Tesla's stock price surged 4.15% on Thursday, closing at $449.36, following an announcement by CEO Elon Musk that the company has launched an autonomous robotaxi service in Austin without safety supervisors. Musk also stated on Thursday that he anticipates the company's Full Self-Driving (FSD) service will soon receive approval in the European Union and China. In a post on the social media platform X, Musk declared, "Tesla has activated its driverless robotaxi service in Austin without safety supervisors. Congratulations to the Tesla AI team!" This post was a response to a user-shared video on X showing a Tesla robotaxi operating without a safety driver. Tesla's head of artificial intelligence, Ashok Elluswamy, added on X that the service would "initially mix a small number of unsupervised vehicles into the supervised robotaxi fleet, with the proportion gradually increasing over time." Earlier on Thursday, Waymo, the autonomous vehicle company owned by Alphabet, announced in a company blog post that it is expanding its business to the Miami area and will open its service to the first public passengers in the city. "Nearly 10,000 residents have already signed up, and we will gradually invite new riders to join, ensuring a seamless experience within our initial 60-square-mile service area." Waymo indicated that plans for ride services to Miami International Airport are forthcoming. Concurrently, Tesla's progress in autonomous driving and its robotaxi service has been measured. Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Musk asserted that the company's Full Self-Driving (FSD) service would soon enter the European and Chinese markets. Musk stated, "We are on track to receive approval for supervised FSD in Europe next month, and then perhaps also in China around a similar timeframe." While Waymo's international testing is currently limited to the aforementioned cities, its service has achieved Level 4 autonomy, capable of full self-driving within specific geographic areas. Tesla's FSD is generally considered a Level 2 system. Tesla's robotaxis are currently operational in Austin and the San Francisco Bay Area, with the fleet size growing, albeit modestly. As this service still required human supervision, each vehicle has needed a safety driver. The recent video shared by Musk hints that the company may have received permission to operate in Austin without safety drivers, although the CEO did not confirm this detail. Analysts at Morgan Stanley believe the next major catalyst for Tesla's robotaxi service is the removal of the safety driver, which appears to have happened, at least in Austin. Morgan Stanley also forecasts that Tesla will have 1,000 robotaxis in operation by the end of this year. In contrast, Waymo disclosed last year that it had approximately 2,500 robotaxis operating on public roads. Tesla is expected to provide further updates on its FSD progress, robotaxi service, and the dedicated robotaxi vehicle, the Cybercab, when it reports its fourth-quarter earnings after the market closes on January 28th.
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