Tesla Launches Driverless Robotaxi Service in Texas, Shares Rise 4.2%

Written by Emily J. Thompson, Senior Investment Analyst

GOOGL+0.39%

BIDU+1%

TSLA-0.99%

Source: CNBC

Updated: 5d ago

0mins

Source: CNBC

Driverless Taxi Launch: Tesla has initiated a small fleet of driverless robotaxis in Austin, Texas, marking a significant advancement in its autonomous driving efforts, although it still trails competitors like Waymo and Baidu.
Stock Price Surge: Following the announcement, Tesla's shares rose by 4.2% to close at $449.36, indicating a positive initial market reaction to its robotaxi service, which may bolster investor confidence.
Intensifying Market Competition: While Tesla has secured a permit for automated driving in Texas, it has yet to obtain necessary approvals in California, facing fierce competition from Waymo, Baidu, and emerging players, which could impact its market share.
Uncertain Future Outlook: Although Musk anticipates widespread robotaxi services in the U.S. by year-end, analysts remain cautious about Tesla's growth, emphasizing the need to validate the reliability of its driverless technology to enhance valuation.

GOOGL

$334.55+Infinity%1D

Analyst Views on GOOGL

Wall Street analysts forecast GOOGL stock price to rise over the next 12 months. According to Wall Street analysts, the average 1-year price target for GOOGL is 338.25 USD with a low forecast of 279.00 USD and a high forecast of 390.00 USD. However, analyst price targets are subjective and often lag stock prices, so investors should focus on the objective reasons behind analyst rating changes, which better reflect the company's fundamentals.

34 Analyst Rating

27 Buy

7 Hold

0 Sell

Strong Buy

Current: 333.260

Low

279.00

Averages

338.25

High

390.00

Current: 333.260

Low

279.00

Averages

338.25

High

390.00

Roth Capital

Buy

upgrade

$310 -> $365

2026-01-27

New

Reason

Roth Capital

Price Target

$310 -> $365

AI Analysis

2026-01-27

New

upgrade

Buy

Reason

Roth Capital raised the firm's price target on Alphabet to $365 from $310 and keeps a Buy rating on the shares ahead of the Q4 earnings report on February 4. The company's catalysts in the first half of 2026 include tensor processing unit chip partnerships, Waymo city launches, Gemini App user milestones, and likely Gemini 4.0 news, the analyst tells investors in a research note. Roth also sees "tentpole industry events" like FIFA World Cup, the Winter Olympics, and the U.S. midterm elections offsetting tougher compares in the second half of 2026. It expects the company to modestly beat consensus estimates in Q4.

KeyBanc

Justin Patterson

Overweight

maintain

$330 -> $360

2026-01-26

New

Reason

KeyBanc

Justin Patterson

Price Target

$330 -> $360

2026-01-26

New

maintain

Overweight

Reason

KeyBanc analyst Justin Patterson raised the firm's price target on Alphabet to $360 from $330 and keeps an Overweight rating on the shares. The firm believes Alphabet should benefit from AI product cycles in 2026. However, KeyBanc thinks this is increasingly priced into the stock.

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Stifel

Buy

maintain

$333 -> $346

2026-01-23

New

Reason

Stifel

Price Target

$333 -> $346

2026-01-23

New

maintain

Buy

Reason

Stifel raised the firm's price target on Alphabet to $346 from $333 and keeps a Buy rating on the shares as part of the firm's digital ads Q4 preview. The firm prefers Alphabet into the print with what it sees as "solid fundamentals that are likely ahead of Street," the analyst tells investors. However, the wildcard is incremental releases from OpenAI that are likely to show well versus the latest Gemini, though the firm thinks "that's something to worry about after the print."

UBS

Stephen Ju

Neutral

maintain

$306 -> $345

2026-01-20

Reason

UBS

Stephen Ju

Price Target

$306 -> $345

2026-01-20

maintain

Neutral

Reason

UBS analyst Stephen Ju raised the firm's price target on Alphabet to $345 from $306 and keeps a Neutral rating on the shares. The Q4 earnings outlook for advertising-driven companies points to slimmer beats after a slow October tied to a government shutdown, followed by a rebound in November and December, the analyst tells investors in a research note. Among nine companies, five exceeded prior forecasts, two were in line, and two came in modestly below expectations, UBS says.

About GOOGL

Alphabet Inc. is a holding company. The Company's segments include Google Services, Google Cloud, and Other Bets. The Google Services segment includes products and services such as ads, Android, Chrome, devices, Google Maps, Google Play, Search, and YouTube. The Google Cloud segment includes infrastructure and platform services, collaboration tools, and other services for enterprise customers. Its Other Bets segment is engaged in the sale of healthcare-related services and Internet services. Its Google Cloud provides enterprise-ready cloud services, including Google Cloud Platform and Google Workspace. Google Cloud Platform provides access to solutions such as artificial intelligence (AI) offerings, including its AI infrastructure, Vertex AI platform, and Gemini for Google Cloud; cybersecurity, and data and analytics. Google Workspace includes cloud-based communication and collaboration tools for enterprises, such as Calendar, Gmail, Docs, Drive, and Meet.

About the author

Emily J. Thompson

Emily J. Thompson, a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) with 12 years in investment research, graduated with honors from the Wharton School. Specializing in industrial and technology stocks, she provides in-depth analysis for Intellectia’s earnings and market brief reports.