Tesla shares have dropped after delaying the launch of its self-driving taxis.

The electric car maker’s shares fell 1.8% in premarket trading following an 8.4% plunge on Thursday, its largest decline since January.

According to Bloomberg News, Tesla has postponed the unveiling of its Robotaxis from August to October.

In recent months, CEO Elon Musk has been positioning Tesla as a leader in self-driving technology, beyond just an electric vehicle manufacturer.

As a paid-for software upgrade, self-driving capabilities have the potential to significantly boost Tesla’s profits, compared to the traditionally tight margins in the automotive industry.

Additionally, renting cars out as autonomous taxis could introduce a new business model similar to Uber, but without the need to pay a driver.

History Of Tesla

Tesla, Inc. is an American multinational automotive and clean energy company headquartered in Austin, Texas. The company designs, manufactures, and sells battery electric vehicles (BEVs), stationary battery energy storage devices for home to grid-scale, solar panels, solar shingles, and related products and services. Tesla is also developing artificial intelligence and robotics products.

Founded in July 2003 by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning as Tesla Motors, the company was named in honor of inventor and electrical engineer Nikola Tesla. Elon Musk joined Tesla in February 2004 as its largest shareholder and became CEO in 2008. Tesla’s first car model, the Roadster sports car, began production in 2008. Subsequent models include the Model S sedan (2012), Model X SUV (2015), Model 3 sedan (2017), Model Y crossover (2020), Tesla Semi truck (2022), and Cybertruck pickup truck (2023). The Model 3 is the all-time best-selling plug-in electric car worldwide, and in June 2021, it became the first electric car to sell 1 million units globally. In 2023, the Model Y was the best-selling vehicle globally.

Tesla is among the world’s most valuable companies by market capitalization. In October 2021, it temporarily became a trillion-dollar company, the seventh U.S. company to achieve this milestone. In 2023, Tesla led the battery electric vehicle market with a 19.9% share and was ranked 69th in the Forbes Global 2000. As of March 2024, it is the world’s most valuable automaker.

Tesla has faced lawsuits, government scrutiny, and journalistic criticism due to allegations of whistleblower retaliation, worker rights violations, safety issues, product defects, fraud, and CEO Elon Musk’s controversial statements.