Shares of Tesla (TSLA 8.19%) are soaring on Monday, up 9.8% as of 11:13 a.m. ET. The jump comes as the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite were both up 0.4%.
Tesla launched its robotaxi service in Austin, Texas this weekend after delaying the launch earlier this month.
Tesla's robotaxis are here, kind of
Tesla officially debuted its Robotaxi service in Austin on Sunday. Riders -- mainly social media influencers selected by the company -- were able to hail Model Y vehicles without a driver through an app that works much like Uber's. Each trip was priced at $4.20.
While the vehicles lacked a human driver, they did have a safety monitor in the front passenger seat with a "kill switch" that could react if the vehicle behaved dangerously. Remote operators also were available in case the robotaxi found itself unable to navigate a situation. No incidents were reported, however.
Image Source: Getty Images
CEO Elon Musk celebrated the milestone on X, calling it the "culmination of a decade of hard work" and noting that Tesla designed both the artificial intelligence (AI) chip and software in-house. Musk promised there would be more to come but hasn't revealed specifics of when the general public will be allowed to summon a robotaxi or when they'll operate without a safety monitor.
Tesla bulls are excited
A robotaxi fleet could be a game changer for the company, but despite this weekend's successful launch, investors should know there's a very long way to go. The launch was highly controlled and limited to a small area of Austin that has been thoroughly mapped and tested.
Its Alphabet-backed rival, Waymo, has been operating in several cities in uncontrolled environments for quite some time. I have serious doubts Tesla can accomplish the same in a reasonable time frame.
