Tesla has completed its first fully autonomous vehicle delivery, with a driverless Model Y navigating from the company's Austin factory to a customer's home, a milestone as the company faces a downturn in sales and increased competition in the electric vehicle market, the New York Post reported.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced that the company has completed its first driverless car delivery to a customer, showcasing the potential of its "Full Self-Driving" technology at a pivotal moment for the electric automaker.
A Tesla Model Y SUV left the company's Gigafactory and drove itself about 30 minutes to a customer's house last Friday. The route included parking lots, highways, and city streets. Tesla shared a time-lapse video of the trip, emphasizing that the vehicle operated independently for the entire drive.
"There were no people in the car at all and no remote operators in control at any point. FULLY autonomous!" Musk posted on X.
Ashok Elluswamy, Tesla's head of AI, said the delivery was not staged.
We "literally chose a random customer who ordered a Model Y in the Austin area," he said. The car reportedly reached a top speed of 72 mph during the trip.
Despite the technological milestone, Tesla shares fell about 1% in early trading Monday. The company's stock has declined more than 15% since the start of the year, as Tesla grapples with declining demand and increasing pressure from competitors.
The company has faced mounting challenges, particularly in key markets such as China and Europe, where such as China's BYD have taken the lead in the EV sector. Investors have also raised concerns about Tesla's aging vehicle lineup and its brand image, which has been affected by Musk's much-debated involvement with President Donald Trump and the Department of Government Efficiency.
The driverless delivery came shortly after Tesla initiated its Robotaxi program in Austin on a limited basis. While some influencers and analysts praised the program after participating in controlled test runs, others noted that the autonomous vehicles occasionally disobeyed local traffic laws.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which has previously scrutinized Tesla's self-driving efforts, confirmed it has requested more information about the Robotaxi pilot program.
Musk has long touted self-driving technology as a potential game-changer for Tesla's valuation, estimating that autonomous vehicles could add between $5 trillion and $10 trillion to the company's market cap by turning idle cars into active, income-generating assets.
Tesla is competing with other major players in the self-driving market, including Waymo, a company owned by Google. With this latest delivery, Tesla aims to demonstrate it can deliver real-world, fully autonomous performance, without a driver or remote assistance.
Jim Thomas ✉
Jim Thomas is a writer based in Indiana. He holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science, a law degree from U.I.C. Law School, and has practiced law for more than 20 years.
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