Tesla’s Robotaxi Plans Send Uber and Lyft Shares Lower
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, has revealed plans for a robotaxi fleet during the company’s earnings call on Tuesday, resulting in a slight decline in Uber Technologies (UBER) and Lyft (LYFT) shares in early trading on Wednesday.
Musk presented a vision for a ride-hailing app that would enable riders to summon a vehicle, track its location, and select the music they want to listen to. Tesla owners will have the opportunity to rent out their vehicles for rides as part of the idea. Tesla also intends to own vehicles in the robotaxi fleet and profit from the program.
“Imagine it as a combination of Airbnb and Uber,” Musk explained. “This means that Tesla will own and operate a certain number of vehicles in the fleet. There will be a certain number of cars, and then a group of cars that belong to the end user. That end user can add or remove their car from the fleet at any time and decide if they want the car to be used only by friends and family, only by 5-star users, or by anyone at any time. They could have the car returned to them and be exclusively theirs, like an Airbnb.”
Tesla has scheduled an important robotaxi event for August 8th. In the premarket session, Uber Technologies (UBER) shares fell by 1.29% while Lyft (LYFT) shares dropped by 2.35%.
This development comes amid other significant ride-hailing industry news, including SoftBank-backed Indian ride-hailing company Ola’s plans for a $500 million IPO and Boeing’s impact on large-cap industrials in a turbulent week.
