Dave Lee on Investing

After Tesla's Q2 2025 earnings call, Elon Musk's comment that the new affordable model is "a Model Y" sent shockwaves through the community, leading to frustration and confusion. Many now believe Tesla's next big vehicle is just a cheaper, stripped-down trim of the current Model Y. In this video, I'll break down why I believe that's wrong. I'll argue that Tesla isn't just removing features from the Model Y. Instead, they are launching a new model on the same platform: a shorter wheelbase Model Y. This move, combined with the recently revealed longer "Model Y L" in China, points to a...

In this video, I break down why I think I'll be able to use unsupervised FSD in my own Tesla in Austin before the year is over. - How Tesla's geofenced Robotaxi network is the key. - Creating hyper-realistic simulations of cities like Austin to rapidly train and validate FSD. - The logical steps from safety-monitored Robotaxis to unmanned Robotaxis, and finally, to unsupervised FSD for personal vehicles in those same proven zones. - What "unsupervised" will likely mean at first (hint: you'll probably still be in the driver's seat, but without the nags!). Social 🐦 Twitter https://mobile.twitter.com/hey...

Lots of exciting things happening with Tesla this week. Here's what I cover in my video: 1. Elon Musk's America Party - Risk vs benefit. 2. Robotaxi Race: Waymo vs Tesla - Who will win? 3. Leadership Turnover - Bigger picture. 4. Model Y L for China - Why it's a great move and why I expect another smaller model. 5. xAI Investment - Should Tesla shareholders approve of a Tesla investment in xAI? 6. Bay Area Expansion - Will SF Bay Area get Robotaxi? 7. India Entry - What is Tesla trying to accomplish in India? Social 🐦 Twitter https://mobile.twitter.com/heydave7 🎧 Apple Podcast: https://podcas...

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I address the idea of requiring Elon Musk spend a certain number of hours per week on Tesla. I also critique the idea of required the Tesla board to oversee Elon Musk's political activity. Elon has proven himself over and over to be one of the greatest innovators and value-creators of all time. Yet some people want the Tesla Board to micromanage his hours and police his outside activity. This would be a terrible mistake. You don’t babysit Elon. You treat him like an adult and give him performance-based compensation tied to long-term ambitious milestones (like market cap, revenue/pr...

I took my wife on three Tesla Robotaxi rides and two Waymo rides in Austin, Texas. I learned a lot from her reaction. Social 🐦 Twitter https://mobile.twitter.com/heydave7 🎧 Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dave-lee-on-investing/id1493031991 🎙️Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/2iin015s0k21Bt4ldep9XT?si=uBV4Ft8hQEu_GE4YSIDDGg 📸 Instagram https://www.instagram.com/heydave7 Dave Lee on Parenting, https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWD9b1BZqi2G2u30sGYIFrA NOTE: Please don’t fall for scammers who might impersonate me or others in the comment section. I do NOT give out my number or...

If you're interested in Tesla Robotaxi, Tesla AI or Tesla FSD, then you ought to know about James Douma. He's probably the one person who's done the deepest public dives on Tesla FSD and Tesla AI over the years. In fact, over the past 4 years I've published 40+ videos (!) with James Douma on Tesla AI/FSD (they are all on a playlist on my YouTube channel). I first discovered James Douma a long time ago (maybe almost 8-10 years ago?) on a web forum called http://teslamotorsclub.com . Back then it was one of the only places for early Tesla owners...

I had the chance to spend the day taking Tesla Robotaxi rides in Austin, Texas with James Douma. We discuss our experiences riding Tesla's driverless cars and the Robotaxi service, possible expansion, Waymo and competition, and more. Social 🐦 Twitter https://mobile.twitter.com/heydave7 🎧 Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dave-lee-on-investing/id1493031991 🎙️Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/2iin015s0k21Bt4ldep9XT?si=uBV4Ft8hQEu_GE4YSIDDGg 📸 Instagram https://www.instagram.com/heydave7 Dave Lee on Parenting, https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWD9b1BZqi2G2u30sGYIFrA NOTE: Please don’t fall for scammers who might impers...

I spend two days with Emmet Peppers in Austin, Texas as we take multiple rides in Tesla's new Robotaxi service. Social 🐦 Twitter https://mobile.twitter.com/heydave7 🎧 Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dave-lee-on-investing/id1493031991 🎙️Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/2iin015s0k21Bt4ldep9XT?si=uBV4Ft8hQEu_GE4YSIDDGg 📸 Instagram https://www.instagram.com/heydave7 Dave Lee on Parenting, https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWD9b1BZqi2G2u30sGYIFrA NOTE: Please don’t fall for scammers who might impersonate me or others in the comment section. I do NOT give out my number or ask people to...

Day 3. Finished 5 Tesla Robotaxi rides, 4 Waymo rides, and 1 Uber ride. (See 39-minute edited video below.) Uber is in a tough situation. Classic innovators dilemma. Autonomous ride-hailing clearly is the future, but if Uber invites Waymo then that's working against their human drivers which will hurt Uber's recruiting ability (which they need to keep density especially in suburban areas). But if they don't welcome Waymo, then Uber is toast because people want cheaper/autonomous ride-hailing. Also, if Uber welcomes Waymo and Waymo cars increase then Waymo can just bypass Uber with their own Waymo app. Uber's only "hope" would be if...

