Latest news with #Zoox
Miami Herald
9 hours ago
- Automotive
- Miami Herald
Tesla has late start in a crucial race for its future
Robotaxis are coming to a city street near you, whether you like it or not. According to recent surveys, the majority of Americans are not very fond of autonomous 4,000-pound vehicles ambling down their streets. "Consumers are skeptical of the full self-driving (FSD) technology that undergirds the robotaxi proposition, with 60% considering Tesla's full self-driving 'unsafe,' 77% unwilling to utilize full self-driving technology, and a substantial share (48%) believing full self-driving should be illegal," according to the May 2025 edition of the Electric Vehicle Intelligence Report (EVIR). Related: Tesla makes surprising admission about its robotaxi But not every robotaxi is operated by Tesla. Even though it's the most high-profile robotaxi operator, Tesla is actually late to the autonomous-driving party. There are companies, both in America and abroad, with millions of miles and thousands of hours under their belts. When Ford CEO Jim Farley recently said that U.S. tech companies passed on becoming carmakers, he was not technically correct. While they don't plan to enter the industry in a way that would be threatening to a company like Ford, Alphabet's (GOOGL) Waymo is the Silicon Valley giant's biggest bite at the apple. Waymo One users register over a quarter of a million paid weekly trips across Phoenix, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Austin, with plans to expand to Atlanta, Miami, and Washington, D.C., in 2026. Waymo's current fleet features over 1,500 vehicles spread across its four current host cities, but by next year, it expects to more than double its fleet with more than 2,000 new additions. The company is relying on a new, 239,000-square-foot factory outside Phoenix in Mesa, Arizona, to integrate thousands of Jaguar I-PACE vehicles with Waymo's fully autonomous technology. The factory is a joint venture between Waymo and mobile tech company Magna International. Image source: Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images Amazon acquired the autonomous vehicle company Zoox in 2020. And for over a decade, Zoox has been building an autonomous vehicle designed to stand out from others on the road. There's a reason the rectangular glass-paneled Zoox robotaxi looks so weird. Besides the vehicles' lack of steering wheels, perhaps the most interesting Zoox feature is its two-engine design. Zoox calls its vehicles bidirectional, meaning there is no forward or reverse, because both directions are forward. The two motors at different ends of the car allow it to drive forward in two directions. Unlike Tesla (TSLA) , which has said it doesn't use the technology because it's too expensive, both Waymo and Zoox utilize light detection and ranging (LiDAR) to navigate traffic autonomously. Related: Elon Musk's robotaxi has a serious problem LiDAR uses lasers to measure distances and create highly detailed 3D models of its surroundings. Zoox uses this tech, along with cameras, radar, long-wave infrared sensors, and microphones, to map the traffic around it. Morgan Stanley says Zoox is still a couple of years behind Waymo, as Waymo is already in more than five cities, while Zoox is still in just two. But Morgan Stanley sees the company taking a similar route as its more established rival as production ramps up for the company. Currently, Zoox has only a few dozen purpose-built robotaxis on the road, and the Hayward facility produces only one vehicle per day. Still, the firm expects that number to increase exponentially as it expands to more cities. Zoox has over one million miles driven in company. Morgan Stanley expects Zoox to launch in Las Vegas and San Francisco by the end of the year. Tesla robotaxi launched in Austin, Texas, in late June, to much fanfare. Tesla has just 10 robotaxis on the street in Austin. It also has ambitions to expand to different locales, but its debut has gotten off to a rocky start. Multiple videos have appeared on social media showing the vehicles failing to achieve the basic road competence of a student driver. Tesla Robotaxi may not have the miles under its belt that its competition does, but it does have a scale advantage. Earlier this year, Tesla said that its FSD system has driven a cumulative total of 3.6 billion miles, nearly triple the 1.3 billion cumulative miles it reported a year ago. Related: Latest Waymo setback raises serious questions about its future The Arena Media Brands, LLC THESTREET is a registered trademark of TheStreet, Inc.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
3 Stocks I Plan to Hold for the Next 20 Years
