(Reuters) – Tesla is pushing back the launch of its robotaxi by about two months to October, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the decision, as the company’s design team is directed to rework some elements of the vehicle.
Shares of Tesla (NASDAQ:), which is betting on self-driving cars, fell more than 6% after the news, ending an 11-session rally that had seen the stock rise 44%.
Tesla did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment.
Musk announced on August 8 that he would unveil the robotaxi, following an April 5 Reuters report that Tesla had canceled its long-promised low-cost car and would instead continue developing self-driving robotaxis on the same compact car platform.
“Tesla has been playing this game for almost a decade, promising ‘next year, next year,’ and there’s no indication that Tesla… is ever going to meaningfully deploy the kind of autonomous driving system that they’ve consistently promised,” said Bryant Walker Smith, a law professor at the University of South Carolina with expertise in autonomous vehicle law.
Musk has provided minimal details about the robotaxis so far, aside from announcing a launch date. He said only that some of the vehicles would be owned and operated by Tesla, while others would be privately owned but leased from the Tesla network.
Analysts and industry experts say the race to develop self-driving systems and robotaxis will be tough and will take years as the technology faces engineering and regulatory hurdles.
“(The launch) event is going to be disappointing. You’re going to be riding in cyber taxis, not robotaxis. It’s likely to be another blowout of hype. No one is going to be knitting socks on their way to work or taking a nap while the car takes them to Grandma’s house,” said Craig Irwin, senior research analyst at Ross MKM.
Musk has been focusing on artificial intelligence, self-driving software, robotaxis, and a humanoid robot called Optimus to combat the slump in electric car sales, which generate more than 80% of Tesla’s quarterly revenue.
He said during the company’s first-quarter earnings conference call in April that Tesla would launch “new models” using its current platforms and production lines by early 2025.
During the call, he outlined an ambitious vision to diversify Tesla’s business into artificial intelligence, humanoid robots and operating millions of self-driving cars, all based on software and hardware products that the automaker has yet to fully develop.
According to Reuters, one source said the billionaire made an unannounced visit to Beijing in April to discuss the rollout of self-driving software and other data transfer permissions.
