Elon Musk Hints At Merger Of Robotaxi, Passenger Vehicle Driving Assistance Software: Retail’s Yet To Make Up Their Mind

Musk said over the weekend that Tesla’s assisted driving capabilities will see “a step change improvement” as the company integrates the upgrades it made for the robotaxi into the general production vehicles.

Tesla Inc. (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk on Monday hinted that the company’s software for its robotaxis will merge with its passenger vehicle driving assistance software in the third quarter.

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around Tesla is trending in the ‘neutral’ territory ahead of earnings, coupled with ‘low’ message volume.

Retail chatter around the stock, which is one of the most active on the Stocktwits platform, witnessed a near 114% jump in message count over the past 24 hours as it nears the launch of its second-quarter (Q2) earnings report.

Musk over the weekend said that Tesla’s assisted driving capabilities will see “a step change improvement” as the company integrates the upgrades it made for the robotaxi into the general production vehicles.

“Your Tesla self-driving capability will see a step change improvement as we integrate upgrades for the Austin robotaxi build into the general production release,” Musk wrote on X.

A Tesla investor subsequently asked the billionaire CEO whether the merger of the two software will be possible by Q3.

“Looking good so far,” Musk wrote in reply, without providing a more detailed timeline.

Tesla launched its pilot robotaxi in a particular area within Austin in June, placing itself firmly within the robotaxi or autonomous vehicle field against Alphabet Inc.’s robotaxi unit Waymo.

Unlike Waymo, which retrofits vehicles made by other carmakers with its software and hardware to operate them as robotaxis, Tesla uses its own vehicles, equipped with its own driver assistance software, known as full self-driving or FSD, which relies on cameras to study the vehicle's surroundings and artificial intelligence to make driving decisions.

Tesla also operates FSD on its passenger vehicles. The software, however, is yet to enable fully autonomous driving and requires active driver supervision.

A Stocktwits user expressed optimism about robotaxi and affordable car models driving the company in the upcoming two years.

TSLA stock is down 18% this year but up approximately 31% over the past 12 months.

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