(Bloomberg) – Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft Inc. rose in early trading after Tesla Inc.’s Elon Musk provided few details about the automaker’s plans for a self-driving vehicle service that could compete with ride-hailing.
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Uber’s shares rose as much as 7% to hit an all-time high and Lyft’s rose to 8.3% on Friday after Musk’s unveiling of a robotaxi called Cybercab late Thursday in California. Tesla shares fell as much as 10.2%.
Musk’s debut of the two-seat prototype Robovan concept that can carry as many as 20 people disappointed Tesla investors who were hoping for more details. Although he said Cybercab production could begin in 2026 and cost less than $30,000, the CEO cautioned that he tends to be overly optimistic.
“We view the event as a best-case outcome for Uber,” said John Colantuoni, an equity analyst at Jefferies with a buy rating on the stock. In a report calling Tesla’s taxi “toothless,” he noted that the company did not provide verifiable evidence of progress toward automated driving functions or quantify how many robotaxis it plans to create.
Thursday was seen as a “make or break night” for Tesla shares, said Mike O’Rourke, chief market strategist at JonesTrading. The event had already been postponed by two months and Tesla was under pressure to justify its high valuation and prove it can lead the industry in autonomous vehicle technology.
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi gave a sober look at the future of autonomy earlier this week, saying he doesn’t see robotaxis becoming a significant part of the company’s fleet in the coming years. The technology still isn’t quite there, regulators are wary and costs won’t be competitive for a while, he told Bloomberg Green’s Zero podcast.
“Safety is job number one,” Khosrowshahi said. “Then, I think in the next three to seven years, we will focus on the economy.”
–With help from Subrat Patnaik.
(Updating inventory movements.)
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