla is autonomy," Elon Musk said during Tesla's second-quarter earnings call. Elon Musk's claims surrounding Tesla (TSLA)'s ability to produce fully autonomous cars are often excessively ambitious -- something the Tesla CEO himself admits. "Obviously, my predictions on this have been overly optimistic in the past," he said during Tesla's second-quarter earnings call yesterday (July 23). However, that didn't stop Musk from proposing another optimistic proposal when asked about a timeline for the company's robotaxis. Tesla's unsupervised Full Self-Driving (FSD) vehicles could hit the road "possibly by the end of this year," Musk said, adding, "I would be shocked if we cannot do it next year." Sign Up For Our Daily Newsletter Sign Up Thank you for signing up! By clicking submit, you agree to our <a href="http://observermedia.com/terms">terms of service</a> and acknowledge we may use your information to send you emails, product samples, and promotions on this website and other properties. You can opt out anytime. See all of our newsletters In 2016, Musk suggested that fully autonomous Teslas would be available within the next two years. In 2019, he claimed that 1 million robot axis would be on the road by 2020. And earlier this month, Musk delayed an event dedicated to unveiling Tesla's robotaxi design that was supposed to take place on Aug. 8. The Tesla CEO confirmed during the earnings call that that event is now scheduled for Oct. 10. Musk said the date was pushed back to allow Tesla to make some important changes to the robotaxi and "show off a couple of other things" during the event. The Tesla head has spent recent years pivoting his company towards a foundation built on A.I., lauding future products like the robotaxi as key to its success. "By far the biggest differentiator for Tesla is autonomy," he said. Tesla's quarterly profit plummeted 45 percent Musk's attempts to refocus Tesla come as the automaker's profits slip. Tesla reported $1.5 billion in net income for the second quarter, a 45 percent dip from a year ago. According to Tesla, this fall was partly influenced by operating expenses driven by A.I. projects and restructuring changes. Quarterly revenue rose 2 percent to $25.5 billion, driven partly by Tesla's energy storage business growth, which saw its sales double from last year to $3 billion. Tesla is battling competition globally as rivals like BYD become more dominant. "There have been quite a few competing electric vehicles that have entered the market," Musk told analysts today, adding that "we don't see this as a long-term issue, but really as fairly short-term." The increasingly crowded EV landscape caused Tesla to slash prices across several vehicle models earlier this year. Tesla will need to quickly show results for the innovative proposals put forward by Musk, which include the company's robotaxi goals and plans to sell humanoid robots, "as we shift towards a faster-growth environment in the second half of the year, where competition will keep on bridging a progressively smaller technological gap between EV peers," said Investing.com analyst Thomas Monteiro in an investor note. "Perhaps more than ever in the company's recent history, Tesla's investors need results; those will have to come fast." Dojo supercomputer is suddenly a top priority. Musk's ambitious vision for Tesla's future also includes Dojo, a supercomputer that will aid in A.I. training to improve the company's FSD software. In January, he called the project as a "long shot" and "not something that is a high probability." The Tesla head took a different approach yesterday, describing Dojo as a top priority for the company in light of heightened demand for Nvidia (NVDA)'s graphics processing units (GPUs), which are in short supply as tech companies order mass amounts to help train and deploy A.I. models. "I'm quite concerned about actually being able to get Nvidia GPUs when we want them," said Musk. In response, Tesla must put more effort into ensuring Dojo can provide the training capabilities needed for its FSD goals. "We are going to double down on Dojo, and we do see a path to being competitive with Nvidia with Dojo," said Musk. "We've really got to make Dojo work."

