TSLA Stock Climbs Overnight As Cybercab Eyes Dallas — Musk Recalls When Shorts Had Tesla In ‘Checkmate’

• Texas records showed 150 new Cybercab registrations, bringing the total to 319.
• Tesla faces an Oct.30 deadline to provide sworn answers to NHTSA’s questions about Cybercab safety certification.
• Musk said Tesla is checking local risks such as railroad crossings and low-visibility hazards before expanding robotaxi service.

Tesla, Inc. (TSLA) shares climbed 0.6% overnight heading into Monday after an executive hinted that Cybercab rides could reach Dallas next. At the same time, CEO Elon Musk recalled how short sellers once had the company “in checkmate” during the 2018 Model 3 crisis.

TSLA stock jumped 3% last week to $382.70, its best week since late August. 

Dallas In Sight As Tesla Adds 150 Cybercabs

“Two years since the 10/10 Cybercab WeRobot event, the cabs are everywhere in Austin now. Dallas soon,” Tesla AI software chief Ashok Elluswamy said on X on Saturday. He was responding to a post from Tesla’s Robotaxi account saying more than 300 Cybercabs were serving Austin, an 8x increase in 30 days.

The Dallas hint came after a sharp jump in Tesla’s registered Cybercab fleet. Investor and influencer Sawyer Merritt said on X last week that Texas Department of Motor Vehicles records showed 150 additional registrations, taking the total to 319 from 169. “Tesla just nearly doubled its registered Cybercabs overnight,” he said. It was the largest single-day increase since Cybercabs first appeared in the registry on Aug.31. Austin is the only public Cybercab market, and Tesla has not announced a Dallas launch date.

The fleet expansion comes as Tesla prepares to answer federal questions about the Cybercab’s safety certification. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) granted the company a 30-day extension, setting an Oct. 30 deadline rather than the Nov. 20 date Tesla requested. The agency is seeking sworn responses to 21 requests, including how the pedal-free vehicle complies with a braking standard that requires a foot control.

Musk Says Safety Will Set Robotaxi Rollout Pace

Musk addressed the pace of Tesla’s robotaxi expansion in an interview, saying it may look slow even as the fleet grows quickly month to month. “The reason we’re moving what seems to be slowly, although it’s actually a very high percentage increase month over month, is that we want to make sure that we do not have an accident,” he said.

“We don’t want to cause an injury or death,” Musk added. “One such thing with a Tesla robotaxi will be worldwide headline news.” He said Tesla reviews difficult road situations before entering a new city. “Before we go to a new city, we want to make sure that there’s not some intersection that’s problematic or risky,” he said. “We want to be particularly careful with railroad crossings.”

Musk also spoke about the challenge of detecting small animals in poor visibility. “We have these challenges of literally kittens at night, gray kittens on gray tarmac with tar seams at night in low visibility, and it’s like, ‘Can we not run over the kittens?’” he said. “We actually did solve that, by the way.” He said Tesla tests changes before deploying them and wants to either geofence difficult situations or ensure the system can handle them. 

How Tesla Escaped Its Model 3 Production Crunch

Meanwhile, Musk’s short-seller recollection concerned Tesla’s 2018 Model 3 production crisis. “We had to get to 5,000 a week of the Model 3 or go bankrupt,” he said.

“The short sellers were actually right,” Musk said of the pressure Tesla faced. “They had us in checkmate.” He recalled that Tesla built a third assembly line in a tent at its Fremont factory, using discarded equipment to move cars down the line. “We were able to increase production by 30% in three weeks,” he said.

How Do Retail Traders Feel About TSLA?

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment for TSLA slipped to ‘bearish’ from ‘neutral’ levels a day ago amid ‘normal’ message volume.

One user said, “$TSLA the strategy/logistics/engineering/etc.  for Cybercab scaling works...Tesla Team Cybercab is  likely implementing ahead of schedule”

Another user said, “$TSLA full self driving is still not here.  It is the end of 2026.   People still believe.Lol.”

So far this year, Tesla's stock has lagged its "Magnificent Seven" peers, making it the group's worst performer, down about 15%. 

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

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