Ross Gerber Says 'Things Don't Seem To Be Improving' Amid Robotaxi Crashes, Says Tesla May Need To Make 'Hardware Adjustments'
Investor Ross Gerber, co-founder of investment firm Gerber Kawasaki, thinks that Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) could incorporate hardware changes to improve its vision-based Full Self-Driving (FSD) technology, as the company reported 5 additional crashes of its Robotaxis in Austin last month.
FSD Not Improving
In a post on the social media platform X on Tuesday, the investor shared that Tesla's FSD wasn't getting better. "Things don’t seem to be improving," Gerber said in the post, adding that many were still "waiting for unsupervised FSD" capabilities from the automaker. "It’s possible that tesla needs to make hardware adjustments," Gerber said.
The investor's comments could be hinting towards Tesla adopting LiDAR sensors in its autonomous driving suite, like many other AV operators, including Alphabet Inc.'s (NASDAQ:GOOGL) (NASDAQ:GOOG) Waymo and Rivian Automotive Inc.'s (NASDAQ:RIVN) upcoming self-driving tech.
Tesla FSD Almost Drives Into A Lake
Recently, a Tesla owner claimed that the company’s FSD system drove his car onto a boat ramp on a lake before he intervened and stopped, sharing multiple videos of the phenomenon, which has raised questions about the FSD system's capabilities.
Meanwhile, Gerber had earlier criticized the FSD system for being “annoying” and unable to function accurately in sunny weather conditions. It's worth noting that both the Tesla owner and Gerber were both running Tesla’s FSD version 14.2.2.4.
Elon Musk Touts Largest Autonomous Fleet, Cybercab
Despite the concerns, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has remained bullish on the automaker’s self-driving efforts, going as far as to say that Tesla would have the largest autonomous vehicle fleet in the future. Tesla also recently revealed its first production-ready Cybercab with no steering wheel or pedals.
Benzinga Edge Rankings show that Tesla scores well on the Momentum metric and offers a favorable price trend in the Long Term.
Price Action: TSLA slid 1.63% to $410.63 at Market close on Tuesday, dropping 0.36% further to $409.15 during the after-hours session.
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