Investor Gary Black of The Future Fund LLC reaffirmed that Tesla Inc.‘s (NASDAQ:TSLA) Full Self-Driving (FSD) technology has a negligible impact on sales, outlining Rivian Automotive Inc.‘s (NASDAQ:RIVN) stock rally following its delivery beat as an example.
FSD Not Driving Sales, Gary Black Says
Amid a sharp decline in Tesla shares, the investor took to the social media platform X on Thursday, quoting a post by Teslarati, which said that people were “misinformed” about the FSD technology and autonomous driving.
Read Also: Tesla Stock Falls After 'Monster Delivery Number,' Gene Munster Knows The Reasons Why
“FSD is not driving sales,” the investor said in the post. He added that consumers had “no idea about FSD” or about the company‘s “autonomy efforts.”
FSD is not driving sales. The avg consumer has no idea about FSD or $TSLA ‘s autonomy efforts. https://t.co/diptRbdba9
— Gary Black (@garyblack00) July 2, 2026
The investor doubled down on his take, decrying the EV giant’s lack of PR and marketing efforts. “Ask 10 random drivers if $TSLA FSD would cause them to buy a Tesla. Most will not know what you’re talking about,” the investor said. “It’s not like the company advertises or has a broad PR effort,” he added.
Ask 10 random drivers if $TSLA FSD would cause them to buy a Tesla. Most will not know what you’re talking about. It’s not like the company advertises or has a broad PR effort.
— Gary Black (@garyblack00) July 2, 2026
Gary Black On Rivian Deliveries
The investor also outlined Rivian Automotive Inc.‘s (NASDAQ:RIVN) delivery beat for the second quarter of 2026 as the RJ Scaringe-led automaker posted 12,194 deliveries, as well as updated its annual delivery forecast for 2026 to 65,000 to 70,000 vehicles.
The investor had earlier said he expected both Tesla and Rivian to post higher delivery numbers than expected as consumers shifted to electric vehicles amid higher gas prices following the war with Iran.
$RIVN delivered 12.2K vehicles in 2Q, beating WS estimates of 10.6K. RIVN also raised 2026 delivery guidance from 62K-67K to 65K-70K. RIVN stock +6% pre-mkt.
— Gary Black (@garyblack00) July 2, 2026
In a separate post, the investor shared that Tesla’s sales rally was a byproduct of “much higher gas prices” rather than a “newfound infatuation with TSLA FSD or supervised autonomy,” he said.
“As evidence, $RIVN, which has a fledgling autonomous effort, is +8% today on a 2Q YoY deliveries gain of +10%,” the investor said.
2/ I continue to believe the substantial $TSLA deliveries beat is more a function of much higher gas prices (brent crude rose +70% since end of February, and then lost the entire gain in the past few weeks as the war ended) rather than newfound infatuation with TSLA FSD or…
— Gary Black (@garyblack00) July 2, 2026
Elon Musk Touts Optimus Production
Tesla CEO Elon Musk shared that the company had ramped up efforts to produce the Optimus Humanoid robot at the automaker’s Fremont, California, facility following the Model S and X sunset.
Tesla’s VP of Vehicle Engineering, Lars Moravy, said that the automaker expects over 40 production lines at the facility due to the intricate nature of the robot.
Check out more of Benzinga’s Future Of Mobility coverage by following this link.
Photo Courtesy: Brian Gallegos on Shutterstock.com