Elon Musk thinks Tesla can make what GM, Google can't

It is undeniable to point out that a large focus of Tesla's (TSLA) second quarter 2024 earnings call on July 23 was not about the company's EVs like the Model 3, Model Y or the Cybertruck, but ambitious efforts toward artificial intelligence and autonomous vehicles, especially Robotaxis. "The value of Tesla overwhelmingly is autonomy," CEO Elon Musk declared during the earnings call. "These other things are in the noise relative to autonomy." Musk and Tesla may have a grand vision regarding robotaxis, but they have relatively tough competition to overcome. Musk's grand Robotaxi On the call, Musk acknowledged that the Robotaxi product unveil has been delayed from August 8 to October 10, noting that the extra time would allow for Tesla to make "some important changes" to the design of the vehicle, as well as give the company an opportunity to "show off a couple of other things," which Musk did not dive further into. Canaccord Genuity analyst George Gianarikas asked Musk about General Motors' (GM) decision to stop producing the Cruise Origin, a bus-shaped autonomous vehicle without pedals or steering wheels. In a letter attached to its earnings this week, CEO Mary Barra suggested that modifying a more traditional vehicle like the upcoming Chevrolet Bolt EUV would be easier in the eyes of government regulators and cheaper to make. "This addresses the regulatory uncertainty we faced with the Origin because of its unique design. In addition, per-unit costs will be much lower, which will help Cruise optimize its resources." Though the design of the actual upcoming robotaxi is under wraps, many believe that Tesla's vehicles will feature no pedals or steering wheels to control the car, which may place Musk's firm in a regulatory nightmare. However, in typical Musk fashion, he downplayed the issue and sent shots at his rivals. "Well, obviously, the real reason that they canceled it is because GM can't make it work, not because of regulators, they're blaming regulators," Musk said during the earnings call. "That's misleading of them to do so, because Waymo is doing just fine in those markets. So it's just that their technology is not at par." More Business of EVs: Another analyst, Pierre Ferragu from New Street Research, asked Musk about the scalability of his robotaxi project, which garnered another creative, open-ended response from the figurehead. Musk alluded to a "network" of Tesla vehicles in the range of "over 10 million and over 20 million vehicles" running 24/7 and operating on a unique structure. "If you can think of the driving fleet of Tesla vehicles as like a giant sort of Airbnb equivalent fleet -- Airbnb on wheels," Musk said. "I mean in addition, we would make some number of cars for Tesla that would just be owned by Tesla and be added to the fleet. I guess that would be a bit more like Uber. But this will all be a Tesla network." In a note published early on July 24, the day after the earnings call New Street downgraded Tesla from a "Buy" rating to "Neutral." The competition is alright Musk's comment and explanation for his robotaxi vision comes at a time of great investment into what would ultimately be Tesla's direct competition. Though General Motors has disclosed that it lost $458 million on Cruise in the last quarter, the automaker announced last month that it is pumping in $850 million as part of its continued commitment. The outsized sum was to be used to cover Cruise's operational costs as it resumes testing of its autonomous vehicles, GM's CFO said, following a major incident involving a pedestrian in San Francisco in October 2023. But while the Cruise Origin's development pause is also expected to save a large sum for the GM-adjacent company, not everyone is on board with the idea. Former Cruise CEO Kyle Vogt, who resigned in the aftermath of the October 2023 crash, criticized GM on social media, saying it "Would have been amazing for cities." "GM repeatedly finds themselves with a 5-10 year head start, but then fumbles the ball, shuts things down, and loses the lead," he posted on X (formerly known as Twitter.) "Anyone remember the [GM] EV1? It's like someone keeps letting them look into a crystal ball and