Tesla Stock Has Been on a Hot Streak Ahead of Big Event This Week

Tesla Stock Has Been on a Hot Streak Ahead of Big Event This Week The Public Launch of Tesla’s Cybercab is Scheduled for Thursday

Mon, August 31, 2026 at 11:10 PM GMT+3 3 min read

• TSLA -3.22%

Key Takeaways

• Tesla is expected to publicly launch its cybercab, a fully autonomous two-seater, at an event this week.

• Tesla shares surged in August but still have a ways to go before returning to positive territory for the year.

Tesla shares just wrapped up a banner month as anticipation builds ahead of what could be a big event for the company.

The stock rose 5.5% on Monday, extending a rally that saw the shares gain 18% in August. Despite the recent surge, the stock is down more than 25% from the 52-week high hit last December.

Tesla (TSLA) is set to hold an event in Austin, Texas on Thursday, during which it's expected to publicly launch its cybercab, the golden two-seater with butterfly doors that was designed without a steering wheel or pedals in a show of commitment to a fully autonomous future.

The company hasn't offered many details so far about what to expect from Thursday's invitation-only event, giving way to speculation about whether it could just be a limited launch, or a broader public rollout—and whether it will be true to its steering wheel-less design when it does. The cybercab has been spotted on the road in some cities during testing in recent months, though often with steering wheels and supervising drivers.

If Thursday's event can convince investors of meaningful progress in Tesla's autonomous vision, it could offer a much-needed win for the company, which still faces a number of regulatory hurdles to its unsupervised robotaxi service, as well as competition. Back in July, Tesla told investors it had logged about 380,000 unsupervised miles across six cities in Texas in Florida. Rival Waymo, which is backed by Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL), claims it has already surpassed 200 million.

Executives have been upbeat about Tesla's ability to catch up. "We're going as fast as humanly possible in scaling Robotaxi while trying to ensure that we do not harm anyone," CEO Elon Musk said during the company's earnings call in July, according to a transcript provided by AlphaSense. Earlier this year, Musk said he expects the cybercab, which was unveiled back in 2024, could also become available for purchase by consumers sometime next year, at a price tag under $30,000.

Analysts at JPMorgan said in a note earlier this month that they came away from a recent factory tour "with greater conviction in the robotaxi fleet ramp" through the end of this year and into early 2027, with high hopes for the cybercab. Tesla has limited additions of the Model Y—its most popular model—to its robotaxi fleet, "reflecting management's conviction in the near-term scalability of Cybercab," JPMorgan wrote.

Growing optimism about progress in the company's transformation focusing on physical applications of AI, which encompasses its autonomous driving efforts, have helped fuel recent gains for the stock. Though many tech stocks have climbed in the same period, few have gotten as big a boost as Tesla. It saw the biggest bounce of the Magnificent 7, as some of the market's hardest-hit tech stocks have rallied in the wake of a strong earnings season.

However, Tesla stock remains stock among the S&P 500's weakest performers this year and still has a ways to go before returning to positive territory. It's lost 18% since the start of 2026.

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