Tesla $TSLA ( ▼ 1.04% ) is climbing today as investors lean back into AI optimism, helped along by a glowing review of the company’s latest Full Self-Driving software. Piper Sandler analyst Alexander Potter said the newest version is “a truly impressive product” and “probably already better at driving than the average American,” which is the kind of line Wall Street never ignores.
The bullishness fits Tesla’s long-running pitch. The company believes it can turn millions of existing vehicles into autonomous cars faster than Google’s Waymo $GOOGL ( ▼ 0.65% ) can scale its dedicated robotaxi fleet. Musk repeated this view on the last earnings call, saying that “millions of cars out there, with a software update, become Full Self-Driving cars.” Potter, after visiting Tesla’s Fremont plant, even highlighted a “flawless robotaxi ride to the hotel” and reiterated his $500 price target.
Waymo remains the leader in physical fleet deployment. It currently runs more than 2,500 autonomous vehicles across five markets and has plans to expand to more than twenty. On Thursday, it added Minneapolis, Tampa, and New Orleans to its testing roadmap.
Tesla is playing a different game. Musk says the company aims to have 1,500 vehicles operating in its two active markets, Austin and the Bay Area, by year-end, with plans to open the service in eight to ten markets overall. Those rides still have safety monitors, but the company is betting that scale will come from software, not hardware.
The broader backdrop also helps. AI and tech stocks are rallying after Nvidia $NVDA ( ▼ 2.32% ) delivered blowout earnings that lifted sentiment across the entire sector. Google hit a record high on the news as well.
For Tesla, the mix of analyst enthusiasm, AI momentum, and an investor base hungry for the next inflection point was enough to send shares meaningfully higher.