then they go, 'nah, we're good.'" On July 23, Google's parent company, Alphabet Inc., (GOOGL) , announced a $5 billion multi-year investment in its self-driving subsidiary, Waymo. The investment comes as Waymo plans to expand its robotaxi coverage and presence in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Austin, Texas. "This is consistent with enabling Waymo to build the world's leading self-driving technology," Alphabet CFO Ruth Porat said during its earnings call on July 23. Tesla Inc., which trades on the NASDAQ as TSLA is down 10.7% from the closing bell, trading at $220.02 at the time of writing. Related: Veteran fund manager picks favorite stocks for 2024

Don't Hold Your Breath for Elon Musk's Robotaxi

Elon Musk doesn't seem to know what he wants Tesla to be. At its core, the company makes electric vehicles, and it has done exceptionally well at that. But the Tesla of 2024 is in a kind of corporate limbo. Instead of discussing its flagship EVs, Musk likes to talk about Tesla's newer, flashier products, like its nascent artificial-intelligence system and its humanoid robot. But the biggest new business, the one that Musk says will fundamentally change what Tesla does, is the Robotaxi. Musk has all but pinned Tesla's future to a vision of his cars becoming Ubers, propelled by his AI network acting as the brain behind the wheel, bringing riders wherever they need to go on demand. Wall Street loves the idea so much that Musk has once again become the world's richest man, and by a pretty wide margin, as the stock has surged higher on the plan. "By far, the biggest differentiator for Tesla is autonomy," Musk said on an investor call Tuesday. That future, though, appears to be on hold. In Tesla's newest quarterly earnings, released on July 23, there were a few bad pieces of news for the autonomous future. The first was that the "timing of Robotaxi deployment depends on technological advancement and regulatory approval." Translation: Reliable Robotaxi technology doesn't exist, and we don't have government approval for it, either. (Unspoken is that Tesla is reportedly under a federal criminal investigation for its "Full Self Driving" technology being faulty). This was previewed a few weeks ago, when Tesla moved back the unveiling of the Robotaxi from August to October, a delay that Musk attributed to wanting to "improve the Robotaxi as well as add a couple of other things." There also appears to be a manufacturing snag that investors think can set back the Robotaxi back to 2027, investors told Bloomberg. Overall, the company spent $600 million -- which would be a rate of $2.4 billion a year -- on the AI technology it would use to power these self-driving cars, an absolutely bonkers amount of money even for Musk. Usually, Musk does pretty well during investor calls. This is the venue, after all, where he's on the phone with people who tend to be his biggest supporters, those who want to link their fortunes to his. But this one did not go so well. About 15 minutes in, Musk was asked when the first Robotaxi ride would come. His answer was rambling and disjointed, and hinged on Tesla's FSD technology improving, but he said it could be as early as the end of this year. But, he hedged, "my predictions on this have been overly optimistic in the past." While he was talking, the company's shares fell about 4 percent in after-hours trading -- a clear sign that Wall Street did not like what it was hearing. Look -- Tesla is not failing. It is a $770 billion company, by far the biggest EV seller in the U.S. It made $25 billion in revenue during the past three months. And it has rebounded somewhat from its abysmal first quarter. But the company's profits are down 45 percent from last year, competitors are eating into its market share, and there just seems to be no direction. Musk first started promising a Robotaxi in 2016. He said there would be 1 million of them on the road by 2020. It's possible, of course, that he could oversee some other technological breakthrough that the likes of Apple weren't able to pull off with their own self-driving cars. But at some point, it seems more likely that he's going to lose the patience of his biggest fans who just want him to make cars again.

