Musk’s Robotaxi Reveal Is a Dud for Investors

You certainly can’t accuse Wall Street of being taken in by a glitzy presentation, at least not this week. Elon Musk’s big robotaxi reveal on Thursday night went down like a lead balloon with investors today. Tesla shares fell 9%, while shares of Uber, whose business is theoretically at risk from a Tesla robotaxi, rose nearly 11% to $86. That puts Uber stock a few dollars above where it was in late March, shortly before word that Musk was accelerating his robotaxi plans sent Uber shares into a slump.

Research firm TD Cowen summarized the prevailing sentiment  in a note on Friday headlined “Green Light for Uber & Waymo Following Tesla Robotaxi Event.” Indeed, the event demonstrated just how much of a lead Alphabet’s Waymo has in the robotaxi front, since it already operates a fully autonomous robotaxi service in San Francisco, Phoenix and Los Angeles.