Tesla IncTesla's AI chief outlined a future of state-wide robotaxi activation, indicating technological progress and expansion capability.
Deepwater Asset Management's Gene Munster suggested Tesla could ultimately pose a major competitive threat to Alphabet-backed Waymo after Tesla's AI chief outlined a future in which the company activates Robotaxi service across entire states rather than expanding city by city. Ashok Elluswamy, Tesla's VP of AI Software, told investors during the second-quarter call that launching in new cities now requires relatively less effort and that the time to launch a new city will continue to trend toward zero, toward operating in entire states as a whole. Munster interpreted the message as Tesla doing what it said it would, keeping it safe, learning, and eventually dropping a bomb on Waymo. Tesla has expanded from its June 2025 Austin launch into Dallas, Houston, Miami, Orlando, and Tampa, and runs supervised service in California's San Francisco Bay Area, logging more than 380,000 unsupervised Robotaxi miles across six cities with weekly mileage increasing at a double-digit rate. Waymo remains the scale leader, providing more than 400,000 weekly trips across 10 major metropolitan markets earlier this year and aiming to exceed 1 million weekly paid rides by year-end, while Tesla's unsupervised robotaxi fleet has reportedly shrunk to roughly 30 vehicles.
Tesla IncTesla's AI chief outlined a future of state-wide robotaxi activation, indicating technological progress and expansion capability.
Alphabet Inc Class CTesla's potential to activate robotaxi service across entire states poses a competitive threat to Waymo, an Alphabet subsidiary.