Tesla narrowly missed Wall Street’s first-quarter revenue and profit expectations as it navigates rising global competition for its electric vehicle business and bets on the transformative potential of autonomous vehicles. Elon Musk’s carmaker, based in Austin, Texas, reported revenue of $22.3 billion for the three months ended March 31, compared with analysts’ average estimate of $22.6 billion, while net income rose by 17 per cent year-on-year to $477 million, compared with forecasts of $876.7 million. Tesla was formerly the world’s biggest electric vehicle maker. However, it lost the title to its Chinese rival BYD at the end of last year, when it reported its second straight annual decline in deliveries. In the first quarter, Tesla deliveries rose by 6.3 per cent year-on-year to 358,023, well below Tesla’s first-quarter peak in 2023, when the company sold 423,000 vehicles. The expiry of a $7,500 federal tax credit in the US at the end of September dealt a blow to electric vehicle demand, stripping away a key incentive for the purchase of an EV. Investors are pinning their hopes around Musk’s focus on artificial intelligence, autonomous vehicles and robotics. Yet, the traditional car business remains the primary revenue driver for the company. Wall Street expects Tesla to deliver 1.67 million units in 2026, representing an 2.4 per cent increase, according to Visible Alpha data. Tesla’s robotaxi service was launched in June 2025 and began offering robotaxi rides in Austin, Texas, in January. It is preparing to expand the service to five other cities in Arizona, Florida and Nevada, Tesla said. The company said it was gearing up to start volume production of its Cybercab, a fully autonomous vehicle without a steering wheel or pedals, this year. Excitement around Tesla’s ambitions for AI and robotics helped to push the shares to an all-time high