Amazon should continue to find new ways to grow. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners offers tremendous diversification. Enbridge is a low-risk stock with a juicy and growing dividend. 10 stocks we like better than Amazon › I like Warren Buffett's statement that his "favorite holding period is forever." However, like Buffett, I don't usually end up holding stocks for as long as I expected to when I bought them. Things change. But I fully intend to hang on to quite a few of the stocks currently in my portfolio for a long time to come. Here are three stocks I plan to hold for the next 20 years. It's hard for me to imagine ever wanting to sell my shares of Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN). I'm too fascinated by what might happen next with the e-commerce and cloud services giant. I suspect that artificial intelligence (AI) will remain the most important growth driver for Amazon over the next 20 years. AI isn't important just for Amazon Web Services, although the cloud unit should benefit tremendously as more organizations harness the power of the technology. Amazon's e-commerce business should become increasingly profitable as a result of AI, too. I wouldn't be surprised, though, for Amazon to become a much larger player in healthcare than it is today. I could see the company achieving success with its Zoox self-driving-car unit. One thing I'm confident about is that Amazon will continue to find ways to grow. Founder Jeff Bezos' "Day One" mindset and CEO Andy Jassy's "culture of why" should keep the company continually looking out for new growth opportunities. I plan to hold on to my investment in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (NYSE: BIP) for a different reason. The limited partnership's diversification makes it a stock to own over the long term, in my view. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners' portfolio of assets includes cell towers, data centers, electricity transmission lines, natural gas storage facilities, pipelines, railways, semiconductor manufacturing foundries, toll roads, terminals, and more. Its operations span four continents. I like the stable cash flow that Brookfield Infrastructure Partners generates thanks to these diversified assets. I also like that inflation isn't a major threat to the company. Around 85% of its funds from operations (FFO) are inflation-indexed or protected from inflation by contractual provisions. That leads me to the last reason I intend to own this stock for the next 20 years: its distribution. Brookfield Infrastructure's cash flow enables it to pay juicy distributions. Its distribution yield tops 5%. The LP expects to grow its distribution by 5% to 9% annually. Those distributions will make me want to hold on to Brookfield Infrastructure during my retirement years. Enbridge (NYSE: ENB) offers some similar advantages to Brookfield Infrastructure, in my opinion. Its business is highly resilient and largely resistant to the corrosive impact of inflation. The company is a leader in the midstream energy industry, transporting roughly 30% of the crude oil produced in North America and 20% of all natural gas consumed in the United States. Enbridge's pipeline system, including 18,085 miles of crude oil pipeline and 18,952 miles of natural gas pipeline, is the world's longest and most complex. In addition, Enbridge now ranks as the largest natural gas utility by volume in North America, as a result of key acquisitions completed in 2023. It's also becoming a bigger player in renewable energy, with long-term agreements to provide power to marquee customers including AT&T and Toyota. I'd be lying if I said Enbridge's dividend wasn't a major reason I plan to hold on to the stock. Enbridge's forward dividend yield currently stands at a little over 6%. Even better, the company has increased its dividend for an impressive 30 consecutive years. Enbridge highlights its "low-risk, utility-like business profile" as a top reason for investors to consider its stock. That's the kind of business I want to partially own, especially when I'm retired. Before you buy stock in Amazon, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Amazon wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $713,547!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $966,931!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 1,062% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 177% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join . See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of June 23, 2025 John Mackey, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Keith Speights has positions in Amazon, Brookfield Infrastructure Partners, and Enbridge. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Amazon and Enbridge. The Motley Fool recommends Brookfield Infrastructure Partners. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. 3 Stocks I Plan to Hold for the Next 20 Years was originally published by The Motley Fool
Business Insider
6 days ago
- Automotive
- Business Insider
Tesla's Robotaxi service has its first reported 'safety concern'
