The Tesla robotaxi event comes after years of Elon Musk’s missed deadlines

With Tesla Hours of the highly anticipated robotics event, investors will soon see what CEO Elon Musk has dubbed the CyberCab.

After a decade of unfulfilled promises to deliver autonomous vehicles, capable of traveling safe distances without a human behind the wheel, there are serious doubts about what Tesla can do with the technology, and when its robot might reach the market.

The Day of the Robot, or “We, Robot,” event is scheduled to begin at 7:00 pm Pacific time on the Warner Bros. channel. in Burbank, California and will be broadcast live on X.

Garrett Nelson, a CFRA analyst, warned in a preview on October 4, that the conditions of a closed course in a movie studio area could make the Tesla robot look more advanced than it would on normal roads and public roads. CFRA has a stock holding ratio.

Tesla shares fell nearly 1% Thursday to $238.77. We are now down about 4% for the year and more than 40% below their record reached in 2021.

The event comes a week after Tesla reported third-quarter deliveries of 462,890, bringing the total to 1.35 million year-to-date. For all of last year, Tesla reported 1.81 million deliveries.

Bullish analysts at firms including Wedbush, ARK and RBC Capital Markets expressed optimism in their reports about the company’s ability to maintain long-term sales growth, while delivering high-tech products, including the long-delayed autonomous vehicle, humanoid robots and other i -AI- driven products and services.

Gene Munster of Deepwater Asset Management told CNBC’s “Fast Money” on Wednesday, that he will be there and expects to test the robotaxi.

Munster, a longtime Tesla bull, said he thinks the company will roll out robotaxis to other cities by the end of 2025. He also expects Tesla to announce plans to produce an affordable EV, possibly just a stripped-down version of its Model 3. , and an electric van.

He said that while he expects the stock to drop after the event, it “could go up” in the next two years as deliveries begin to accelerate.

Tesla was once seen as a pioneer in the development of autonomous vehicles, but has never been able to deliver or demonstrate robotaxi technology. This company is now considered a laggard.

Letters of the alphabet Waymo in the US, as well as a number of Chinese firms, are all working on commercial robots today.

Morgan Stanley analysts wrote in a report Wednesday that if Tesla were to introduce a “level 4” robot, meaning it could operate without a driver at the wheel, using its current “hardware and software suite,” it could lead to cost-per-mile advantages over peers.

In addition to missed deadlines, Tesla has had safety issues with its driver assistance systems, currently marketed as standard Autopilot options and premium Full Self-Driving (Supervised) options.

Missy Cummings, a professor at George Mason University and director of the Mason Autonomy and Robotics Center, said Tesla leaders should be able to say how to solve a problem known as “phantom braking,” which refers to situations where cars are equipped with ADAS. brake unexpectedly, even when driving at highway speeds, with no visible obstacles around them.

Tesla’s phantom braking problems are the subject of an ongoing investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Cummings, who previously served as a senior safety adviser to the regulator, told CNBC, “If they can’t solve the phantom braking of a level 2 car, they can’t solve it with a level 4 or 5 car.” Level 2 vehicles include driver assistance systems.

According to data tracked by NHTSA beginning in 2021, there were 1,399 crashes in which Tesla’s driver assistance systems were involved within 30 seconds of the crash, and 31 of these crashes resulted in a reported fatality.

Sam Abuelsamid, an analyst at Guidehouse Insights, said that Musk or other Tesla executives should be able to say exactly how they plan their cars to work in different weather, such as fog, rain, snow, and light, or in dark tunnels.

He also wants Tesla executives to say whether they will accept full responsibility for the operation of these vehicles, which he calls “tabletops of a true robotaxi without human control.”

Finally, Abuelsamid wants to know if Tesla plans to own and operate its robotaxis or to lease or sell it to consumers and fleet operators.

“Many companies have made progress on the technology side of driving,” said Abuelsamid. “But they’ve failed when it comes to finding a profitable business model. Tesla has a lot of challenges to overcome and I want to know how all the pieces fall together.”

WATCH: It will be another five years before we see a Waymo-like car from Tesla