Tesla Cybercab Hype Builds: Cathie Wood, Chamath Cheer Musk’s AI, Energy Push — But One Analyst Calls The Bull Case ‘Absurd’

• Wood celebrated reports of unsupervised Cybercabs operating in Austin without occupants, steering wheels or pedals.
• Musk said Tesla and SpaceX are each racing to build 100 GW of annual solar-production capacity, drawing Palihapitiya’s approval.
• Gary Black warned that autonomous ride-hailing could become commoditized and questioned the aggressive assumptions behind bullish Robotaxi valuations.

Shares of Tesla, Inc. (TSLA) climbed 0.3% overnight heading into Monday after Cathie Wood and Chamath Palihapitiya cheered Elon Musk’s latest Cybercab and energy ambitions, even as Future Fund’s Gary Black warned that bulls may again be assigning the company an unrealistically dominant market position.

TSLA stock is up 12% for the month despite snapping a three-week winning streak with a 4% decline last week.

Tesla Cybercabs Flood Austin Streets

The weekend excitement began after a Tesla influencer claimed Cybercabs were operating unsupervised in Austin without occupants, steering wheels or pedals. “Yes, let’s GO!” Wood replied.

Additionally, Ashok Elluswamy, who leads Tesla’s AI and Autopilot efforts, shared footage of the vehicles and declared: “The streets won’t be the same anymore.” When another user asked whether Tesla was about to “flood Austin” with Cybercabs, Musk replied: “Yes.”

Patrick Moorhead, chief analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy, also reported seeing a sharp increase in the vehicles downtown. “Tesla CyberTaxis all over downtown Austin today,” Moorhead said on X. “Seeing as many of them as Waymo which is a first for me.” He also suggested that this could be preparation for Tesla’s Sept.3 event.

Musk separately teased another driving improvement after an X user said he wanted his Tesla to avoid potholes. “Coming soon,” Musk replied, without providing a timeline.

The driving updates accompanied a sweeping forecast from Musk about the pace of AI.“AI will be able to do anything digital (that doesn’t require shaping atoms) at a superhuman level by the end of next year,” he said. The prediction underscores Musk’s effort to position Tesla as an AI, autonomy and robotics company rather than solely an EV manufacturer. 

Musk Tackles AI Data-Center Power Crunch

Billionaire venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya, meanwhile, responded with a sun emoji after Musk outlined an ambitious energy buildout across Tesla and SpaceX. “SpaceX and Tesla are each building 100GW/year of solar production capacity as fast as possible,” Musk said.

Musk expects natural gas to supplement solar power for several years as electricity demand from AI data centers strains existing grids. Turbine manufacturers, however, face a bottleneck in producing the specialized blades and vanes required to operate at extreme temperatures. SpaceX is developing in-house casting capabilities in Bastrop, Texas, that Musk said could accelerate the deployment of natural-gas turbines by as much as 18 months.

“The limiting factor for nat gas turbine production is casting the blades & vanes,” Musk said. “By doing in-house casting at SpaceX, we can accelerate nat gas turbines coming online by up to 18 months, which is a profound game-changer.”

Gary Black Challenges Tesla Robotaxi Bulls 

However, Black pushed back on X against the aggressive assumptions behind some bullish Tesla valuations. He said Wall Street expects Tesla to achieve unsupervised autonomy around the same time as several competitors and assumes autonomous ride-hailing will “quickly become a commodity.” This leads analysts to assign a substantially lower value to Tesla’s Robotaxi business than many of the company’s online supporters.

“WS analysts forecast valuations based on their projections of forward earnings and cash flows, not based on where the first real number prints,” Black said. He compared today’s Robotaxi enthusiasm with claims made five years ago that Tesla would sell 20 million electric vehicles annually by 2030.

Black called the assumption “absurd,” arguing that it would have required Tesla to capture about 20% of the global EV market. 

How Do Retail Traders Feel About TSLA?

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment for TSLA slipped to ‘neutral’ from ‘bullish’ levels a day ago amid a 36% rise in 24-hour message volumes.

One user said, “$TSLA cybercab hype will push this $355+ this week”

Meanwhile, another user said, “$TSLA Like most Tesla events this Cybercab Event should ... tank the stock.”

So far this year, Tesla's stock has lagged its "Magnificent Seven" peers, making it the group's worst performer, down about 22%. 

For updates and corrections, email newsroom[at]stocktwits[dot]com.

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