I don’t have a driver, is that a problem? Tesla robotaxis become fully autonomous in Austin
Tesla is currently testing fully driverless robotaxis in Austin, Texas, according to CEO Elon Musk.
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- Tesla is expected to report disappointing fourth-quarter 2025 results on January 28th.
- Chinese automaker BYD will surpass Tesla in sales of battery electric vehicles in 2025.
- Cybertruck sales fell nearly 50% in 2025 due to the widespread downturn in the EV market.
Tesla is scheduled to report its fourth-quarter 2025 results after the bell on Wednesday, January 28, and industry observers expect it to release troubling numbers that show the company is falling further behind Chinese electric car maker BYD.
“The numbers will be ugly. Deliveries will fall, margins will compress, EPS will fall by 40%. But that’s not the only problem,” Howard Yu, professor of management and innovation at Switzerland’s IMD Business School, said in a statement. “We’re talking about 2025 being the year Tesla lost the BEV crown to BYD. That’s not a little bit. BYD sold 2.26 million electric vehicles to Tesla’s 1.64 million, a difference of 620,000 that didn’t exist two years ago.”
The prediction comes as Tesla announced major moves such as moving to a subscription model for its fully self-driving software and ending the original Autopilot program, which drew the ire of safety advocates who say the very name overstates Tesla cars’ self-driving capabilities.
With all of this in mind, the USA TODAY Cars team has compiled a list of five things to look out for in Tesla’s earnings presentation.
1. Where will Tesla’s profits land?
Analysts expect Tesla to report revenue of $24.9 billion and adjusted earnings per share of $0.44, according to Yahoo Finance.
Tesla experienced a decline in revenue early last year while CEO Elon Musk partnered with President Donald Trump to spearhead the Department of Government Efficiency, but the company steadily recovered after Musk announced he would step down from the role over the summer.
The company said on Jan. 2 that it had produced more than 434,358 vehicles and delivered more than 418,227, which was lower than most Wall Street expectations.
2. How will Elon Musk handle the decision to end Autopilot?
Tesla has decided to discontinue its controversial Autopilot system, which has been the center of federal investigation for years.
The company is ditching the software that once came standard on its cars in favor of a new subscription model for its full self-drive (FSD) software. Tesla currently only comes standard with the cruise control feature that is also common in vehicles from other manufacturers.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has already warned that the price of the fully self-driving service, which currently starts at $99 per month, could rise as the system becomes more sophisticated.
“I should also mention that the $99 per month price for supervised FSD will increase as FSD capabilities increase,” Musk said in a post on social media platform X, which he also owns. “Where the value jumps significantly is when you can use your phone or even sleep the entire ride (unsupervised FSD).”
3. Will the initial Full Self-Drive subscription meet Musk’s expectations?
Elon Musk’s latest compensation package from Tesla includes an operational milestone of 10 million FSD subscriptions.
The earnings release is an opportunity for Musk to update investors on how the company’s announcement to move to a monthly subscription model starting February 14 has been received by owners.
After the initial announcement, Tesla stock fell about 0.9% to nearly $442 per share by the start of trading on the Nasdaq stock exchange on Wednesday, January 14th. Prior to Musk’s late-night post, Tesla stock was trading at approximately $446 per share at the close of trading on Tuesday, January 13th.
4. Will Musk address struggling Cybertruck sales?
Sales of Tesla’s Cybertruck will fall by nearly half in 2025, according to new data released by Cox Automotive.
The Silicon Valley electric vehicle maker sold 20,237 units of its unconventional electric pickup truck in 2025, a 48.1% decrease compared to the 38,965 it sold in 2024.
The decline is due to a decline in overall electric vehicle sales in 2025 as President Donald Trump and Congress repealed the common $7,500 tax credit for EV buyers that the Cybertruck and other models qualify for.
According to new data released by Cox Automotive on January 13, automakers sold 1,275,714 electric vehicles in 2025, enough to account for nearly 8% of total U.S. vehicle sales that year. However, industry-wide EV sales also fell 2% from the 1,301,441 electric vehicles automakers sold in 2024.
5. Will Musk work on an electric door probe?
Tesla faces two ongoing federal investigations into the effectiveness of its cars’ emergency release systems.
Regulators believe the sleekly designed vehicles have door handles that could pose problems for first responders.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced on December 23, 2025, an investigation into the release of mechanical doors on the 2022 Tesla Model 3, Tesla’s most affordable and second-best-selling vehicle.
NHTSA later announced that it had opened a defect investigation following a petition citing allegations that the Tesla Model 3’s mechanical door release was “hidden, unlabeled, and not intuitively located in an emergency.”
An estimated 179,071 vehicles were investigated, including one crash that resulted in an injury. The agency said it will evaluate the matter and decide whether to grant or deny the petition.
In September, NHTSA launched an investigation into the performance of emergency door handles on Tesla’s Model Y compact SUV, the Silicon Valley automaker’s most popular model.
The initial investigation covered 174,290 2021 Tesla Model Y vehicles after the agency said it had received nine complaints about vehicle doors not opening.
The Model 3 and Model Y are Tesla’s best-selling cars. The company reported sales of 406,585 units for the two models in the fourth quarter of 2025, down from 481,166 units sold in the second quarter.
