Wedbush's Dan Ives tried the Tesla robotaxi: here's what he has to say

Wedbush senior analyst Dan Ives says the overall experience of being in a robotaxi that Tesla Inc launched over the weekend was beyond impressive.

“Going into it, we expected to be impressed. But walking away from it, all we can say is that this is the future,” he told clients in a research note today.

Tesla shares are up more than 9% at writing following a successful launch of its robotaxi operations in Austin, Texas, on June 22^nd (Sunday).

Tesla robotaxi has an operator behind the wheel

According to analyst Dan Ives, Tesla’s robotaxis deliver what he described as a genuine self-driving experience, despite the company’s decision to keep an operator behind the wheel for now.

In his note, Ives said that during each of his 15-minute rides in the autonomous vehicle, the operator did not speak or intervene at any point, underscoring the system’s ability to function independently throughout the trips.

Including today’s surge on the back of the robotaxi event, Tesla stock is up more than 55% versus its year-to-date low in early April.

Tesla robotaxi offers a safe and comfortable experience

Tesla has immensely focused on both “safety” and “comfort,” while there are ample avenues for personalization as well to enable a truly wholesome experience of being in a robotaxi, the Wedbush analyst added.

For example, passengers can use the touchscreen in the rear bench to sync the robotaxi app with their Tesla account to stream content on the likes of Spotify, Netflix, and Hulu during the ride.

“Overall, these robotaxis exceeded our expectations and offered a seamless and personalized travel experience that has lit the spark for autonomous driving,” Ives wrote.

All in all, the senior analyst sees TSLA’s robotaxi event as the beginning of its AI story.

Is the robotaxi launch a reason enough to buy Tesla stock?

Note that other Wall Street analysts do not particularly share his optimism on TSLA shares, given the consensus rating on the EV stock currently sits at “hold” only.

Still, Ives stuck to his uber bullish view, recommending that investors load up on Tesla stock this morning as it could hit $500 over the next 12 months.

His price target indicates potential upside of nearly 45% from current levels.

According to the Wedbush analyst, Tesla’s venture into the autonomous vehicle market alone could be worth as much as $1.0 trillion.

By the end of next year, therefore, Ives expects the EV maker to be worth as much as $2.0 trillion in total.

His bullish note arrives at a time when concerns of slowing sales in the wake of rising competition are keeping investors cautious on Tesla stock.