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Tesla Robotaxis: The "Slowly, Then All at Once" Moment
Although rare, every few decades, a piece of technology drops that’s so significant and groundbreaking it completely changes the industry overnight. In real-time, these next-generation innovations seem unrealistic and impossible to grasp for consumers. However, in reality, once these innovations are proven, adoption soars, earnings grow, and stock prices soar. Examples include:
· The Apple iPhone: In 2007, Steve Jobs famously unveiled the Apple iPhone. The iPhone combined an iPod, phone, and web browser into a single handheld device. Sales would grow from 47.4 million units in 2010 to 231.8 million units by 2023, making the iPhone Apple’s best-selling product and launching shares into the stratosphere.
· ChatGPT: Although artificial intelligence had been around for years, OpenAI’s 2022 ChatGPT large language model (LLM) launch acted as proof of concept. ChatGPT gained more than one million users in five days and became the fastest-growing consumer app in history.
· Netflix Streaming: In 2007, Netflix changed the way the world watched movies by launching its streaming service. Over the next three years, Netflix’s revenue would double to more than $2 billion.
Tesla Robotaxi Spotted Without Safety Driver
Elon Musk has become the wealthiest person on Earth by predicting future technological trends and, more importantly, executing on them well ahead of the competition. Musk’s current ambition is to build the largest fleet of robotaxis on Earth. Thus far, Tesla’s launch of robotaxis and full self-driving has been plagued with doubts and delays.
Earlier this year, Tesla launched its robotaxi in Austin, Texas. Due to regulatory concerns, scrutiny, and an abundance of caution, the launch has required a safety ride to be in the vehicle to intervene in the event the FSD technology malfunctions. However, last weekend, multiple Tesla Model Ys were spotted without a safety driver in Austin. Meanwhile, Tesla CEO Elon Musk confirmed that fully autonomous robotaxi testing has commenced.
Tesla Robotaxi: Slowly, Then All at Once
With more than 14 million robotaxi rides and more than 2,000 autonomous vehicles conducting rides in multiple U.S. cities, Alphabet’s Waymo robotaxi service is the early leader in the industry. However, Tesla is poised to catch up and surpass Waymo for three critical reasons:
1. Robotaxi Cost & Margins: Because Google must purchase vehicles and outfit them with expensive LiDAR sensors, its costs are significantly higher than Tesla’s. Meanwhile, Tesla Robotaxis are built in-house and rely primarily on more inexpensive vision-only technology.
2. Robotaxi Safety: Tesla’s unsupervised FSD reports far fewer crashes than human drivers and Waymo robotaxis.
3. Robotaxi Scalability: Elon Musk has mentioned the potential to produce a million self-driving Tesla vehicles by the end of next year. For context, there are only about 2,000 Waymo vehicles on the road today.
Bottom Line
A fully autonomous Tesla was spotted in Austin, Texas, for the first time last weekend. Despite delays, Tesla’s robotaxi service has significant advantages over its competition. In time, the news of a fully autonomous Tesla will be looked back on by investors as a significant moment.
Why Haven't You Looked at Zacks' Top Stocks?
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Today you can access their live picks without cost or obligation.
Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.
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Zacks Investment Ideas feature highlights Apple, Netflix, Tesla's and Alphabet's
For Immediate Release
Chicago, IL – December 16, 2025 – Today, Zacks Investment Ideas feature highlights Apple (AAPL - Free Report) , Netflix (NFLX - Free Report) , Tesla’s (TSLA - Free Report) and Alphabet’s (GOOGL - Free Report) .
Tesla Robotaxis: The "Slowly, Then All at Once" Moment
Although rare, every few decades, a piece of technology drops that’s so significant and groundbreaking it completely changes the industry overnight. In real-time, these next-generation innovations seem unrealistic and impossible to grasp for consumers. However, in reality, once these innovations are proven, adoption soars, earnings grow, and stock prices soar. Examples include:
· The Apple iPhone: In 2007, Steve Jobs famously unveiled the Apple iPhone. The iPhone combined an iPod, phone, and web browser into a single handheld device. Sales would grow from 47.4 million units in 2010 to 231.8 million units by 2023, making the iPhone Apple’s best-selling product and launching shares into the stratosphere.
· ChatGPT: Although artificial intelligence had been around for years, OpenAI’s 2022 ChatGPT large language model (LLM) launch acted as proof of concept. ChatGPT gained more than one million users in five days and became the fastest-growing consumer app in history.
· Netflix Streaming: In 2007, Netflix changed the way the world watched movies by launching its streaming service. Over the next three years, Netflix’s revenue would double to more than $2 billion.
Tesla Robotaxi Spotted Without Safety Driver
Elon Musk has become the wealthiest person on Earth by predicting future technological trends and, more importantly, executing on them well ahead of the competition. Musk’s current ambition is to build the largest fleet of robotaxis on Earth. Thus far, Tesla’s launch of robotaxis and full self-driving has been plagued with doubts and delays.
Earlier this year, Tesla launched its robotaxi in Austin, Texas. Due to regulatory concerns, scrutiny, and an abundance of caution, the launch has required a safety ride to be in the vehicle to intervene in the event the FSD technology malfunctions. However, last weekend, multiple Tesla Model Ys were spotted without a safety driver in Austin. Meanwhile, Tesla CEO Elon Musk confirmed that fully autonomous robotaxi testing has commenced.
Tesla Robotaxi: Slowly, Then All at Once
With more than 14 million robotaxi rides and more than 2,000 autonomous vehicles conducting rides in multiple U.S. cities, Alphabet’s Waymo robotaxi service is the early leader in the industry. However, Tesla is poised to catch up and surpass Waymo for three critical reasons:
1. Robotaxi Cost & Margins: Because Google must purchase vehicles and outfit them with expensive LiDAR sensors, its costs are significantly higher than Tesla’s. Meanwhile, Tesla Robotaxis are built in-house and rely primarily on more inexpensive vision-only technology.
2. Robotaxi Safety: Tesla’s unsupervised FSD reports far fewer crashes than human drivers and Waymo robotaxis.
3. Robotaxi Scalability: Elon Musk has mentioned the potential to produce a million self-driving Tesla vehicles by the end of next year. For context, there are only about 2,000 Waymo vehicles on the road today.
Bottom Line
A fully autonomous Tesla was spotted in Austin, Texas, for the first time last weekend. Despite delays, Tesla’s robotaxi service has significant advantages over its competition. In time, the news of a fully autonomous Tesla will be looked back on by investors as a significant moment.
Why Haven't You Looked at Zacks' Top Stocks?
Since 2000, our top stock-picking strategies have blown away the S&P's +7.7% average gain per year. Amazingly, they soared with average gains of +48.4%, +50.2% and +56.7% per year.
Today you can access their live picks without cost or obligation.
See Stocks Free >>
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Zacks Investment Research
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Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.