Tesla jumps amid AI bullishness as analyst says Full Self-Driving software is “already better at driving than the average American”
Tesla is betting that it can turn its consumer vehicles into autonomous cars faster than Google’s Waymo can roll out new vehicles.
Tesla is up sharply today, with investors and Wall Street looking more bullish on AI, at least for the moment.
That seems to include Piper Sandler analyst Alexander Potter, who wrote that Tesla’s latest Full Self-Driving software “is a truly impressive product that is (probably) already better at driving than the average American.”
Investors are hoping that Tesla can turn its consumer vehicles into autonomous cars faster than Google’s Waymo can roll out its robotaxis.
“There are millions of cars out there that, with a software update, become Full Self-Driving cars,” CEO Elon Musk said on the company’s recent earnings call. Potter, after attending an investor meeting at Tesla’s Fremont plant, also beamed about a “flawless robotaxi ride to the hotel,” and reiterated his $500 price target.
Waymo currently operates its autonomous service with more than 2,500 vehicles in five markets, and has plans to expand to more than 20. Just this morning, it announced planned expansion to Minneapolis, Tampa, and New Orleans.
Meanwhile, Musk has said he expects Tesla to operate 1,500 cars in its two markets, Austin and the Bay Area (where a safety monitor is present in the cars), by the end of the year, when it claims the service will be available in a total of 8 to 10 markets.
After getting drubbed recently, AI and tech companies are getting a broad lift following Nvidia’s blowout earnings yesterday, which also helped push Google to a record high.
