Tesla joins the 'Big Three'
Investors are treating Tesla as part of a new mobility “Big Three” alongside Waymo and Uber, and Tesla stock jumped nearly 8% on April 15 after analyst upgrades and renewed robotaxi optimism ( ). Public opinion still skews skeptical per a recent poll, and coverage points to troubling incidents—vehicles going the wrong way and sudden hard braking—that critics say highlight trust and safety gaps ( ).
Tesla’s robotaxi story is starting to move Tesla stock more than its car sales, with investors now grouping it alongside Waymo and Uber in a new mobility trio. (axios.com) Tesla shares closed up 7.97% at $391.95 on April 15 after a UBS upgrade from sell to hold, a higher $352 price target, and fresh comments from Elon Musk about Tesla’s next artificial intelligence chip. CNBC reported the stock had rallied more than 12% for the week by Wednesday’s close. (cnbc.com) The market reaction came even though Tesla’s core auto business is still under pressure. Tesla said on April 2 that it delivered 358,023 vehicles in the first quarter, below the company-compiled analyst consensus of 365,645 and below StreetAccount’s 370,000 estimate cited by CNBC. (tesla.com, cnbc.com) What changed is that Tesla now has a live robotaxi product, at least in one city. Tesla’s website says autonomous Robotaxi rides are currently being offered in Austin, Texas, starting with Model Y vehicles, while its purpose-built Cybercab is still described as a future vehicle. (tesla.com) That puts Tesla in a race with two companies that already have clearer roles in autonomous ride-hailing. Axios described Waymo, Tesla, and Uber as a new “Big Three,” with Waymo supplying the driverless technology, Uber supplying the ride-hailing network, and Tesla trying to pair both inside one company. (axios.com) Waymo has the biggest commercial footprint so far. Waymo said in May 2025 that it was providing more than 250,000 paid trips a week across Phoenix, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Austin, with more than 1,500 vehicles in those markets. (waymo.com) Uber, instead of building its own self-driving system, has been plugging Waymo cars into its app. Uber said on March 3, 2025 that Austin riders could start getting matched with fully autonomous Waymo Jaguar I-PACE vehicles through the Uber app across a 37-square-mile service area. (uber.com) Tesla’s pitch is different: one company makes the vehicle, writes the software, sells Full Self-Driving subscriptions, and now runs its own ride service. CNBC noted that Tesla’s spring software update also made it easier for drivers to subscribe to Full Self-Driving, which costs $99 a month in the United States, while stressing that “FSD (Supervised) does not make Tesla vehicles autonomous.” (cnbc.com) The skepticism has not gone away. The Verge’s transportation coverage this month highlighted a recent poll showing many Americans still do not trust robotaxis, even as Waymo expands and Tesla pushes deeper into the category. (theverge.com) Regulators are also still examining Tesla’s driver-assistance technology. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened a preliminary evaluation in October 2024 into crashes involving Full Self-Driving in reduced-visibility conditions, and in March 2026 escalated a separate engineering analysis that said Tesla’s system relies exclusively on cameras and software to detect hazards. (nhtsa.gov, nhtsa.gov) The competitive map is wider than the stock trade suggests. 24/7 Wall St. reported on April 15 that Chinese robotaxi companies including WeRide, Pony.ai, Didi, and Baidu’s Apollo Go are expanding in the Middle East, adding pressure to a market Tesla still has to win city by city. (247wallst.com) Tesla reports first-quarter earnings on April 22, and that call is likely to test whether Wall Street still wants to value the company like a carmaker or like a robotaxi platform. For now, the stock’s April 15 jump says the second story is winning. (tesla.com, cnbc.com)
