Analysts rewire Tesla price target on demand trends

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If this keeps up, the only place you'll be able to find a human driver will be in a museum.

Perhaps that's a slight exaggeration about the growth autonomous vehicles, but there have been some exciting things happening in the driverless car sector recently.

Related: Analyst unveils bold 'Apple-esque' Tesla stock forecast

In fact, the summer of '24 has seen steady developments related to AVs in the U.S., according to S&P Global Mobility.

Google-backed (GOOGL) Waymo continues to be the leader, S&P said, and this was underscored by Uber's (UBER) announcement on Sept. 13 that the ride-hailing company was expanding its partnership with Waymo to offer robo taxi rides in Austin, Texas, and Atlanta beginning in early 2025.

Uber will manage and dispatch a fleet of Waymo’s fully autonomous, all-electric Jaguar I-PACE vehicles that will grow to hundreds over time, the companies said.

S&P noted that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is investigating Waymo incidents related to potential for crash, property damage and incidents of collisions with "clearly visible" objects.

Tesla prototype spotted

Meanwhile, disruptions at General Motors' (GM) Cruise AV division are proving to be a setback and, arguably, a situation where the lessons learned may leave the division in a better position, S&P said.

Founded in 2013, Cruise is looking to find its way back to U.S. roads after an accident in San Francisco last year forced the company to halt operations. Earlier this year, it resumed testing with safety drivers.

Related: Tesla stock reacts to FSD roadmap ahead of robotaxi hype

Cruise will be offering its autonomous vehicles on Uber's platform next year, the two companies said last month.

And then there's Tesla (TSLA) , which is scheduled to debut its robotaxi on Oct. 10.

News outlets have been reporting that a camouflaged car driving around the Warner Bros. studio property recently was a robotaxi prototype in disguise.

Electrek reported that the photo was first posted to Reddit by u/boopitysmopp, who is said to be a lot employee at Warner Bros., although the post has since been removed, and the Reddit user has deleted their profile.