Tesla's Focus On AI And Autonomy Is Certainly Catching Up To It

AI had better pay off for Tesla, because the EV baton is being handed off. Also: Waymo gets more funding, and an election preview. "The value of Tesla overwhelmingly is autonomy," CEO Elon Musk said on yesterday's Q2 earnings call. "These other things are in the noise relative to autonomy." Longtime Musk-watchers know that he doesn't always make good on the things he says, but he's certainly delivered on making everything but the big promises around autonomous driving feel like "noise." That's reflected in the company's latest financials, and its sales are declining as scores of other brands rise in EV sales. Some analysis of yesterday's call leads off today's Critical Materials, our morning roundup of industry and tech news. Also on deck today: a company with actual driverless cars on the road gets more funding, and we offer a preview of the stark contrast the U.S. presidential election presents for the auto industry. For today's roundup, I was originally going to use the headline "The Electric Vehicle Age No Longer Belongs To Tesla." Considering its sales slide -- all when countless other automakers like Hyundai, General Motors and Ford show record or greatly improving EV sales -- and other declines like the growth in Supercharger deployments, that may yet be fair. I'll hold off on saying that for now because it's not like Tesla hasn't had its wins lately. However, its market share is quickly declining; it remains the top EV brand by sales in America (and the world), and the Cybertruck appears to be America's top-selling electric truck. We have certainly given high marks to the updated Model 3. But beyond that, we've never seen Tesla feel less like an electric car company -- especially the one we've come to know over the past decade and change, the one that brought the whole industry to this point -- than we did on yesterday's call. Tesla's overall sales and automotive revenue are down, with profits hammered by the price cuts and aggressive deals. Supercharger growth is down, as we'll cover later today, the vaunted 4680 battery cells haven't delivered on their promises, and yesterday's call fastidiously avoided mention of new products. We know Americans want more affordable EVs, above all; Tesla still says they're coming, but with scant details. "Plans for new vehicles, including more affordable models, remain on track for start of production in the first half of 2025. These vehicles will utilize aspects of the next-generation platform as well as aspects of our current platforms and will be able to be produced on the same manufacturing lines as our current vehicle line-up." That's about all we get from the investor deck. Why hold off on that hand grenade of a headline? Because we've all learned that it's unwise to bet completely against Tesla. However, the ratio of reality to promises feels more skewed toward the latter than ever, which, for Tesla, is really saying something. Since Tesla feels more like a stock price that lots of people have bet a ton of money on, and less like an actual car company, here's the financial analysis from a rightfully skeptical CNBC: Tesla shares dropped more than 8% in premarket trading in the U.S. after the electric car maker reported second-quarter earnings that missed expectations amid ongoing pressure in its auto business. Bulls and bears have been in a grapple over the stock, with some believing its core car business is under pressure, while others remain hopeful about a future Musk has promised around autonomous driving, AI and robotaxis. Robotaxis were a huge focus on the earnings call. Musk envisions a world in which owners can authorize their Tesla vehicle to be used as part of an Uber-style ride-hailing service -- and where the cars would drive autonomously. When asked when he expects the first robotaxi ride, Musk said, "I would be shocked if we cannot do it next year." Never mind the regulatory hurdles, questions about liability, or whether consumers even want this. Robotaxis are coming next year. Same as it ever was. And everyone is wondering where their Tesla NACS adapter is, as promised last year. Meanwhile, though it has already raised $6 billion in Series B funding, Musk may ask shareholders to approve a $5 billion investment in his xAI startup. After the vote over his pay was approved earlier this year, there's scant reason to believe that won't happen if Musk wants it to. Meanwhile, Google's Waymo -- which, after the decline of General Motors' Cruise, is far and away the leader in the robotaxi space -- is also getting juice. During Alphabet's second-quarter earnings call (that's the parent company of Google itself) yesterday, officials announced $5 billion in additional funding, TechCrunch reports: "This new round of funding, which is consistent with recent annual investment levels, will enable Waymo to continue to build the world's leading autonomous driving technology company," said [CFO Ruth Porat.] Porat noted that Google will focus on improving overall efficiencies in its "other bets" segment, which includes innovative projects that are distinct from the tech giant's core search and advertising business. Other companies in this segment are Verily, Calico, Google Ventures and drone company Wing. "Waymo is an important example of this, with its technical leadership coupled with progress on operational performance," Porat continued. About