Subsequent month, Tesla chairman Elon Musk is due in Israel to ship the keynote speech on the Sensible Transportation convention. Tesla is no longer solely a dominant participant within the electrical car market, but in addition a trendsetter within the world tech trade. In a rustic like Israel, which is a serious world tech hub, the go to and the bulletins that can accompany will likely be of nice significance worldwide. Musk may also doubtless use the go to for enterprise and political conferences relating to the opposite corporations in his group, from X (previously Twitter) to satellite tv for pc firm SpaceX.
Though lately, world traders have discovered to deal with a few of Musk’s future plans with skepticism, he nonetheless has tens of hundreds of thousands of followers within the tech world and capital markets and is listened to by US politicians and regulators.
Tesla has not launched any particulars about Musk’s go to to Israel. It’s doubtless that Israeli ministries are already engaged on rolling out the crimson carpet for the distinguished visitor and getting ready statements on regulatory points and extra.
Tesla is altering route
At an investor convention held in late January to current Tesla’s annual report, Musk stated, “We’re shifting towards a future primarily based on autonomy.” Simply days earlier, the corporate had introduced that it was discontinuing manufacturing of two of its most iconic fashions, the Mannequin S, which was its first mass-produced automobile, and the distinctive Mannequin X minivan.
For analysts this was clear proof that Tesla is altering route, from a automobile producer to a tech firm. Piper Sandler wrote, “The corporate is burning the boats, pinning its future on autonomous automobiles and robots.” One other analyst wrote, “Neglect the Tesla we knew, the Tesla of yesterday is gone.”
Tesla was a pioneer within the electrical car market, and it used the benefit to ascertain a number one place within the fields of know-how and manufacturing. Even at this time, its model may be very robust, however opponents, primarily from China, are quickly closing the hole in know-how and high quality and are continuously introducing fashions that Tesla has no response for when it comes to selection and worth.
Tesla’s non permanent resolution has been to introduce considerably discounted fashions of the Y and three, with much less equipment. However within the absence of common fashions or with plug-in drives, as each Chinese language automobile has at this time, Tesla faces fixed erosion in gross sales and income.
However Tesla’s greatest present drawback is that it now has to speculate numerous assets within the logistical duties of the “previous” automobile trade, reminiscent of supplying spare elements and repairs for its 8.5 million automobiles worldwide. That is an exercise that’s mild years away from the “revolutionary and quick” mannequin on which the corporate was based, and it’s removed from capturing the creativeness of traders. In distinction, the autonomous car has been and stays a magnet for traders.
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The highway passes via Israel
Tesla has had probably the most superior know-how for years, permitting automobiles to journey with out driver intervention, however with supervision, in sure outlined driving situations. However this nonetheless doesn’t take away the three main obstacles which have hindered the industrial introduction of autonomous automobiles over the previous ten years: regulation, the worth of {hardware}/software program, and the enterprise mannequin.
Regulation, which might enable driverless automobiles, is straight tied to public opinion in international locations the place such automobiles are shifting. The general public on the earth, and positively in Israel, doesn’t have a lot endurance for future applied sciences, and no regulator needs to be related to a high-profile deadly accident involving a driverless car that has been permitted to drive on the roads.
Due to this fact, even early checks of autonomous automobiles, reminiscent of those who the Ministry of Transport goals to permit Tesla to do in Israel, are carried out below shut supervision. The brand new replace to the “Process of the Skilled Committee for Conducting Experiments on Public Roads,” printed by the ministry this yr, contains necessities reminiscent of a take a look at driver within the car, a requirement for steady distant monitoring of the automobiles and management in emergencies, cybersecurity safety, and extra.
The regulation tries to shut the authorized loopholes and insurance coverage necessities for autonomous automobiles, and prices producers some huge cash.
The second difficulty is the price. The present value of {hardware} and software program for autonomous car “kits,” which permit driving from vacation spot to vacation spot with out the necessity for supervision by a human driver within the automobile is tens of 1000’s of {dollars}. Even when costs fall within the coming years, maybe because of the Chinese language, it is a worth that isn’t inexpensive for many automobile consumers. Tesla has just lately begun attempting to make the FSD system, which till now was supplied for buy as an possibility for NIS 36,000, accessible via a month-to-month subscription. However this method nonetheless has limitations that stop it from attaining full autonomy. Due to this fact, many of the exercise by gamers within the “driverless car” subject concentrate on automobiles that can produce revenue for his or her homeowners, primarily so-called robotaxis. Such taxis are already working in China, the US, and elsewhere, however no firm working within the subject, together with Tesla itself, and Israeli firm Mobileye, which has been a pioneer within the subject, has but to current the long run consumers of such taxis with a lovely enterprise mannequin with a payback interval. And if the regulator additionally requires the presence of a “supervising driver” within the car and/or an costly remote-control system, the enterprise mannequin will likely be very tough to attain, if in any respect. Due to this fact, trials for creating autonomous automobiles are merely “cultivating sentiment amongst traders.”
Robots and the Israel angle
Musk, and never solely him, is at present betting on the humanoid robotic market. Musk believes that Tesla’s first robotic, “Optimus”, will likely be a serious income and revenue heart for Tesla within the close to future with advertising and marketing beginning in late 2027 and “manufacturing of 1 million items per yr by the top of the last decade.”
Ostensibly, this subject has nothing to do with the automobile trade, however the provide chains of the autonomous car sector and the robotics sector have quite a bit in widespread. This contains the event of batteries with quick charging techniques, peripheral sensors to forestall the robotic from harming its surroundings, reminiscent of laser sensors (lidars) and 4D radar, quick processors, and extra.
Israel nonetheless supplies a fertile “ecosystem” for such techniques, and it’s doubtless that not less than a few of the gamers within the subject could be very completely happy to unfold the dangers from the automotive trade to the robotics trade. Similar to Mobileye did just lately, when it acquired Mentee, which develops humanoid robots. Due to this fact, it’s fairly attainable that Musk’s agenda throughout his go to to Israel may also embody a gathering with Israeli corporations which have gained a popularity within the subject.
Revealed by Globes, Israel enterprise information – en.globes.co.il – on February 11, 2026.
© Copyright of Globes Writer Itonut (1983) Ltd., 2026.
