Rides around Austin, Texas in Tesla 's robotaxi exceeded high expectations set for the event, according to well-known Wedbush analyst Dan Ives. "Going into it, we expected to be impressed," Ives wrote to clients on Sunday after attending the electric vehicle maker's automated taxi launch event. "But walking away from it, all there is to say is that this is the future." Ives, who took two rides that lasted around 15 minutes on Sunday, described the experience as "comfortable," "safe" and "personalized." He said the car had perfect navigation and picked him up at his exact location. While there was a Tesla operator in the front passenger seat, Ives said they did not do anything to the car and did not comment on anything during the ride. "The ride itself was completely smooth, and it was indistinguishable that the car was driverless as there was never a moment in the vehicle where we felt as if it did something irrational," he said. The back row's touchscreen panel allowed riders to connect their Tesla accounts and sync the Robotaxi app. From there, Ives said they can pull up content from apps such as Netflix, Spotify and Hulu. Ives called the robotaxi launch the "beginning" of Tesla's artificial intelligence story. Once there are enough of them on roads, he said the taxis could be able to start communicating with each other to create an even better travel experience. "Overall, these Robotaxis exceeded our expectations and offered a seamless and personalized travel experience that has lit the spark for autonomous driving," Ives said. Ives maintained his outperform rating. His $500 price target is a Wall Street high and implies 55.2% upside to Friday's closing level, Shares rose more than 1% before the bell on Monday. However, the stock has fallen more than 20% in 2025.
