Tesla Shares Plunge 6% After BYD Autonomous Tech Plans

In response to concerns that Elon Musk’s firm is lagging behind the competition, Chinese rival BYD revealed plans to develop autonomous vehicle technology with DeepSeek and said it would provide its Autopilot-like system in nearly all of its new cars. This news caused Tesla’s shares to plummet 6% on Tuesday.

The world’s richest man is reportedly offering to head an investor group in the purchase of OpenAI while he intensifies his engagement with President Donald Trump’s White House.

This has raised concerns about Musk’s diversions outside of Tesla.

Over five days, Tesla’s stock price has dropped over 17% to $328.50, wiping out more than $200 billion in market capitalisation.

On Monday, BYD, which has become Tesla’s most formidable global competitor, announced that at least 21 of its new model cars will be outfitted with its partially automated driving systems, which include capabilities for highway navigation and automated parking.

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A human driver must always be at the wheel of a Tesla EV, ready to steer or brake at any moment, and the company does not yet provide a robotaxi. Musk stated during last month’s Tesla earnings call that the company plans to introduce “Unsupervised Full Self-Driving,” a driverless ridesharing service, in Austin, Texas, in June.

In Austin, as well as in some areas of Phoenix and San Francisco, Alphabet’s Waymo already runs a robotaxi service.

“In our view, competition between Waymo, Tesla, and a host of Chinese players is a key driver on the path to commercialisation of robotaxis,” Morgan Stanley analysts wrote in a note to clients after the BYD announcement. The firm recommends buying the stock and has a price target of $430.

Waymo said on Tuesday that it added 10 square miles of coverage to its robotaxi service in Los Angeles.

In a report on Tuesday, Oppenheimer analysts wrote that the “autonomy competition may limit [Tesla] profitability.”

Even if Tesla meets its June 2025 timeline for driverless cars in Texas, the company is “one of several autonomous technology providers, suggesting competition on price and performance,” they wrote.

Musk is the CEO of SpaceX, the owner of the social media platform X, and the founder of the artificial intelligence business xAI, in addition to leading Tesla.

These days, he also spends a lot of time in Washington, D.C., where he oversees the “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) as a special government employee with the goal of cutting federal spending, staff, rules, and even entire agencies.

Oppenheimer analysts stated in a study released on Tuesday that “[Tesla] profitability may be limited by the autonomy competition.”

They noted that Tesla is “one of several autonomous technology providers, suggesting competition on price and performance,” even if the company fulfils its June 2025 deadline for driverless cars in Texas.

Musk is the CEO of SpaceX, the owner of the social media platform X, and the founder of the artificial intelligence business xAI, in addition to leading Tesla. These days, he also spends a lot of time in Washington, D.C., where he oversees the “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) as a special government employee with the goal of cutting federal spending, staff, rules, and even entire agencies.

CNBC