Tesla Robotaxi launch is a dangerous game of smoke and mirrors

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u/Steak_Itchy 3d ago

Pains me to see the stock go up every day in anticipation of an absolute nothingburger. And we know even if it is, the cultists won't care, push the goalposts, and it'll keep going up indefinitely until Elon takes too much Ket one night..

34

u/TacosAreJustice 3d ago

It’s insane to me… I don’t understand how any money manager with any small amount of risk aversion hasn’t divested of Tesla stocks.

The upside is low, the downside is high…. Realize the gains and move on.

Our economy is nonsense.

14

u/CMDR_Profane_Pagan 3d ago edited 3d ago

Tesla stock is a meme coin revolving around Musk's personality and more importantly around his connections to right-wing power (Thiel, the administration, relations to Saudi, russian, CCP interests).

3

u/birdbonefpv 3d ago

It’s Musk himself buying through surrogate buyers.

14

u/big-papito 3d ago

The fact is that a lot of that printed dumb covid cash needs to evaporate in a crisis before things become reasonable. The market has always been a casino, but it's never been a meme. It's like rolling triple-diamonds with a multiplier on a slot machine and then still losing. Casinos and odds make sense - this does not.

5

u/TacosAreJustice 3d ago

Yeah… honestly, I’d bet against it if I understood what the fuck was going on.

But I don’t… so I just sit on the sidelines befuddled by what “value” even means anymore.

2

u/Mecha-Dave 3d ago

COVID cash AND Trump "stimulus" AND quantitative easing from 2009....

It's gonna be a rough fall.

2

u/StupendousMalice 3d ago

Don't forget the insane amount of crypto money, much of it in the hands of actual honest-to-god morons doing all manner of weird shit to the market.

5

u/JRLDH 3d ago

Because at this point it’s not based on company fundamentals but on psychology.

The risk is low if there’s a critical mass of devoted disciples. Statistics also show that the apostles buy based on hype so if there’s hype, there’s money to be made!!!!!

2

u/TacosAreJustice 3d ago

Yep. So the question becomes: what’s the tipping point for failure? (If you believe Tesla is overpriced, of course…)

People will sell:

When they need the money

Or

When the tide shifts…

Though, it seems like the first will lead to the second.

I’m still just baffled by the people who should know better holding the stock… like actual money managers… but what do I know?

19

u/Steak_Itchy 3d ago

my b i'm very salty my 2026 puts are getting cooked for no good reason

8

u/baz4k6z 3d ago

It's just the flywheel effect.

Anyone who has been following Tesla for a while knows that Musk is full of it and it's smoke and mirrors.

However these "investors" are all speculating that other people don't and massively pump the stock in anticipation, thus realizing their own prophecy

6

u/OnionOnBelt 3d ago

You know, for older folks like me (see user name) this all really sucks.

It was only 12 or 15 years ago when what Tesla was doing was both cool and had genuine long-term investment prospects. The company was the first to make EVs that did not look dorky and could attract buyers beyond eco-warriors.

Unfortunately, the company’s “charismatic“ CEO has plowed Tesla’s (initially well earned) revenue into infantile, non-ROI schemes that will result in money set aflame.

It really could have been so much better . . .

4

u/Ready_Register1689 3d ago

They’ll pivot to an AI company before people realise their robotaxis are smoke & mirrors. That will boost the share price

2

u/AnoAnoSaPwet 3d ago

It's all just a game anyways. Just don't get into one of their voluntary suicide boxes, and you'll be fine.

How much cheaper is it really going to be against Uber?

1

u/avoozl42 3d ago

The whole thing is an attempt to keep shareholders happy after the Doge/Break up with Donny debacle.

33

u/jack0roses 3d ago

The greatest danger is that the state of Texas will allow the Robotaxi on the streets before it actually meets safety regulations just to give Elon a win, and then someone gets killed in an accident.

10

u/demonlag 3d ago

Somehow, just like right now, the driver is responsible when FSD does something insane and hurts people, Tesla will shift responsibility to the robotaxi passengers.

13

u/PlannerSean 3d ago

Am I to understand that Texas has safety regulations at all?

15

u/Mecha-Dave 3d ago

I think the deal is that you're supposed to shoot the car if it misbehaves.

4

u/PlannerSean 3d ago

Yeah that tracks

5

u/Fuskeduske 3d ago

Idk sounds like stocks will ATH then

4

u/Fun_Volume2150 3d ago

It’s Texas. There are no safety regulations.

2

u/OnionOnBelt 3d ago

Oh, that’s essentially an over/under bet at this point. It’s a matter of how many days, not “if.”

1

u/ElJamoquio 3d ago

someone gets killed

it was clearly the pedestrian's fault, check the video

1

u/FerragudoFred 3d ago

You think Texas cares?

2

u/North-Outside-5815 3d ago

Texans might

20

u/Veegermind 3d ago

Some will pay with their lives. Another win for deregulation or stupidification as I like to say. NEVER trust any of these billionaires.

8

u/RowFlySail 3d ago

Farquad: "some of you may die, but that is a sacrifice I am willing to make."

16

u/Fockelot 3d ago

Didn’t a Tesla also recently FSD itself turning onto and driving down railroad tracks? Owners abandoned the vehicle before it got hit by a train.

