Tesla shares dropped below $380 on Thursday, marking their lowest point since late September and extending a steep decline from the all-time high of $498.83 set in late December.
The stock traded as low as $379.72 in the first hours of Thursday’s market session, before rebounding slightly later in the session.
Thursday’s decline comes amid renewed scrutiny of Tesla‘s driver-assistance technology and a new billion dollar deal between Uber and the Irvine-headquartered EV maker Rivian.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has escalated its investigation into the company’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) software, a day after news of a lawsuit over a crash involving a Cybertruck (allegedly) on Autopilot.
The company’s shares had traded consistently above $400 from late November through early February, before beginning a sustained slide.
Earlier this month, the stock briefly dipped below $382 — partially driven by geopolitical tensions, weak global sales figures, and a new chip shortage risk — before recovering to the $390–$400 range over the past ten days.
Tesla is pushing ahead with its broader autonomous strategy, while contending with declining vehicle sales across the globe — even after recent updates to its lineup.
The company plans to begin production of its Cybercab robotaxi in April — a purpose-built fully autonomous vehicle that will run on its unsupervised FSD software.
Additionally, it is preparing to unveil the third version of the Optimus humanoid robot.
Investors view both projects as central to Tesla‘s long-term growth story.
However, recent news has sent the stock plunging amid concerns that the regulatory path and deployment of FSD could face more challenges than expected.
NHTSA Probe
The NHTSA announced on Thursday that it has escalated its existing probe into Tesla‘s FSD to an engineering analysis — the next stage of the investigation.
The probe covers about 3.2 million vehicles across multiple models in the United States that are equipped with the system, produced from 2023 to 2025.
According to the agency, this part of the investigation will now focus on potential failures in FSD’s ability to detect when the system is degrading or not performing properly.
The probe was triggered by crashes and near-misses where the system failed to recognize driver inattention.
Last year, the NHTSA opened an investigation into FSD-equipped cars running red lights, not respecting speed limits under the new ‘Mad Max’ driving mode, adding to other scenarios already on probe.
The company asked for extra time to review data under an NHTSA probe earlier this year, before submission. The agency granted an extension, which ended on March 9.
By then, the company highlighted the strain of dealing with multiple NHTSA investigations simultaneously, including separate probes into delayed crash reporting and defective door handles.
Cybertruck Accident(s)
Tesla‘s CEO Elon Musk wrote on X on Wednesday that a Cybertruck accident was not caused by the company’s assisted driving software, Autopilot.
A video of the crash, shared by Fox News on X, has garnered over 6 million views in the past two days.
According to Musk, vehicle logs show that the driver of a Cybertruck involved in a violent overpass crash in Houston last August disengaged Autopilot four seconds before impact.
The claim directly challenges the framing of a $1 million lawsuit filed by the driver, Justine Saint Amour, whose attorney has argued that the crash was caused by Tesla‘s system failing to navigate a standard highway curve — not by anything the driver did wrong.
The Houston case adds to a mounting wave of legal action against Tesla’s driver-assistance systems.
A federal judge recently upheld a $243 million verdict against Tesla in a separate Autopilot case involving the death of a 22-year-old woman.
FSD Deployment
Tesla‘s CEO Elon Musk revealed in late January that Full Self-Driving (FSD) is now “100% unsupervised.”
By then, the chief executive confirmed that the company had removed the chase vehicles that had accompanied early robotaxi trips operating without safety monitors earlier this year.
He flagged, however, that Tesla was “just being very cautious with the rollout” for customers.
Tesla‘s VP of AI Software Ashok Elluswamy wrote on X this weekend that the FSD’s “upcoming tech will make it even more” transformative, commenting on a post that said it would be the most “impressive tech creation” of the century.
Musk wrote on X on Wednesday that the upcoming Version 14.3 is “in testing right now.”
A wide release of the software is expected “in a few weeks,” the CEO added.
Uber-Rivian Robotaxi Deal
Uber announced on Thursday that it has agreed to invest up to $1.25 billion in Rivian through 2031, with the two companies planning to deploy up to 50,000 fully autonomous robotaxis across 25 cities in the United States, Canada, and Europe.
The deal marks one of the largest financial commitments any ride-hailing company has made to a single carmaker for autonomous vehicles.
Rivian is the second direct competitor of Tesla to partner with Uber for robotaxi deployment, following Lucid Motors last Summer.
Lucid will integrate Level 4 software from tech company Nuro into its Gravity vehicles, which will then be deployed on Uber.
Rivian, on the other hand, will use its own autonomy stack to power R2 robotaxis on the Uber network.
The RJ Scaringe-led company’s autonomy platform rivals Tesla‘s Full Self-Driving, with the two taking very different approaches.
While Tesla relies on a vision-only stack, Rivian uses what it calls a neural network — that combines both cameras and LiDAR sensors.
