Troubled EV maker Tesla (TSLA) has finally some good news to share after a troubling week even if it is thousands of miles across the Atlantic.
Elevate Your Investing Strategy:
- Take advantage of TipRanks Premium at 50% off! Unlock powerful investing tools, advanced data, and expert analyst insights to help you invest with confidence.
Roundabout Regulations
The company released two videos today showing the successful testing of its fully self-driving vehicles in the traditionally warren-like and congested roads of Great Britain. It helped its share price climb nearly 4%.
The videos showed the group’s Model 3 car navigating busy London streets and passing landmarks such as Big Ben and Buckingham Palace. It also showed the vehicle coping with the so-called Magic Roundabout in Swindon, in the West of England. Americans might know these as traffic circles.
The Magic Roundabout consists of five mini roundabouts encircling a central island, and was voted U.K. roundabout of the year in 2024. It has a number of descriptions ranging from “amazing” to a “white knuckle ride.”
Tesla said the Model 3 used for the videos contains the same hardware as vehicles delivered to customers today, but has software currently available only to its engineers.
Tesla Troubles
The company is still awaiting regulatory approval to use its unsupervised full self-driving capabilities in the U.K., but this is a step in the right direction.
Steve Gooding, director of motoring research charity the RAC Foundation was certainly impressed. He said: “It is a mistake to think that driverless technology won’t be able to cope with the intricacies and idiosyncrasies of the U.K.’s roads – hats off to anyone, or anything, that can successfully negotiate the Magic Roundabout.”
However, he cautioned that more testing was needed.
Tesla has itself been in a spin this week, following disappointing results, and this year as a combination of more intense competition and chief executive Elon Musk’s on and very much off relationship with President Trump battered brand reputation and investor sentiment.
Tesla also faces the loss of the $7,500 EV tax credit and stands to make much less money from selling regulatory credits to other automakers after recent changes to federal tax law.
It really needs its self-driving venture to prove its mettle in London, Swindon and beyond.
Is TSLA a Good Stock to Buy Now?
On TipRanks, TSLA has a Hold consensus based on 14 Buy, 14 Hold and 7 Sell ratings. Its highest price target is $500. TSLA stock’s consensus price target is $314.48, implying a 0.71% downside.