Austin reported a "safety concern" with a Tesla Robotaxi. The incident occurred on East Oltorf Street, according to the city's autonomous vehicle incident dashboard. Tesla's Robotaxi service began on June 22, with 10 to 20 vehicles and safety monitors. Austin reported its first incident with a Tesla Robotaxi service, according to the city's autonomous vehicle incident dashboard. The safety concern was reported to have occurred on East Oltorf Street in downtown Austin, according to the dashboard. A spokesperson for Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Austin transportation department did not immediately respond to questions about the incident. The dashboard tracks safety concerns and issues, such as collisions or near misses, involving autonomous vehicles in the city. The dashboard also shows incidents with other self-driving companies, including Waymo and Zoox. It has detailed 120 incidents over the past two years and 45 in 2025. Austin's dashboard relies on reports from city departments and its 311 service rather than direct monitoring. The city says the data is unvalidated and may miss incidents citywide. Tesla launched its robotaxi service on June 22 to a select group of users. Elon Musk has said the launch would begin with between 10 to 20 robotaxis. Currently, Robotaxi rides include a safety monitor who sits in the passenger seat and remote operators who can intervene when needed, according to videos of Tesla's Robotaxi service posted online.
Miami Herald
25-06-2025
- Automotive
- Miami Herald
Amazon aims to crush Elon Musk's Robotaxi
After much fanfare and a long list of Elon Musk's typical promises, Tesla's (TSLA) Robotaxi finally launched in Austin, Texas, on June 22. Musk is, predictably, glowing over the feedback, sharing a thread on X via the official Tesla account of all the user-posted experiences after taking a ride in the autonomous vehicles. Don't miss the move: Subscribe to TheStreet's free daily newsletter Feedback on the rides mentions smooth stops, slowdown for speed bumps, and one instance of the Robotaxi stopping for a pedestrian in real time. One user also noted that trying to tip the Robotaxi at the end of the ride in the Robotaxi app got a screen reading "Just Kidding" - tips are not required, since no human operates the vehicle. Related: Tesla fans flock to social media to celebrate robotaxi launch While the group of people invited to try the service were carefully curated - and all big Tesla supporters - the good press comes at a crucial time for Musk, who has faced major negative feedback this year. The combination of Musk's work with Donald Trump's administration on founding and running the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and stepping away from Tesla hit the company hard earlier this year, and many Tesla owners sold their vehicles in protest, clearly signaling they were losing faith in Musk. But now Musk has a new problem to contend with - and this one has deep pockets. Image source: Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images While the concept of a robotaxi has sounded like a Tesla-exclusive thing to those who don't dig deeply into the news around autonomous vehicles, it's anything but. Alphabet (GOOGL) -owned Waymo, originally known as the Self-Driving Car Project when it was first founded in 2009, has since expanded to San Francisco, Austin, Los Angeles, and Phoenix, with Atlanta being added this summer. Now Amazon is joining the party in a major way. Zoox, Amazon's autonomous rideshare company, has just opened a massive new robotaxi production facility in Hayward, California. Related: Driverless taxi company and Uber share huge expansion plans At 220,000 square feet, the new production facility can make more than 10,000 vehicles a year. Zoox has said it will also create hundreds of jobs for people in the San Francisco Bay Area. Founded in 2014, Zoox started testing its vehicles by July 2018, running them through notoriously challenging areas to navigate, such as San Francisco's Financial and North Beach Districts, as well as Las Vegas. Zoox's efforts were of such concern to Musk, in fact, that Tesla filed a lawsuit against the autonomous driving company the following year, alleging that Zoox was using proprietary Tesla information and trade secrets. Musk actually had a fair argument for this, as several ex-Tesla employees went to work for Zoox. The suit was settled in April 2020 after Zoox admitted that the ex-Tesla employees "were in possession of Tesla documents pertaining to shipping, receiving, and warehouse procedures when they joined Zoox's logistics team." Zoox plans a full commercial launch later this year in the same two cities where it's done testing, which it has documented in great detail on its official website. While's Musk's Robotaxi launch seems as if it's off to a great start, the technology's number one most vocal supporter is the most behind in the race. He originally promised his self-driving vehicles would be on the road by 2020. Waymo is currently the clear leader in the space, with 10 million trips completed as of May 2020 and plans to test in New York City next. Zoox has made it clear it's about to aggressively enter the competition, however. And although Zoox is also getting a later start, the new facility is preparing to deploy on a large scale. This means it still needs time to catch up, but will bring what looks like a very solid entry to the table. In the meantime, Tesla's Robotaxi is only operating in Austin in a geofenced area of the city and is not yet available to the general public. If Musk wants to catch up with competitors and recover Tesla's reputation while he's at it, he needs to make some moves - and fast. Related: Tesla's robotaxi finally launches, but there's a twist The Arena Media Brands, LLC THESTREET is a registered trademark of TheStreet, Inc.