three hours after the Waymo announcement, Musk posed the question of Tesla investing in xAI on his social media network. Jealous, much? With billions of dollars in EV and battery plant subsidies and tax incentives on the line, the auto industry has never seen such a stark difference in policy as it does ahead of the 2024 U.S. presidential election. On the one hand, former President Donald Trump has vowed to reverse policies that have spurred significant EV investment in the U.S. and North America; indeed, even Musk brought this up yesterday when asked about Tesla's planned Mexico factory. "I think we need to see just where things stand after the election," he said. "Trump has said that he will put heavy tariffs on vehicles produced in Mexico. So it doesn't make sense to invest a lot in Mexico if that is going to be the case." As Automotive News reports today, there's little reason to believe policies under President Kamala Harris -- if she gets the Democratic nomination, which seems likely at this point -- would be terribly different than those of President Joe Biden: "I will end the electric vehicle mandate on Day 1, thereby saving the U.S. auto industry from complete obliteration, which is happening right now, and saving U.S. customers thousands and thousands of dollars per car," Trump said at the convention. The Biden administration does not formally mandate EV production, but instead regulates tailpipe emissions and corporate average fuel economy standards that limit greenhouse gas emissions and encourage vehicle efficiency. Under the Biden administration's EPA, EVs are estimated to make up 30 to 56 percent of light-vehicle sales in the 2030-32 model years. Harris would likely inherit much of Biden's climate goals if not go even further. As senator, she was an early co-sponsor of the Green New Deal in 2019, a controversial nonbinding resolution that would transition the country to 100 percent renewable energy within a decade. She also called for the electrification of school buses and proposed a carbon tax during her 2020 presidential campaign. When asked if Harris would back some of the more ambitious climate policies she supported as a senator, a Biden-Harris climate adviser told the New York Times that she would focus on implementing the climate provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act, from which she cast the tie-breaking vote. And that's all before we get into the tariff and China stuff. I'm sure auto execs have a lot to say behind the scenes; many would probably welcome some inevitable Trump 2.0 corporate tax cuts, but if what Trump says about reversing the Inflation Reduction Act EV policies, it could cost them significantly more -- now and in the long-term. If Tesla is really slowing down on the car front to work on delivering big AI and robotaxi returns for its shareholders, then who picks up the torch? In terms of cars you can buy in America, I'd say Hyundai Motor Group has a solid shot. But globally, the answer is probably a Chinese company. Do with that information as you will.

Tesla's center of gravity is shifting away from EVs

Why it matters: This new focus -- however deviant and realistic -- may be a necessity as the company's core business of EVs faces pricklier market and political conditions. Driving the news: "I think the long-term value of Optimus will exceed that of everything else at Tesla combined," Musk, referring to Tesla's humanoid robot platform, said to investors Tuesday afternoon. Context: His comments came on the heels of Tesla's latest earnings report, which showed that the company's autos revenue suffered a 7% drop. "There have been quite a few competing electric vehicles that have entered the market, and mostly they have not done well. But they have discounted their EVs very substantially, which has made it a bit more difficult for Tesla," Musk said on the call, without specifically calling out China (this time). Geopolitics Musk and co. are wary about the impact that new policies may have on EV demand. Zoom in: Musk noted on Tuesday that Tesla's Mexico Gigafactory manufacturing plant build continues to sit on ice because former President "Trump has said that he would put heavy tariffs on vehicles produced in Mexico." Zoom out: Then there are policy threats that could hurt future sales, including a rollback of the Inflation Reduction Act for certain clean energy manufacturing projects and consumer incentives. A robot future Though Optimus is not a household brand the same way the Tesla Model 3 or Y are, the concept of humanoid robots has become more common over the past decade. Between the lines: With competition to build humanoid robots already underway, and pressures on its EV business growing, Musk can't afford to waste time. 💭 Our thought bubble: The story that Musk wants to tell is that everything Tesla has been working on over the past twenty years has led to this point of expansion. What we're watching Investors' patience with high-cost big pivots from Big Tech has proved to be thin. Just look at Facebook's shift to the metaverse and its subsequent refocus on AI. After all, the company has been feeding the market another story too: A robotaxi platform aimed at replacing its low-cost EV strategy. The bottom line: Selling a new story while others haven't yet materialized will not win over skeptics or make existing problems disappear.

Elon Musk is backing Donald Trump. Could that hurt Tesla?

