Shares of Tesla (TSLA 0.84%) 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.
NASDAQ: TSLA
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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.
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.
