08:59 AM EDT, 06/23/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Tesla (TSLA) started offering rides in its Robotaxis on Sunday in Texas, with Wedbush Securities analyst Daniel Ives saying the trips exceeded his expectations for the carmaker that's starting its journey in autonomous driving.

The company and its chief executive, Elon Musk, announced the Robotaxi launch on social media platform X over the weekend. The EV maker deployed a limited fleet of its self-driving taxis in Austin, Texas and offered test rides on Sunday, Reuters reported.

"Culmination of a decade of hard work," Musk said in a post on X. "Both the (artificial intelligence) chip and software teams were built from scratch within Tesla."

Wedbush maintained its outperform rating on Tesla's stock and reiterated the 12-month price target of $500. Shares of the EV maker were up 1.7% in Monday's most recent premarket activity.

Ives, who has said he sees artificial intelligence having a potential impact of $1 trillion on Tesla's valuation over the next few years, took two rides in a Robotaxi. A Tesla operator was overseeing the ride, but wasn't allowed to influence the vehicle in any way, Ives said in a note.

The ride was safe, comfortable and smooth, representing a milestone for autonomous driving and Tesla's artificial intelligence story, Ives said. The ride also allowed users to sync their Tesla accounts with the Robotaxi and upload apps such as Apple (AAPL) Music, Netflix (NFLX) and Spotify (SPOT).

Wedbush described the Robotaxi as "foundational" and projects a potential path where the vehicles will have a "much more user-centric" focus. The brokerage also expects a time to come where the vehicles will be able to communicate with each other and offer a "more efficient travel experience."

"Overall, these Robotaxis exceeded our expectations and offered a seamless and personalized travel experience that has lit the spark for autonomous driving," Ives wrote in the note.