Robo-Taxi Service Area to Expand in Austin This Weekend
Musk: "Waiting for Approval in San Francisco Bay Area, Likely Within One or Two Months"
Grok AI Chatbot to Be Integrated into Tesla Vehicles Soon
Tesla Board Schedules Annual Shareholders' Meeting for November 6
Elon Musk, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Tesla, announced that the company will soon expand the service areas for its fully autonomous robo (driverless) taxi, and that Tesla vehicles will be equipped with the artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot 'Grok'.
On the night of July 9 (local time), CEO Musk responded to a user on X (formerly Twitter) who was waiting for news about the expansion of the robo-taxi service, saying, "We will expand to a wider service area in Austin this weekend." When asked about when the service would begin in the San Francisco Bay Area, he replied, "We are waiting for regulatory approval, but probably in a month or two."
On June 22, Tesla conducted a pilot robo-taxi service in a limited area of Austin, Texas, targeting a small group of social media influencers and others, using Model Y vehicles equipped with the latest Full Self-Driving (FSD) software. However, it was later revealed that there were multiple traffic law violations during the test drives, which led to an investigation by regulatory authorities.
Since then, CEO Musk had not commented further on the robo-taxi until he revealed the expansion plans about three weeks later. Wall Street analysts predict that if Tesla gradually expands its robo-taxi service as planned, it could pose a threat to both the existing autonomous driverless taxi industry led by Google Waymo and the ride-hailing service industry such as Uber. Alexander Potter, an analyst at investment firm Piper Sandler, wrote in a memo to investors that "the faster this expansion progresses without major incidents, the better it will be for Tesla's stock price."
In addition, CEO Musk repeatedly touted the improved performance of Grok, the chatbot newly launched by his AI startup xAI, and announced that this chatbot service will also be available through Tesla vehicles. He wrote, "Grok is coming to Tesla vehicles soon," adding, "No later than next week."
Meanwhile, according to US financial media outlets such as CNBC, the Tesla board of directors has reported to authorities that this year's annual shareholders' meeting will be held on November 6. It was reported that the previous day, some Tesla investor groups sent a letter to the board urging them to hold this year's shareholders' meeting as soon as possible.
On this day, Tesla's stock closed at $309.87 on the New York Stock Exchange, up 4.73% from the previous day. Previously, after CEO Musk clashed with US President Donald Trump and declared the launch of a new political party on July 5, the stock price plunged, falling to $293.94 on July 7.
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