Image source: Getty Images
After the horror year in 2022 – who saw Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA ) Share Price Drops 65% – Elon Musk’s EV Tech Company Is Back in 2023
Since the opening bell on January 3, Tesla’s share price is up 130%. The shares closed down 1.2% on Friday, trading at US$248.50 each.
For some context, the NASDAQ Composite Index (NASDAQ: .IXIC) is up 32% year to date.
The stock still has a long way to go before retrieving the November 2021 high above US$407 per share. But the trend of 2023 is definitely taking it in the right direction.
Now, what’s all this about Tesla’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) success?
Could AI Send Tesla Share Price to New Highs?
Tesla founder Elon Musk has been investing heavily in AI technology for years.
That time and money has already reaped significant rewards. But the real payoff for the Telstra share price could be just over the horizon.
Last month, on August 25, Musk made a video of himself in the driver’s seat of a Tesla Model 3. For some 45 minutes, the car did many of the tricks you’d normally expect. They parked, stopped at the lights and drove down various streets. But the thing is, Musk was holding his phone, not the steering wheel.
The technology enabling the self-driving feat is version 12 (or v12) of Tesla’s full self-driving program.
Now the car Musk was driving is not yet ready to hit the world’s roads.
It requires what is known as Level 4 or Level 5 autonomy.
And that’s what Tesla is aiming for with its v12 technology.
Unlike previous versions, the v12 uses AI to enable the car to recognize its own best course of action. That level of learning is enabled by analyzing countless hours of video of human driver and vehicle behavior collected from millions of Tesla cars around the world.
Enter Robotaxis
A big potential payoff for the Tesla share price could come with the rollout of self-driving robotaxis.
Musk’s company still has some work to do to get there.
But as the world’s richest man demonstrated in his self-driving video last month, the company appears to be getting closer.
Musk first proposed the idea of ​​autonomous robotics in 2016. At that time Tesla shares were priced in the range of US$10 to US$17.
Musk envisions a fully autonomous Tesla that owners could send out to act as robotaxis when their cars are not in use. Owners will then split any revenue with Tesla, with specific details still to be worked out.
This could potentially open up an entirely new revenue stream for the company.
In June, financial services company RBC estimated that Robotaxis could represent 70% of Tesla’s value.
“We believe that robotaxis (and autonomous vehicles in general) may change society more than anything else in our lifetime,” RBC said at the time.
With the ongoing advancements in AI, Musk also envisions his Robotaxis moving all over the roads.
And that could provide some ongoing tailwinds for Tesla’s share price.