Tesla shares gain on plans to launch Full Self-Driving in Europe, China

(Reuters) – Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) shares rose 2.5% on Thursday after the electric automaker stuck to its plans to roll out the Full Self-Driving (FSD) advanced driver assistance software in China and Europe pending approval from regulators in the regions.

This comes about a month ahead of the company’s unveiling of its robotaxi product, “Cybercab”, underpinned by the technology that helps drivers accelerate, brake and steer in cities and highways with human supervision.

CEO Elon Musk said in July Tesla was likely to get regulatory approval for FSD in both the regions by the end of the year. The billionaire said on Thursday FSD could be launched in right-hand drive markets in late first quarter or early in the April-June period.

Musk’s tendency to set aggressive deadlines has led to doubts among investors and analysts, especially after missing several optimistic targets for FSD, Semi and Cybertruck.

It also announced other features like Actually Smart Summon, FSD for the Cybertruck electric pick up truck this month and version 13 of the software requiring fewer interventions next month.

Shanghai, which houses one of Tesla’s gigafactories, allowed 10 vehicles to carry out tests of FSD in June, paving the path for its roll out in China.

Brokerage Piper Sandler said while recent data from a community tracker on HW3 (hardware 3) FSD performance might worry some car owners, it is not a major concern for Tesla investors.

Tesla’s stronger focus on products such as its humanoid robot, the robotaxi and FSD comes as EV sales continue to be under pressure from higher borrowing costs, consumer concerns around fast-charging facilities and driving range on a single charge.

Wall Street remains cautious about companies developing self-driving technologies due to tough regulatory oversight. Investors, however, anticipate that a potential Trump administration could expedite the regulatory process.