Groundbreaking Developments Every Tesla Investor Needs to Know
Key Points
E.U. approval of Tesla's full self-driving (unsupervised) software could be a major catalyst.
Tesla received a significant Semi truck order.
Robotaxi safety data continues to impress, supporting future regulatory approvals.
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There's no shortage of monitoring of Tesla's (NASDAQ: TSLA) Cybertruck/robotaxi fleet size on social media, and understandably so, as it's clearly the most important near- to medium-term catalyst for the stock. However, there's a lot more to it than just looking at fleet size and city deployments.
In that vein, here's a look at three under-the-radar but important developments that many investors might be missing about Tesla right now.
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Image source: Tesla.
1. The European Union is set to vote on Tesla's self-driving software
While the exact date for the European Union (E.U.) Technical Committee on Motor Vehicles (TCMV) meeting on the matter hasn't been announced yet, Reuters reports that Tesla thinks a vote on the company's full self-driving (supervised) software (FSD) could happen before Oct. 6.
The TCMV is made up of national experts representing the 27 countries. Tesla hopes that the panel will vote for an E.U.-wide approval for its software.
The decision will be made by qualified majority voting, whereby 55% of E.U. member states representing 65% of the E.U.'s population must vote in favor. In practice, this means the four countries (Spain, Italy, France, and Germany, in order of size) that together account for more than 10% of the E.U. population have outsized influence, and at least two of the four must vote in favor even if the other 23 vote in favor.
For now, seven countries, representing about 11.8% of the E.U. population, have approved FSD under the Article 39 exemption, under which countries can approve at the national level.
E.U. approval would boost FSD sales, potentially boost Tesla's electric vehicle (EV) sales, and create awareness for the potential for Cybercab/robotaxi approval in the future.
2. Tesla Semi truck wins a big order
The Semi truck is often overlooked by investors but not by potential customers, and Tesla recently received an order for 2,500 Semi trucks from the Zero Emission Truck Shipper Carrier Alliance Leading Electrification (ZET SCALE), a coalition of cargo-owning shippers, including Microsoft and PepsiCo (already a Semi user).
As discussed, some analysts believe Tesla could generate up to $18,000 per month in FSD revenue from the Semi, so this order alone could be worth $540 million in high-margin recurring revenue for Tesla.
3. Tesla's robotaxi data continues to impress
Finally, the Cybercab rollout and regulatory approvals will not accelerate unless certain factors come into place. These include the development of its next major version of full self-driving, v15, or the modification of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards to fully encompass autonomous vehicles.
They also include an ongoing demonstration of safety and a quick look at the latest robotaxi incident reported to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The data going into July looked excellent, and the ADS report incident data shows four incidents submitted in July and August, which include two incidents involving other cars hitting the robotaxi, plus a 2-mph contact (Report ID: 13781-16256) with a low-hanging metal chain blocking the exit of a parking lot and a "less than 1-mph" contact with a metal bollard (Report ID:13781-16255).
While ideally, there will be no incidents, the data is highly impressive in my view.
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Lee Samaha has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Microsoft and Tesla. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
