TLDR
- Nevada’s Transportation Authority approved autonomous vehicle permits for Tesla, Waymo, and Aviari on Friday
- Tesla is authorized to deploy up to 5,000 robo-taxis in Nevada over the next 12 months
- Waymo and Aviari received permits for 1,000 vehicles each
- Tesla stock jumped 5.1% on Friday but has still fallen 19% year-to-date, trading around $362
- Citizens analyst Andrew Boone reiterated a Market Perform rating on Tesla following the approval
Tesla got a major green light on Friday when Nevada’s Transportation Authority unanimously approved commercial robo-taxi permits for Tesla, Alphabet’s Waymo, and Aviari.
EXCLUSIVE: Tesla has just officially received approval for its full Autonomous Vehicle Network Company permit in Nevada, clearing the way for Tesla to launch a paid public Robotaxi service in Las Vegas.
This officially allows @Tesla to deploy up to 5,000 robotaxis over the next… pic.twitter.com/DPs5UtUlrE
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) August 20, 2026
Tesla’s permit is the biggest of the three. The company is cleared to put up to 5,000 fully autonomous vehicles on Nevada roads over the next 12 months. Waymo and Aviari each received approval for 1,000 vehicles.
Tesla stock jumped 5.1% on Friday. In premarket trading Monday, the stock was down 0.2% at $362.07. Coming into this week, TSLA is still down 19% for the year.
Tesla first launched its robo-taxi service in Austin, Texas in June 2025. Since then, growth has been slow. The service currently runs in a handful of cities, including Dallas and Houston.
The Nevada approval is one of the largest single-market robo-taxi authorizations Tesla has received. Getting the permit is one thing. Actually deploying 5,000 vehicles is another.
Tesla’s Edge in the Robo-Taxi Race
Tesla has some real advantages here. The company has been running its self-driving software on hundreds of thousands of its own vehicles for years. It also manufactures its own cars, which means it can scale robo-taxi production faster and at lower cost than competitors who need to source vehicles elsewhere.
That said, Citizens analyst Andrew Boone reiterated a Market Perform rating on Tesla following the news. At a P/E ratio of 336.4 and a market cap of around $1.43 trillion, InvestingPro data flags the stock as overvalued relative to its Fair Value.
GLJ Research held its Sell rating on Tesla, pointing to a second-quarter operating margin of just 1.4% and negative free cash flow of $1.1 billion.
TD Cowen kept its Buy rating, highlighting Tesla’s positioning in the autonomous vehicle market.
What Else Is Going On at Tesla
Tesla separately announced a recall of nearly 3 million vehicles in China starting September 25. The recall covers the Model 3, Model Y, Model S, and Model X over concerns about emergency door release handles that could be hard to identify in an emergency. Tesla plans to fix the issue with warning labels and an over-the-air software update.
On the commercial side, Tesla has partnered with Einride to deploy 500 Tesla Semi trucks for Amazon across North America.
Nevada also approved Uber for 1,000 autonomous vehicles through its partners Motional and Zoox. Uber launched its first European autonomous ride service in Zagreb last week, using Pony.ai drivers and Verne-owned vehicles. Citizens has a Market Outperform rating on Uber with a $100 price target, expecting autonomous supply on the Uber platform to ramp materially in Q4 2026 and into 2027.
Tesla’s robo-taxi service in Austin is expected to open to the public in August.
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