Shares of Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) have been falling hard. In the past three months, the stock has lost 17% of its value as the stock that once traded at $380 has fallen out of favour with investors.
While Tesla’s revenues continue to grow, so too do its losses. In the company’s most recent quarterly earnings, sales were up 26% from a year ago, but losses more than doubled. In the trailing twelve months, the company has accumulated a net loss of more than $2.3 billion, or 19% of its sales during that time.
Self-driving vehicles continue to run into problems as many Tesla buyers struggle to understand their responsibilities and assume that the car’s Autopilot mode means they need to do nothing, which is opposite of what the company has stated.
Recently, a Tesla vehicle in Autopilot mode crashed into a parked police car, and one report claims that the vehicle even accelerated before the impact, rather than braking.
Problems like these suggest that consumers cannot be trusted with partially autonomous vehicles, and that until a complete driving solution is developed, these types of vehicles shouldn’t be put into circulation.
Not only does it put the general public at risk, but it does a lot of harm to developments made in the industry. With more of these vehicles hitting the roads, we may see many more occurrences like this in the future.
With hype fading from the stock, there’s little reason for investors to buy today, especially amid all the negative news we’ve seen around self-driving cars lately.