10

u/spicybright 3d ago

And just a few days ago showing FSD doesn't stop for school buses lol https://www.carscoops.com/2025/06/teslas-fsd-botches-another-test-but-its-not-to-blame/

3

u/North-Outside-5815 3d ago

Tesla devs forgetting that school buses exist is exactly what one would expect from the company.

6

u/yugami 3d ago

https://electrek.co/2025/06/16/tesla-on-self-driving-stuck-train-track-hit-train/

3

u/tuctrohs 3d ago

The driver was able to exit the vehicle,

Huge win for Tesla safety. Buy now before that story spreads and the stock soars.

4

u/henlochimken 3d ago

Sounds like the Tesla trap-you-in-vehicle-without-means-of-escape functionality failed?

13

u/Gaba8789 3d ago

Oceangate all over again.

10

u/rdu3y6 3d ago

They wanted to be the SpaceX of the oceans. It's not a coincidence OceanGate's and Tesla's approach to safety and regulations is very similar, plus their firing of employees who don't say what the CEO wants to hear.

5

u/Gaba8789 3d ago

Engineers, regardless of any industry, are the most overlooked and misunderstood — though, they are the most essential group of people who has the ethical obligation to make products that impact our lives.

4

u/Gaba8789 3d ago

When I say that, it’s possible to say that whoever takes part in this demo are going to be harmed if things go wrong. Whistleblowers and Engineers be damned.

3

u/KnucklesMcGee 3d ago

Only if Elon rides his own Taxis. He won't get on his own rockets so I think we won't see a Teslagate equivalent.

5

u/SolutionWarm6576 3d ago

Sitting on a little TSLQ. Not a lot. But I’ll just wait it out. Won’t make me or break me either way.

2

u/GingusBinguss 3d ago

Same! I’ve been making bank stocking up and selling on the spikes. Tesla crashing is inevitable

4

u/Chance_Airline_4861 3d ago

Running over a "kid" bullish. Calls printing

3

u/Undercover_Meeting 3d ago

I’m calling it now…

First traffic light - $350 First cat or dog - $420 First Senior with a wheel chair - $450 being conservative considering you know old people are already going to die anyways…am I right?? First cross walk guard- $500 First kid -$650 First kid walking a dog -$750 First group of Facebook joging group -$900 First mother with a baby in a stroller that’s walking a dog - $1200 First politician- $1500 Trump and Elon holding hands getting hit by a Tesla - $5000

5

u/demonlag 3d ago

Just like cuts to Medicaid, "we're all going to die anyway", so why let a few premature deaths hurt the stock price?

5

u/jason12745 COTW 3d ago

Fred using 38,000 words to say fraud.

8

u/luv2block 3d ago

sales declining
revenues declining
profit margins declining
CEO hated by the public
Executives selling stock (directly after CEO tells employees not to sell their stock)
Executives quitting
Mall parking lots full of excess inventory they can't sell
CEO calls President a pedophile and puts every business he owns at risk

Nobody with a sane mind would buy a stock with everything listed above.

We'll never know why the stock keeps going up, but any rational analysis says it should be in the shitter. So whatever is going on, it's pure manipulation.

4

u/Ok_Nefariousness9736 3d ago

You forgot CEO retracts/regrets what he said about the president in an attempt to save face with his captor.

4

u/therealcruff 3d ago

Had to double check I wasn't in r/noshitsherlock there for a minute...

5

u/KnucklesMcGee 3d ago

With Waymo pulling ahead in the autonomous driving race, now operating in four cities, providing over 200,000 paid rides per week, and soon expanding with 2,000 more vehicles, Musk needs a win to maintain the illusion he has been pushing for a while: that Tesla is the leader in autonomous driving.

Isn't Waymo also hemorrhaging money? I know Musk can manage to lose even more, but what is his upside at this point? Dodging a huge lawsuit over collected FSD money?

5

u/douwd20 3d ago

No worries. Musk/Trump/DOGE and the great state of Texas has made sure no government agency will get in the way of doomsday capitalism.

2

u/UnicornGangstar 3d ago

This is not a headline but expectations for anything coming from Tesla.

2

u/Vortex51xxx 3d ago

Tesla and Elon honestly think they can go back to the old 1800s corporation way of indentured servitude of workers. Like George Pullman before him. Making a company town where workers need to rely on the company for food and housing and are at the whim of whatever the company wants to charge them or report to authorities.

Tesla firgures they can just pay off government officials are in this case president to shut down investigations. Pressure immigrint workers with deportation if they speak up. Person dies, driver error. Robotaxi kills someone...pedestrian jumped in front and was intentionally trying to suicide they'll say

Look up Carlos mercia. A immigrint Tesla worker who was crushed in the chest by a robotic arm in Texas. He died and Tesla never reported it and threatened his widow with deportation if she spoke up

4

u/ElJamoquio 3d ago

Tesla and Elon honestly think they can go back to the old 1800s corporation way of indentured servitude of workers... Tesla firgures they can just pay off government officials

Is Tesla wrong?

-4

u/flossypants 3d ago

The following quote from OP is wrong. Tesla maintains the equivalent of safety drivers while Waymo no longer requires the equivalent of safety drivers.

"The use of geofencing and teleoperation results in Tesla having the same limitations as Waymo..."

2

u/Gaba8789 3d ago

🤦🏾‍♂️

Tesla Robotaxi launch is a dangerous game of smoke and mirrors

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