Tesla shares fell nearly 5% in early trading Thursday after reports emerged that the electric vehicle maker has yet to file necessary regulatory paperwork in key states where CEO Elon Musk promised robotaxi services would launch by year-end.
As of press time, the stock traded 4.3% lower at $442, erasing gains accumulated over the past month. The decline comes despite a 43% surge over the previous three months.
Ambitious Targets Meet Regulatory Reality
Musk told investors during Tesla‘s third-quarter earnings call last week that the company’s robotaxi service would operate in eight to ten U.S. metropolitan areas by the end of 2025, including Nevada, Arizona, and Florida.
However, Tesla has yet to complete the necessary regulatory filings to launch in Nevada and Arizona, The Information reported Thursday, citing state regulators.
The gap between Musk’s promises and regulatory readiness raises questions about whether the company can meet its stated timeline.
The current target already represents a significant retreat from Musk’s July projection, when he claimed robotaxi would reach half the US population by the end of 2025.
The goal was notably absent from last week’s earnings call.
Current Operations and Safety Metrics
During the October 22 earnings call, investors pressed management for details on robotaxi metrics including fleet size, cumulative miles, rides completed, and intervention rates—as well as when safety drivers would be removed from vehicles.
Musk addressed the safety driver question directly.
“We are expecting to have no safety drivers in at least large parts of Austin by the end of this year,” he stated. “So within a few months, we expect to have no safety drivers at all in at least parts of Austin.”
The CEO emphasized a cautious approach to deployment, noting that “even one accident will be front-page headline news worldwide.”
“It’s better for us to take a cautious approach here,” Musk said. “But we do expect to have no safety drivers in the car in Austin within a few months. I think that’s perhaps the most important data point.”
Ashok Elluswamy, Tesla‘s vice president of AI software, provided additional operational details. The company has covered more than 250,000 miles in Austin with no one in the driver’s seat, he said.
In the Bay Area, where regulations require a human driver, Tesla has logged over one million miles.
“The robotaxi fleet works really well. Customers are really happy, and there are no notable issues,” Elluswamy said, adding that Tesla’s Full Self-Driving supervised system has accumulated 6 billion total miles as of the earnings call date.
California’s Regulatory Constraints
In California, Tesla‘s original home state, the company continues testing with human safety drivers due to permit restrictions. Its current authorization only allows operation of “a traditional vehicle” with a human driver.
As a result, Tesla’s “robotaxi” service in California functions as a ride-hailing service, with drivers using the company’s Supervised Full Self-Driving technology.
Strategic Flexibility on Vehicle Design
Earlier this week, Tesla Board Chair Robyn Denholm suggested for the first time that the company might offer its robotaxi vehicle with traditional controls if regulators require them.
“If we have to have a steering wheel, it can have a steering wheel and pedals,” Denholm told Bloomberg on Tuesday, signaling potential flexibility in the vehicle’s design specifications.
Cybercab Spotted Testing
Separately, Tesla‘s Cybercab autonomous vehicle was photographed on public roads for the first time Wednesday in Los Altos, California, approximately ten minutes from the company’s engineering headquarters.
The sighting comes as Tesla targets 2026 for production of the purpose-built robotaxi.
