At an energy conference in Norway, Tesla Inc.’s TSLA CEO Elon Musk recently announced that the company is targeting the end of 2022 for its self-driving technology to be widely available in the United States and Europe markets. The exact timeline depends on regulatory approvals.
Tesla’s existing Full Self-Driving package or FSD needs to be retrofitted to a vehicle at $15,000. The current features in the FSD package allow the vehicle to autonomously stop at signs and traffic lights, park, react to traffic while in cruise control and steer on both freeways and city streets. However, it still requires supervision from a driver.
The updated version will allow vehicles to drive independently without requiring a human occupant.
For a long time, Musk has been stating that Tesla’s self-driving cars will hit the roads soon. In May, Musk announced that self-driving cars will be made available within a year. Since 2020, he has been making announcements that Tesla will offer 1 million robot taxis by the end of the year, but the company has not been successful so far.
However, recently, Musk changed the plan and declared that Tesla will bring 1 million people in FSD Beta. There is a significant difference between the two. While the term robotaxi indicates that a vehicle can provide a taxi service without a driver at the wheel, Tesla’s FSD Beta necessitates a driver behind the wheel at all times, ready to take control.
Musk stated that owners of the fully autonomous Tesla vehicles might send them out as a ride-hailing service while they are at work, allowing them to earn some extra income instead of keeping the cars parked, which in turn entails a fee.
Earlier in the month, the U.K. government declared that it will allow cars, coaches and lorries with self-driving features on motorways in 2023.
Initially, only features such as lane-keeping technology will be made legal, and fully autonomous self-driving cars, where motorists can check emails or watch TV behind the wheel, will not be allowed until 2025.
Tesla has been targeting 2024 for mass production of its robot taxi fleet. If the company can inch closer to its mission, it will take the entire auto industry by storm and go on to retain its un-championed position in the EV space.
Shares of TSLA have jumped 13.5% over the past year against its industry’s 2% decline.
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Zacks Rank & Other Key Picks
TSLA carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), currently.
Some other top-ranked players in the auto space are LCI Industries LCII and BorgWarner BWA, each carrying a Zacks Rank #2, currently. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
LCI Industries has an expected earnings growth rate of 68.1% for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for current-year earnings has been revised 1.3% upward in the past 30 days.
LCI Industries’ earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in all the trailing four quarters. LCII pulled off a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 26.48%, on average. The stock has declined 14.6% over the past year.
BorgWarner has an expected earnings growth rate of 2.9% for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for current-year earnings has been revised 4.9% upward in the past 30 days.
BorgWarner’s earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in all the trailing four quarters. BWA pulled off a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 29.45%, on average. The stock has declined 10.1% over the past year.
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