Managing Editor’s Note: Tomorrow at 1 p.m. ET, Jeff’s sharing his strategy for handling the market turbulence that’s been hitting the markets.
Of course, Jeff is still bullish in the long term. But these bouts of volatility aren’t finished yet. As Trump’s economic, fiscal, and geopolitical policy changes take root, we’re sure to see fear and uncertainty kick up more swings.
But that doesn’t mean we have to just sit and wait for things to die down whenever these swings hit. Jeff’s found a way to turn these choppy markets to our advantage.
Be sure to go here to make sure you’re signed up to attend Jeff’s event tomorrow, May 7, at 1 p.m. ET, so you can hear the details of this strategy and how you can position yourself before the next “market shock” strikes.
It’s always a sign that the competition is nervous when it tries to front-run a major development.
Yesterday, Waymo, Google’s self-driving subsidiary, announced that it will be investing in a new autonomous vehicle factory with its partner Magna outside of Phoenix, Arizona.
Magna International (MGA) is a logical partner for Waymo. It is one of the largest tier-one automotive suppliers, primarily focused on providing parts, systems, and modules to automotive manufacturers.
But most don’t know that Magna is the largest multi-OEM car manufacturer in the world. It has produced more than 3.7 million cars for companies like Mercedes, Audi, Volkswagen, BMW, Jaguar, and others through its subsidiary, Magna Steyr.
Not coincidentally, Magna Steyr is the company that manufactures the Jaguar I-PACE, the production electric vehicle upon which Waymo retrofits its autonomous driving hardware.
Waymo’s “Production Line” | Source: Waymo
Waymo touted what will become a 239,000 square feet facility where Waymo will “build thousands of Jaguar I-PACEs equipped with our fully autonomous technology.”
The plan is for Waymo to “build over 2,000 more fully autonomous I-PACE vehicles” to prepare for future Waymo launches in limited geographical areas within Atlanta, Miami, and Washington, D.C.
There’s only one problem with the announcement… It’s not true.
Waymo doesn’t manufacture Jaguar I-PACE electric vehicles in Arizona or anywhere else, for that matter. Nor will it. The Arizona plant is not for manufacturing. It is only for retrofitting production Jaguar I-PACE electric vehicles that have been manufactured by Magna Steyr in its Graz, Austria, manufacturing plant.
This kind of false marketing is a sign of desperation by Waymo. If it were really the leader in autonomous driving tech, why would it be making the effort to appear to be much more than it is?
To date, Waymo has around 1,500 autonomous vehicles in its fleet serving limited geographical areas in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Austin. The Waymo One service now offers about 250,000 paid autonomous rides each week across those four cities.
So what has made Waymo so jittery? After all, it claims to be the leader in autonomous driving technology. Why is it bending the truth in hopes of better media coverage?
As an indication of Tesla’s confidence in its plans to launch its robotaxi service in Austin, Texas, next month, in typical good humor, Tesla pushed out this clever post.
Source: Tesla
It was more like throwing down the gauntlet.
The reality is that millions of Teslas capable of full autonomy are already on the road today. This compares to the 1,500 Waymos, plus an additional 2,000 Waymos by the end of next year.
Tesla vehicles have already driven more than 4 billion miles on full self-driving (FSD) software. 4 billion. Waymos have driven roughly 70 million miles to date, less than 2% of the autonomous miles driven by Teslas.
There are more than 21,000 Teslas registered in Austin alone. And Tesla owners and lessees will be able to opt their vehicles into Tesla’s robotaxi network next month and get to work and earn some money.
That’s why Waymo is on its back foot. Tesla, with the launch of a ride-hailing app in Austin, could easily eclipse Waymo’s entire fleet in a matter of days.
We’re on the cusp of something absolutely incredible. And the rest of the industry knows it…
It’s not just Waymo looking for attention.
Also announced yesterday was that Uber and WeRide plan to launch robotaxis to 15 new cities… over the next five years. WeRide, a China-based company, has launched a very small fleet of electric vehicles with Uber in Abu Dhabi. It has plans to launch in Dubai later this year.
Ok, sounds interesting. But the announcement lacks specificity, and the time frame is over the next five years. In marketing terms, the announcement was a nothingburger. No substance whatsoever.
Or what about Wayve’s announcement that came several weeks ago? Wayve is an interesting U.K.-based autonomous technology company pursuing an end-to-end artificial intelligence model for autonomous driving. Its approach has been vaguely similar to Tesla’s in that it doesn’t require precise high-definition mapping to function.
A vehicle with Wayve’s sensor hardware and its autonomous software can drive on roads it has never driven on before.
Wayve’s big announcement was that it developed a new generative AI model, GAIA-2, designed to generate vast amounts of synthetic driving data/video to better train Wayve’s autonomous software and make it safer on the road.
Synthetic Video Created by GAIA-2 | Source: Wayve
What Wayve is doing is interesting and important. It is far more scalable than what Waymo, Cruise, Zoox, or Motional have been doing. But it’s still in research and development mode. And at the end of the day, it’s still synthetic data.
Tesla already has more than 4 billion miles of real-world data on full self-driving and more than 9 billion miles of data on Autopilot. And the value of that data is already demonstrated in the safety numbers from Tesla.
Just a few days ago, Tesla released its first quarter 2025 safety report. Needless to say, it’s impressive.
Tesla Vehicle Safety Report | Source: Tesla
In short:
The data is stunning. Having a Tesla drive you on Autopilot (or FSD) is more than 10 times safer than the national average of humans driving their own cars. Ten times safer!
And here’s the best part…
Teslas are mass production vehicles. No retrofitting or upgrades are required other than a subscription to full self-driving software. A brand new Model 3 can be purchased for $33,490. Or a Model Y for $39,990.
Source: Tesla
Compare this to what it costs for a retrofitted Jaguar I-PACE vehicle. The base price for an I-PACE is $72,500. But that’s not the real cost. The production Jaguars do not have any hardware, sensors, or cameras to support autonomous driving.
Source: Jaguar
After the I-PACE has been retrofitted with all of Waymo’s autonomous gear required for its autonomous driving technology, the total cost of the vehicle is about $180,000.
A Tesla Model 3 comes in at less than 20% of the cost of a Waymo Jaguar I-PACE. Night and day. And an example of the wrong way of designing and implementing autonomous driving technology.
If you’re a regular reader of The Bleeding Edge, you already know who is going to win.
Jeff
P.S. We’re less than one month away from Tesla’s robotaxi fleet launch in Austin, Texas. It won’t be long after the launch that we’ll see autonomous Teslas in every city in the U.S. and then across the globe.
Tesla is, of course, an excellent company and will benefit enormously from its robotaxi rollout… but as with all of Elon Musk’s ventures, it’s the smaller companies and suppliers connected to his breakthroughs that have the greatest upside potential.
That’s why I’ve identified a handful of companies positioned to soar once the Tesla fleet hits the road. And with just weeks left to get ahead of the launch, there’s no better time to act.
You can go here to learn more.
The Bleeding Edge is the only free newsletter that delivers daily insights and information from the high-tech world as well as topics and trends relevant to investments.
The Bleeding Edge is the only free newsletter that delivers daily insights and information from the high-tech world as well as topics and trends relevant to investments.
