Toronto, Ontario — In this weekly Tuesday Ticker, Tesla unveils its fully autonomous robotaxi and leaves investors wanting more; while electric vehicle manufacturer Polestar plans to begin selling more vehicles via dealerships.
Here comes the Cybercab
Last Thursday, the launch of Tesla’s long-promised driverless taxi reportedly left investors with a desire for more details about Tesla’s future business plans.
As originally reported by Reuters, after showcasing the vehicle’s capabilities by driving the Cybercab prototype around the fake sets of the Warner Bros movie studio, Tesla CEO Elon Musk promised that the company’s Model 3 and Model Y vehicles would be able to operate without driver supervision in California and Texas sometime next year.
Musk further announced that Tesla will start building the fully autonomous Cybercab by 2026 at a price of less than US$30,000.
Despite these announcements, Reuters further outlined how some Tesla investors and exports said they were hoping for more concrete details on how the company plans to transform from an automaker into an autonomous driving and artificial intelligence company.
Following the reveal of the robotaxi, Tesla shares fell nearly eight percent.
As of 1:30 p.m. EST on Friday, Tesla shares traded at US$219.73, down 19.97 percent year-to-date.
Dealership desires
Polestar Automotive’s new chief executive officer has announced that to combat plunging sales, the electric vehicle automaker will begin selling more vehicles via dealerships rather than just online.
As noted by Bloomberg, while customers could previously test drive Polestar’s vehicles at the Swedish manufacturer’s showrooms, they would have to use the company’s website to purchase a vehicle.
Bloomberg further indicated that CEO Michael Lohscheller said he’s launched a review of operations and strategy under which Polestar is going “from showing to actually selling cars.”
These comments come after a 15 percent drop in third-quarter vehicle deliveries.
As of 1:30 p.m. EST on Friday, Polestar shares traded at just US$0.27.
