Tesla delays robotaxi launch to October from August, Bloomberg News reports

(Reuters) -Tesla is delaying the launch of robotaxi to October from August, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the decision.

Shares of Tesla (NASDAQ:) were down more than 6%, ending 11 straight sessions of gains that had pushed the stock up 44%.

Musk had announced the unveiling of robotaxi on Aug. 8, soon after an April 5 Reuters report said, citing sources, that Tesla had canceled its long-promised inexpensive car but would continue developing self-driving robotaxis on the same small-vehicle platform.

“While the knee jerk reaction will clearly be negative on a delay of August 8th based on this report that just hit, we believe the timing of robotaxis, partnerships, and the ultimate autonomous and AI driven technology does not change at all for our bullish Tesla thesis,” Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives said.

Musk has been focusing on artificial intelligence, autonomous driving software, robotaxis and the humanoid robot named Optimus to combat a slowdown in EV sales, which generate more than 80% of Tesla’s quarterly revenue.

He said in the company’s first-quarter earnings conference call in April that Tesla would introduce “new models” by early 2025 using its current platforms and production lines.

During the call, he outlined ambitious visions for diversifying Tesla’s business into artificial intelligence, humanoid robots, and operating a fleet of millions of autonomous vehicles – all based on software and hardware products the automaker has not yet fully developed.

A source told Reuters that the billionaire visited Beijing in April on an unannounced visit to discuss the rollout of its full self-driving software and other data-transfer permissions.