Tesla CEO Elon Musk applauds as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to a joint meeting of Congress at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday. Musk has endorsed former President Donald Trump's campaign -- but he says he isn't donating $45 million each month to the cause. Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images hide caption Tesla CEO Elon Musk is throwing his weight behind former President Donald Trump in the highly polarized 2024 presidential election, prompting many questions -- including whether the move might prompt current or prospective electric vehicle buyers to avoid the car brand. The speculation comes at a time of transition for both the wider EV industry and Tesla in particular. On Tuesday, the company reported a 45% drop in quarterly profits compared to the same period in 2023, saying it is "currently between two major growth waves." In its earnings report, Tesla said it has enough cash and resources to carry out its plans "during this uncertain period." Other automakers have also been reporting less-than-stellar financial results in their EV lines. But in Tesla's case, Musk's embrace of a Republican candidate who opposes lucrative federal EV tax credits is feeding speculation about the company's overall strategy, and whether it could be harmed by its CEO's political sentiments. Musk announced, "I fully endorse President Trump" after the July 13 assassination attempt in Pennsylvania. He has also been linked to a pro-Trump super PAC. On Sunday, Trump told a crowd at a rally in Michigan that he recently spoke to Musk. "Elon endorsed me the other day and I read, I didn't even know this. He didn't even tell me about it, but he gives me $45 million a month." But Musk had a different narrative when he was recently asked about his support for the former president. "What's been reported in the media is simply not true," Musk said in an interview with psychologist and pundit Jordan Peterson that was published Monday. "I'm not donating $45 million a month to Trump." "What I have done is I have created a PAC, a super PAC," called the America PAC, he said, adding that the money would be used "on the Democrat and Republican side." "It's not meant to be sort of a hyperpartisan PAC," Musk said. "Our intent is to promote the principles that made America great in the first place. I wouldn't say that I'm say, for example, MAGA -- 'Make America Great Again.' I think America is great. I'm more MAG -- Make America Greater." The super PAC has been linked in recent reports to political operatives from the inner circle of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (who was once suggested as Musk's potential favorite among the 2024 candidates). The super PAC's goal is to support meritocracy, Musk said. "You get ahead as a function of your hard work and your skill, and nothing else," he said. Another goal, he said, is promoting a "freedom to operate, meaning like the least amount of government intervention possible." Musk's support of Trump comes after months of controversial statements and criticisms of Democrats and the Biden administration. He noted in 2021, for instance, that the White House seemingly snubbed him and Tesla when it held an event setting ambitious U.S. sales targets for zero-emission vehicles. Musk tweeted in May 2022 that he would vote for a Republican for the first time. Trump has frequently derided the push for more electric vehicles. And his running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, shares those views. Last fall, Vance introduced legislation in Congress to repeal four different EV tax credits and instead "provide up to $7,500 for new gas- or diesel-powered vehicles" made in the U.S. In an opinion piece for The Toledo Blade, Vance urged the United Auto Workers (who were then on strike) to use their leverage to end subsidies to the U.S. EV industry -- which he called a "failed experiment." On Tesla owners' forums such as the Tesla Motors Club and Tesla Owners Online, responses to Musk's lean to the political right vary from dismay over his embrace of Trump, who routinely criticizes EV credits, to confidence that Musk is playing a strategic political game to protect Tesla. For members of the Kalamazoo Electric Vehicle Association in Michigan, there's a longstanding unofficial rule: avoid politics and focus on a shared goal -- promoting the adoption of EVs, says the group's leader, Paul Pancella, who is also a physicist at Western Michigan University. The rule is widely respected, Pancella tells NPR. And for him, it's easy to "give Musk his due as an entrepreneur, businessman, perhaps even visionary," whatever he might say about politics or other matters. "I do worry that he is not helping further penetration of EVs into the car market," Pancella says of Musk's public statements in recent years. "Tesla brand vehicles offer good value relative to other EVs and cars in general, and are arguably the best option for those who want to regularly travel long distances." That concern isn't misplaced, according to recent data from CivicScience. The consumer research firm cites data from mid-July, showing that people who