After years of anticipation, Tesla revealed its first pair of robotaxis, the sedan-like Cybercab and larger Robovan, on Thursday night—but the event failed to instill confidence in investors, which is great news for rideshare companies like Uber and Lyft. On Friday, the day after Elon Musk’s big event, Lyft shares were up over 9%, and Uber shares catapulted 8%, Meanwhile, Tesla’s stock is down over 7%.
Musk teased the robotaxi in 2019, promising a fleet of “over a million robo-taxis on the road” by 2020. After numerous delays on unveiling the autonomous rideshare vehicle, Musk’s Thursday reveal of the Cybercab featured plenty of lofty promises—including its sub-$30,000 price tag—but was light on a concrete plan on how to fulfill them.
