Quarterly figures better than expected Tesla boss Elon Musk promises two million robotaxis per year

Elon Musk has been promising self-driving Teslas for years - and they still don't exist. But investors are once again reacting enthusiastically to the tech billionaire's new announcements.

Elon Musk is backing up his full-bodied promises to make Tesla the leading provider of self-driving cars. At least two million vehicles of the specialized robotaxi model "Cybercab" will be built each year, "maybe four million in the end", said Musk at the presentation of fresh quarterly figures. He qualified that the forecast was his "best possible estimate". In addition, every current Tesla electric car will be able to drive autonomously anyway.

Musk confirmed that the Robotaxi should be produced in large quantities by 2026. However, he has been repeatedly announcing since 2016 that Tesla will soon have autonomous cars. But so far, Tesla's "Autopilot" software, even in its advanced version, is only a driver assistance system in which the person at the wheel remains in charge and must be ready to take control at any time.

Availability openElon Musk shows Tesla's robotaxi and self-driving bus

Robotaxis from others already exist

Meanwhile, Google's sister company Waymo makes more than 100,000 journeys with passengers per week in four US cities without a human at the wheel. However, Waymo's Jaguars, which have been converted into self-driving cars, contain additional technology costing more than 100,000 dollars, which makes it more difficult to earn money with them.

Musk, on the other hand, hopes to achieve self-driving cars using only cameras instead of more expensive laser radars. If this succeeds, Tesla would have an enormous cost advantage - and several million vehicles capable of doing so would already be on the road. However, many industry experts doubt whether this is even reliably possible.

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Driving service app undergoing internal testing

Tesla is already testing an automated driving service for employees internally in Silicon Valley, albeit with safety drivers at the wheel. The announcements electrified investors despite the many missed deadlines in the past: Tesla shares rose by around twelve percent in after-hours US trading on Wednesday.

The "Cybercab" prototype presented by Musk at a show in Hollywood around two weeks ago had neither a steering wheel nor pedals. According to current US regulations, such vehicles can only be put on the roads in small numbers with a special permit. In addition, the regulations for self-driving cars differ from state to state.

Musk relies on proximity to Trump

However, this is where Musk's support for former President Donald Trump, who wants to return to the White House, could come into play. Trump had held out the prospect of appointing Musk to head a committee to control government spending if he won the election. If this comes to pass, he will work to ensure that there is a nationwide regulation for the approval of autonomous cars, "for everyone, not just Tesla", Musk said. He confirmed that self-driving Teslas should be on the road in Texas and California next year.

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Sales boost through cheaper 2025 model

In the first half of 2025, Musk also wants to launch a cheaper Tesla model on the market. This will drive sales growth up to 20 to 30 percent in the coming year, at least as long as there is no "big war" or "sky-high interest rates", he said. Tesla has repeatedly increased sales rapidly - but it is unclear whether deliveries in 2024 will fall below the previous year's mark of just over 1.8 million vehicles.

"Cybertruck" sales on the rise

In the past quarter, deliveries rose by six percent to just under 463,000 vehicles. At around 440,000 vehicles, the cheaper Models 3 and Y accounted for the lion's share of this. However, the new electric pickup "Cybertruck" now follows them in third place in the ranking of electric vehicles sold in the USA, Tesla announced without providing a specific sales figure.

Tesla just missed analysts' forecasts for quarterly sales. Revenue rose by eight percent year-on-year to just under 25.2 billion dollars. The market had expected an average of around 25.4 billion dollars. The money that Tesla earns from the sale of CO2 certificates to car manufacturers with combustion engines also played a role here. In the pure car business, turnover rose by two percent to a good 20 billion dollars.

At the bottom line, Tesla's profit rose by 17 percent year-on-year to around 2.17 billion dollars. Adjusted earnings per share amounted to 72 cents - while analysts had only expected 58 US cents.

dpa