Elon Musk Highlights Autonomous Vehicle Technology as Key Factor in Tesla’s Market Value
During a visit to Paris on Friday, CEO Elon Musk stated that Tesla is on the verge of achieving fully autonomous vehicles and emphasized that autonomy is the primary factor driving the brand’s market value.
The company’s stock rose as much as 3% to the highest level in more than eight months.
Tesla, the world’s most valuable carmaker, has a market value of around $800 billion, but for years it has achieved Musk’s goal of achieving full self-driving capability.
“Although I’ve said this before, I think we’ll solve autonomy soon,” the billionaire said at the VivaTech conference.
“The value of the company is primarily based on autonomy,” Musk told the Paris event. “I think that’s really the most important driver of our value.”
The electric car maker says what it calls “Full Self-Driving” software does not make its vehicle autonomous and requires driver supervision.
Earlier on Friday, Musk met with French President Emmanuel Macron for the second time in just over a month. French officials are hoping to convince Musk to choose France to build Tesla’s next giant factory in Europe.
He also had lunch with the head of luxury goods giant LVMH, Bernard Arnault, and his two sons, Antoine and Alexandre, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Arnault and Musk have taken turns as the world’s richest people, with Musk taking the lead in recent weeks following a rally in luxury goods and Tesla shares.
