Robotaxi buzz: Tesla is expected to talk up robovans, autonomous trucks, and next-gen humanoid robots

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) will hold its “We Robot” event on Thursday night at Warner Bros. Discovery’s movie studio near Los Angeles. The event was delayed from August 8, which has raised expectations that Tesla (TSLA) will show a working prototype and lay out an aggressive autonomous driving plan. While Tesla (TSLA) has kept the design of the robotaxi a secret, sources told Bloomberg that the Cybercab has two front seats and two doors that open upward like butterfly wings. There has also been plenty of speculation that Tesla (TSLA) will show off a new cheaper model, a robovan capable of carrying up to 12 people, a new version of the Optimus humanoid robot, plans for an autonomous semi, and other AI use cases.

Wedbush Securities continues to believe Tesla (TSLA) is the most undervalued AI name in the market. Analyst Dan Ives and his team expect the electric vehicle maker to unveil some game changing autonomous technology at the event. “With very few industry events as widely anticipated as this, we believe Musk will address the near-term pain points seen by investors and the company’s long-term vision as Tesla goes through its second transformation not seen since the Model 3/Y production overhaul,” he noted. Tesla (TSLA) is seen as a powerful robotics/AI play in the future rather than just an EV vendor. Wedbush has an Outperform rating and $300 price target.

Seeking Alpha analyst Michael Del Monte thinks the humanoid robot reveal could impress. “At $20,000 per humanoid robot, Optimus may be the labor force of the future. I believe that Optimus will be capable of executing repetitive tasks across distribution centers and manufacturing jobs, and if the robot is designed to be connected to the broader ecosystem with incorporated deep learning and neural networks, the humanoid will likely have the ability to adapt to its surroundings as a human.”

Of course, there is also the risk that Tesla (TSLA) underwhelms investors with the presentation. “If they just show something that doesn’t actually demonstrate the technology, a prototype of a vehicle that doesn’t move, that’s going to go over like a lead balloon,” warned Deepwater Asset Management’s Gene Munster.

Another key pullouts from the presentation will be how Tesla (TSLA) expects to navigate the regulatory process to get the required approvals to launch a robotaxi service that would allow Tesla (TSLA) owners to lend their vehicles to an autonomous fleet when they are not using them.

Shares of Tesla (TSLA) were up 0.4% in late morning trading. The EV stock is 12.3% over the last six weeks.