With Tesla’s car sales slumping and profits shrinking, CEO Elon Musk is once again turning to his playbook of futuristic promises to calm nervous investors. After another weak earnings report this week, Musk told analysts that Tesla’s electric vehicles will soon become fully driverless, making money for their owners as robotaxis while they sleep.
But Wall Street isn’t buying it this time. Tesla’s shares plunged 8% after the announcement, as investors focused on the company’s real-world problems. Automotive sales dropped 16% from last year, and Tesla is facing intense competition from lower-cost EV makers, especially in China. At the same time, a political backlash against Musk has started to hurt the Tesla brand in the U.S. and Europe.
Analysts are growing tired of the hype. While many still believe in Tesla’s long-term potential, they say the company needs to deliver results now, not just promises for the future. As one analyst team wrote, “We love robotaxis… But we love growth too, in the here and now.” Another described the earnings update as “a bit dull,” noting that Tesla’s robotaxi effort remains relatively small.
This isn’t the first time Musk has made grand promises about self-driving cars. After a decade of missed deadlines, many on Wall Street are watching Tesla fall behind rivals like Google’s Waymo. In its latest report, Tesla tried to rebrand itself as a leader in “AI, robotics, and related services.” However, without any real guidance on future growth or profits, investors are more concerned about the rough quarters ahead than the potential of robotaxis tomorrow.
