Tesla Inc. (TSLA) posted an unscheduled Robotaxi Network operational update on its investor relations page Friday afternoon, disclosing 12,140 active Cybercab and Model Y vehicles operating in Austin and Phoenix as of April 30 — 21.4% above the 10,000-vehicle target the company had set for end-of-Q2 in the January earnings call. Daily aggregate ride volume reached 142,300 on April 28, with average passenger load factor of 1.34 and per-ride revenue of $11.42.
The shares rose 4.6% to $279.40 in regular trading, the highest close since early November and now up 14.6% on the week. Year-to-date, Tesla has rebounded 22.4% after troughing at $202 in early March on Q1 delivery weakness. Friday's announcement landed alongside CEO Elon Musk's confirmation that Phase 3 expansion to Las Vegas, Nashville and Tampa Bay will begin in late June, pushing the year-end fleet target to approximately 38,000 vehicles.
Unit Economics Disclosure
Tesla disclosed for the first time the per-vehicle daily-revenue and gross-margin profile: average daily revenue of $164 per vehicle at a contribution-margin level of 56.4%, before depreciation, software royalty allocation and corporate overhead. At fleet steady state of 12,000 vehicles, the run-rate annual contribution would approximate $440 million — modest in absolute terms but a structural milestone as the Robotaxi business transitions from R&D drag to operating leverage.
Competitive Implications
Alphabet's Waymo One — the incumbent — operates approximately 1,400 fully autonomous vehicles in Phoenix, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Austin, recording around 175,000 paid trips per week or 25,000 per day. Tesla's daily ride volume of 142,300 now exceeds Waymo's by roughly 5.7x, though Waymo retains a deeper unsupervised-autonomy moat. Alphabet (GOOGL) closed flat on the news. General Motors-backed Cruise — relaunched in March — operates approximately 240 vehicles in Houston and Dallas.
Sell-Side Reaction
Wedbush's Daniel Ives raised his Tesla target to $400 from $360 with Outperform, calling the Robotaxi update 'the inflection moment for the bull thesis.' Morgan Stanley's Adam Jonas lifted his target to $410 from $380, with the Robotaxi segment now valued at $156 per share in his sum-of-parts framework. By contrast, Bernstein's Toni Sacconaghi maintained Underperform with a $185 target, citing 'concentrated regulatory and product-liability tail risks not yet reflected in the multiple.'