Tesla stock were lower early Wednesday. Investors are digesting more self-driving news.
Shares of the EV maker were at $372.36, down 0.8%, while S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were off 0.4% and 0.3%, respectively.
The move came after Sarfraz Maredia, the president of autonomous mobility at Uber Technologies, said he was leaving the company. "Sharing a career update: After November 16th, I'll be joining that illustrious group of troublemakers known as Uber alumni," wrote Maredia on LinkedIn. "I'm excited to take on a new role outside of the AV ecosystem."
Uber stock was flat in premarket trading.
The departure highlights a larger trend in the personal transportation industry. Companies such as Tesla and Waymo are racing to expand fully autonomous robo-taxi networks that have the potential to disrupt ride-hailing businesses such as Uber and Lyft.
Uber and Lyft aren't sitting idle. They're introducing self-driving taxis in partnership with companies including Waymo, Wayve, Avride, and others.
Tesla, for its part, is developing end-to-end AI-trained hardware and software. But investors are still trying to determine whether Tesla and other companies will dominate self-driving markets -- or if autonomous driving technology will end up being provided by many suppliers and be a feature on any car like anti-lock brakes or air bags.
Investors also don't know just how popular robo-taxis will be. If a robo-taxi ends up cheaper than owning a car, U.S. households might not want to own two or more cars.
The self-driving stakes are high. Americans drive more than three trillion miles a year. At a dollar a mile, the market would be huge. That math and potential are two reasons Tesla has a trillion-dollar valuation and why investors closely watch self-driving developments across the industry.
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