Despite Sagging Fortunes, Musk Maintains Lofty Vision For Robo-taxis

Tesla CEO Elon Musk used the early part of the company's recent earnings call to outline bold goals for the EV company, including ambitious growth for its robo-taxi business and a vision to produce one million Optimus humanoid robots within five years, Al Root and Joe Light reported for Barron’s Daily.

Musk noted that Tesla robo-taxis should be serving about “half the U.S. population” by year-end. I Photo: Tesla X

Musk is known for setting grand targets. “If Tesla continues on its current path, it will be the most valuable company in the world,” he said in prepared remarks, though he acknowledged, “There’s a lot of [business] execution between here and there.”

He also discussed plans to expand autonomous driving technology, noting Tesla robo-taxis should be serving about “half the U.S. population” by year-end, starting in the San Francisco Bay Area, Arizona, and Florida.

Tesla reported second-quarter adjusted earnings of 40 cents per share on $22.5 billion in revenue, beating expectations.

However, adjusted net income fell 23% as overall sales declined. Automotive revenue dropped 16%, and energy generation and storage revenue fell 7%, leading to a 12% decrease in total revenue.

Political commentary was minimal on the call. Musk briefly criticized President Trump’s tax and spending legislation but made no mention of his “America Party,” which he announced on July 5.

It remains unclear whether he has taken any formal steps to establish it.