are environmentally conscious consumers or are Democrats viewed Musk and Tesla less favorably than they did earlier this year. "These data highlight a real challenge for Tesla," CivicScience founder and CEO John Dick said in a statement to NPR. "EV buyers skew left-of-center politically, given their concerns around climate change and fossil fuels. However, when the CEO of a car manufacturer speaks out so publicly in support of a Republican candidate or cause, it will naturally steer those buyers to other brand alternatives." Other sources of fallout are more overt. In Connecticut, state Rep. Aimee Berger-Girvalo, a Democrat, reportedly said last week that since Musk "started to align himself with extreme authoritarian values," Democrats were less likely to support state legislation that could benefit Tesla. Profits fell 45% in the second quarter of 2024 compared to the same period last year, the company announced on Tuesday, with net income of $1.48 billion in the recent quarter. In its automotive business, total revenue fell a more modest 7% from last year's second quarter. The results suggest Tesla is feeling similar doldrums as the rest of the EV sector, with a few signs of forward momentum. For one thing, total revenue rose to $25.5 billion: Tesla said it saw "record quarterly revenues despite a difficult operating environment" that includes high interest rates. In contrast, the company attributed the profits swoon to factors such as market adjustments and investments in long-term plans. Tesla cited lower prices for cars and higher operating costs, "largely driven by AI projects." Tesla's profits got a big boost from record amounts of regulatory credit revenues, as it took in $890 million from sales to other carmakers to compensate for their vehicles not meeting emissions requirements. The company also reported rapid growth in its energy generation and storage businesses. As for its new and planned vehicles, the carmaker said production of its Cybertruck "more than tripled sequentially and remains on track to achieve profitability by end of year." The company says it's on track to produce electric semi trucks by the end of next year. Tesla also retains high hopes for its long-promised Robotaxi vehicle, saying it has "outsized potential value." In a call after the earnings report came out, Musk said the Robotaxi is slated to be unveiled on Oct. 10, according to Investor's Business Daily.

Elon Musk has a new date for Tesla's robotaxi unveiling

Elon Musk on Tuesday said that Tesla will hold its robotaxi unveiling -- which is widely seen as a product demonstration, not a launch -- on Oct. 10, slightly more than two months after its planned date. Musk in April rallied investors when he promised the electric vehicle maker will reveal a robotaxi on Aug. 8. However, after it was reported that the event would be pushed back, Tesla shares lost some of its massive gains made over the past few months. The Tesla CEO on July 15 wrote on social media that he had requested an "important design change to the front" of the vehicles, adding that it will give his team time to "show off a few other things." "While the knee jerk reaction will clearly be negative on a delay of August 8th based on [Bloomberg's report], we believe the timing of robotaxis, partnerships, and the ultimate autonomous and AI driven technology does not change at all for our bullish Tesla thesis," Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives wrote at the time. Wedbush has a $300 per share price target for Tesla. Analysts generally view the unveiling as less of a product launch and more of a demonstration of Austin, Texas-based Tesla's aspirations for the technology. Musk has made a habit of promising new technology and vehicles in the past, only for the products to launch on the market years later. The Cybertruck electric pickup was first revealed in November 2019 with production scheduled for 2021, although its first model wouldn't be made until 2023. Tesla had aimed to launch a second-generation Roadster sports car on the market by 2021, but now expects to showcase a prototype by the end of 2024. Robotaxis are expected to be a major moneymaker for Tesla in the future. Musk has described launching a network that's a "combination of Airbnb and Uber," since owners can opt their cars into the service at their leisure. Last month, he reiterated his pitch to Tesla owners that they can make money on the self-driving fleet while sleeping, as the company would call cars to pick up customers of its potential ride-hail service through an app. Ark Investment Management has forecast a scenario that could bring Tesla to $2,600 per share, with 90% of the company's value and earnings attributable to robotaxis by 2029. However, if such a network isn't operable by then, Ark's forecast drops to $350 per share. After meeting with Tesla's new head of investor relations, Travis Axelrod, in June, JPMorgan Chase analysts wrote that it doesn't expect "material revenue generation likely for years to come" for robotaxis. Axelrod implied that a self-driving car would be built on a next-generation platform, which isn't expected to launch before 2027.