Yahoo
25-06-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Tesla's robotaxi launch could drive industry disruption and market share gain, analysts say
Tesla's (TSLA) robotaxi could reshape the auto market, Piper Sandler said. In a new note to clients, the firm reiterated its bullish stance, citing Tesla's pioneering work and first-mover advantage in self-driving software. "Tesla is still the most transformative company in autos," analysts led by Alexander Potter wrote. "Over time, Tesla will likely win." The report also warns that as self-driving tech scales, the broader auto market is at risk of major disruption, including fewer vehicles sold, higher utilization of fleets, and a shift toward service-based revenue models. Piper Sandler said Tesla could become a consolidator and identified no other winners in the space. Tesla is not the first player in the autonomous race. Google's (GOOG, GOOGL) Waymo launched its driverless taxis in Phoenix in 2018 and now operates fleets in San Francisco, Phoenix, Los Angeles, and Austin. Amazon's Zoox began testing on public roads in 2023. Tesla opened its robotaxi service to limited riders in Austin this Sunday. The company also has several competitors in China. Baidu (BIDU) launched its robotaxi fleet in 2022 and reportedly has plans to expand in Europe. Piper Sandler analysts said other US automakers are falling behind as the future of mobility evolves. GM (GM) and Ford (FORD) are still lagging on software, while Rivian (RIVN) faces execution risks. Stellantis (STLA) has the "steepest hill to climb" with manager turnover and geographic complexity. "Each company has pros and cons, but none appear as well-positioned as TSLA," they wrote. Still, the firm is realistic about the road ahead. It said Tesla's Q2 results could disappoint and a robotaxi crash could dent the company's lofty valuation, adding that such an event "appears inevitable." GM's Cruise shut its robotaxis operations after one of its cars struck a pedestrian in San Francisco in 2023. Tesla's sales have been sagging as the demand for EVs slows and CEO Elon Musk's politics fueled boycotts and demonstrations worldwide. For its first quarter, Tesla's revenue of $19.34 billion and EPS of $0.27 both widely missed Wall Street expectations of $21.43 billion and $0.44, respectively. Its Q1 adjusted profits fell 40% year over year. Its vehicle delivery of 336,681 units was the worst since the second quarter of 2022. Its new car sales in Europe have fallen for five straight months in 2025, down 27.9% year over year in May. Read more: How to avoid Tesla car insurance sticker shock But Piper Sandler argues that Tesla's lead in autonomy is only growing as full self-driving (FSD) rolls out in more cities and the Trump administration potentially issues more favorable policies. The bullish take lands as Tesla stock continues a blistering rally. Shares are up 40% in June, adding more than $200 billion to the market cap. The stock is still down 10% year to date. The run has drawn concern from other strategists. Washington Crossing Advisor's Chad Morganlander recently told Yahoo Finance the stock's valuation looks "insane," citing its sky-high price-to-earnings ratio. Francisco Velasquez is an associate reporter at Yahoo Finance. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
