Tesla Motors stock rose 3% as more social media videos over the weekend appeared to show the EV giant continues to test unsupervised Model Y robotaxi rides in Austin, Texas. Meanwhile, late Friday, the Delaware Supreme Court ruled to reinstate CEO Elon Musk's 2018 pay package, two years after a lower court struck down the compensation deal.
Tesla seems to still be testing its safety monitor-free robotaxi ride-hailing service in Austin. Employees for the EV giant shared videos on X Sunday riding in driverless Model Y robotaxis, without a safety monitor in the front passenger seat.
This comes a week after a brief video on X appeared to show a Tesla Model Y in Austin on public roads without an in-car safety monitor or any other occupants.
Musk later confirmed the video, writing on Dec. 14 that "testing is underway with no occupant in the car." The Tesla CEO has also recently doubled down on his year-end forecast for an unsupervised ride-hailing service in Austin, giving him now nine days to meet that deadline.
Unsupervised robotaxi excitement was part of what fueled TSLA shares to new record highs last week.
Musk's 2018 Pay Deal Is Back On
Meanwhile, after Friday's stock market close, Musk's $56 billion pay package from 2018 was reinstated after the Delaware Supreme Court ruled in favor of Tesla and Musk. The court ruling Friday was the final appeal in a court case brought by a Tesla shareholder over whether the historic compensation package had been properly awarded. The court said the decision by Delaware's Court of Chancery to rescind Musk's payment was too harsh.
In November, Tesla shareholders approved another historic pay package for Musk, this one valued at a possible $1 trillion. In order for Musk to receive the stock grants equal to that amount Tesla would need to reach several ambitious targets such as achieving an $8.5 trillion market cap, and deploying millions of robotaxis.
Part of the 2025 pay package included covering the 2018 pay deal if it ultimately wasn't reinstated.
Tesla Stock Performance
TSLA stock angled around 2.8% to 494.90 at Monday's stock market open.
Last week, Tesla stock advanced 4.9% to 481.20, hitting a record high of 495.28 on Wednesday before retreating. TSLA entered Monday just above above a 474.07 buy point from a cup base, according to MarketSurge. The 5% buy zone runs up to 497.77.
The relative strength line, which tracks a stock's performance vs. the S&P 500, is at the highest level since January.
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