Amid the hype surrounding Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) investor and fund manager Gary Black on Sunday delved into whether the electric vehicle maker’s full self-driving technology is worth all the hype surrounding it.
What Happened: Black is convinced about the technology’s potential. “No one disagrees that fully autonomous vehicles are the future of the auto industry,” the fund manager said in a post on X, formerly Twitter. He, however, doesn’t think FSD is a zero-sum game.
“The debate has always been whether there will be 1 automaker ( $tsla) that solves general autonomy, or 10 or 20,” Black said. He noted that China’s Baidu, Inc. (NASDAQ:BIDU) already has 500 robotaxis in service, with 50% of its fleet capable of being driven autonomously.
Baidu’s fleet has provided 6 million rides to paying customers, he noted.
“In the history of the auto industry, every successful technological innovation has been quickly copied by everyone else. To say ‘this time is different’ seems naive,” Black said.
The fund manager made these comments in response to a post by a Tesla influencer about U.K. President Boris Johnson sharing his experience about driving a self-driving Tesla car.
See Also: Everything You Need To Know About Tesla Stock
Why It’s Important: While Tesla has predicated its future on FSD and robotaxis, Black is among the camps that believe in the potential of an affordable EV. Tesla diffused optimism regarding a sub-$30,000 EV by prioritizing robotaxis over it.
The company has scheduled robotaxi unveiling on Aug. 8 and more details on the fleet service will be made available then.
Tesla bull Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest, which has a $2,000 price target for Tesla by 2027, sees robotaxis accounting for 44% of revenue, 64% of EBITDA, and 67% of enterprise value by that timeframe. Elaborating on the potential, the firm said, “With access to 50x more driving data than Baidu and 280x more than Waymo, Tesla has a massive data advantage as it prepares to launch its robotaxi service, the largest AI project in the world.”
Tesla ended Friday’s session up 1.60% at $177.46, according to Benzinga Pro data.
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