WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Tesla, Inc. shares were hit on Thursday's trading
following a Bloomberg report that the luxury electric vehicle maker has delayed
the unveiling of its robotaxi service to October. The company had previously
planned its launch on August 8.

Tesla shares, which were gaining recently on the expected unveiling as well as a
better-than-expected second-quarter deliveries, lost 8.4 percent on regular
trading following the news, to close at $241.03. In the extended trading, the
shares lost 1.8 percent further.

The report, citing people familiar with the decision, noted that the company is
postponing its planned unveiling by two months so that teams working on the
project will get more time to build additional prototypes. The design team
reportedly was asked to rework certain elements of the car.

In 2019, Tesla CEO Elon Musk had promised that Tesla would have one million
robotaxi-ready vehicles on the road in 2020.

Last week, Tesla had reported its second-quarter vehicle deliveries, better than
market estimates. The deliveries increased sequentially, but was lower than the
prior year, despite efforts to boost demand. Meanwhile, quarterly production of
vehicles was lower year-over-year as well as sequentially.

In the recent period, the car maker has been struggling with weak demand and
tough competition in the U.S. and Europe, as well as in its major market of
China.

Among Tesla's peers, auto giant General Motors Co., through its autonomous
vehicle company Cruise LLC, and tech major Alphabet Inc., through its autonomous
driving unit Waymo LLC, are already offering robotaxi services.



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