Here's my video from Day 2 of trying out the Tesla Robotaxi network in Austin, Texas. I took a total of 5 Tesla Robotaxi rides today and also 1 Waymo ride. Social 🐦 Twitter https://mobile.twitter.com/heydave7 🎧 Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dave-lee-on-investing/id1493031991 🎙️Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/2iin015s0k21Bt4ldep9XT?si=uBV4Ft8hQEu_GE4YSIDDGg 📸 Instagram https://www.instagram.com/heydave7 Dave Lee on Parenting, https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWD9b1BZqi2G2u30sGYIFrA NOTE: Please don’t fall for scammers who might impersonate me or others in the comment section. I do N...

I took 5 rides in Tesla's new Robotaxi network in Austin, Texas today. Was very impressed! Social 🐦 Twitter https://mobile.twitter.com/heydave7 🎧 Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dave-lee-on-investing/id1493031991 🎙️Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/2iin015s0k21Bt4ldep9XT?si=uBV4Ft8hQEu_GE4YSIDDGg 📸 Instagram https://www.instagram.com/heydave7 Dave Lee on Parenting, https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWD9b1BZqi2G2u30sGYIFrA NOTE: Please don’t fall for scammers who might impersonate me or others in the comment section. I do NOT give out my number or ask people to contact me. 💁🏻‍♂️ Discla...

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Tesla is doing something fascinating. They're using their auto business as a launching pad into two massive adjacent markets: AI transport and AI labor. Social 🐦 Twitter https://mobile.twitter.com/heydave7 🎧 Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dave-lee-on-investing/id1493031991 🎙️Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/2iin015s0k21Bt4ldep9XT?si=uBV4Ft8hQEu_GE4YSIDDGg 📸 Instagram https://www.instagram.com/heydave7 Dave Lee on Parenting, https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWD9b1BZqi2G2u30sGYIFrA NOTE: Please don’t fall for scammers who might impersonate me or others in the comment section. I do NOT give out my numb...

Tesla shareholders overwhelmingly re-approved Elon Musk's 2018 compensation plan and the company's incorporation in Texas at the annual shareholder meeting last week. The vote shows strong support for Musk's leadership and the company's long-term focus on Full Self-Driving (FSD) and the Optimus humanoid robot, despite short-term challenges, and opens the door for a new compensation plan that could increase Musk's voting power to push forward with his aggressive AI and robotics plans.

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AI has the potential to radically increase the value of certain companies by embedding human-level intelligence into products and services. Two key opportunities to profit from this: creating or reinventing products and services with AI, and investing in companies that are leaders in bringing AI-powered value to their offerings. However, investing in AI companies also carries risks, as the competition to bring AI into products and services will be immense.

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Some investors argue that Tesla's potential robotaxi service should not be included in valuation models because other companies will quickly catch up once Tesla solves unsupervised FSD. However, the ride-hailing market has strong winner-takes-most dynamics, and Tesla's significant lead in generalized autonomous driving technology would give them a major advantage in establishing a dominant robotaxi network that would be extremely difficult for competitors to challenge.

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Once Tesla releases their unsupervised Robotaxi platform will adoption be slow or fast?

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Dave Lee on Parenting, https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWD9b1BZqi2G2u30sGYIFrA

NOTE: Please don’t fall for scammers who might impersonate me or others in the comment section. I do NOT give out my number or...

In this video I want to focus on two specific things. First, the unique position of Tesla to make the best humanoid robot. And number two, why being first matters with humanoid robots.

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Dave Lee on Parenting, https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWD9b1BZqi2G2u30sGYIFrA

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I talk with Alexandra Merz about Tesla’s upcoming annual shareholder meeting and the two main issues being voted on: 1) Re-approving the 2018 Elon Musk Compensation Plan, and 2). Redomestication of Tesla to the state of Texas.

Alexandra Merz on X (formerly Twitter): https://x.com/TeslaBoomerMama

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I’m joined by James Douma as we discuss Tesla’s latest FSD v12 (supervised) release and how ti compares to previous FSD versions. We also dive into Robotaxi, Optimus, LLMs, and more.

James Douma on Twitter, https://twitter.com/jamesdouma
James Douma on AI playlist, https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfibpgBinf9R7KIedEU3y-YjrA63LSKHX

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📸 In...

I discuss why Tesla had to do a complete rewrite of FSD and more importantly, why it should allow them to improve faster and potentially solve autonomous driving.

Narrow Driving Intelligence (NDI) is an approach to autonomous driving where each unique driving challenge, or edge case, is solved individually with a specific solution or algorithm. However, this approach does not improve the vehicle's ability to handle new, unseen edge cases.

On the other hand, General Driving Intelligence (GDI) aims to develop a holistic driving intelligence that can handle a variety of situations and new edge...