Ride-hailing stocks surge as Tesla's robotaxi falls short on details

Shares of ride-hailing giants Uber (NYSE:UBER) and Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) experienced a notable boost in the market, with Uber's stock jumping by 7% to $83.11 and Lyft's climbing 8% to $13.38.

This positive movement came on the heels of Tesla CEO Elon Musk unveiling the long-awaited robotaxi at a high-profile event on Thursday night.

However, the presentation left many investors and experts disappointed due to the lack of concrete details surrounding Tesla's progress towards fully autonomous driving.

Tesla's stock took a significant hit, dropping 8.6%, as concerns mounted over the company's failure to provide verifiable evidence of its progress in achieving level 3 autonomous driving or to offer clarity on the number of robotaxis in development.

Brokerage firm Jefferies remarked that this outcome reduces pressure on Uber's stock, which has faced investor anxiety over potential competition from Tesla's robotaxi project.

"Tesla's toothless taxi is a best-case outcome for Uber," Jefferies commented, signaling that Uber's dominant market position remains intact.

Adam Ballantyne, a senior analyst at Cambiar Investors, echoed these sentiments, emphasizing that Tesla is still a long way off from launching a commercially viable robotaxi service that could replace Uber's driver-based network.

"There is far too much time between now and a credible, commercially viable autonomous product," Ballantyne stated.

With the Tesla event over, analysts believe the market will refocus on Uber's strong fundamental trajectory.

Uber has seen a year-to-date increase of approximately 27%, while Lyft has dropped 17%, and Tesla has slipped by around 4%.