Key Points
- Tesla’s market capitalization is closely tied to the company’s ability to solve autonomous driving.
- Musk emphasizes the immense value of autonomy and envisions Tesla owners utilizing their vehicles as self-driving robotaxis.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk, while engaging in a conversation with Antoine Arnault, heir to the luxury conglomerate LVMH, at Paris’ VivaTech innovation conference, expressed his belief that Tesla’s market capitalization is intrinsically tied to its ability to successfully achieve autonomous driving. Despite being playfully teased by Arnault about Tesla’s staggering $827 billion market cap overshadowing LVMH’s valuation, Musk humbly admitted his limited understanding of stock price fluctuations, citing the unpredictability of valuations.
However, Musk asserted that Tesla’s market cap is heavily reliant on the company’s progress in perfecting autonomous driving technology. He highlighted the significance of autonomy by stating that although Tesla is on track to produce nearly 2 million vehicles this year, that only accounts for a mere 2% of total vehicle production. Musk emphasized the immense value of autonomy, even when considering the probability of its successful implementation.
The CEO reiterated his vision of Tesla owners transforming their vehicles into a fleet of self-driving robotaxis, a concept he initially projected would be realized by 2020. Musk has consistently claimed that Tesla is close to achieving full autonomy, yet at present, their vehicles only provide advanced driver assistance features.
About Tesla
Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) designs, develops, manufactures, sells and leases fully electric vehicles and energy generation and storage systems, and offer services related to its products. The Company’s automotive segment includes the design, development, manufacturing, sales, and leasing of electric vehicles as well as sales of automotive regulatory credits. Additionally, the automotive segment is also comprised of services and other, which includes non-warranty after-sales vehicle services, sales of used vehicles, retail merchandise, sales by its acquired subsidiaries to third party customers, and vehicle insurance. Its energy generation and storage segment include the design, manufacture, installation, sales and leasing of solar energy generation and energy storage products and related services and sales of solar energy systems incentives. Its automotive products include Model 3, Model Y, Model S and Model X. Powerwall and Megapack are its lithium-ion battery energy storage products. To learn more, visit www.tesla.com