Uber Technologies Inc. ( UBER ) shares are dropping Thursday after Tesla CEO Elon Musk confirmed that fully self-driving Model Y vehicles have been testing on public roads in Austin, Texas, this time without anyone in the driver’s seat.

What To Know: The sell-off in Uber ( UBER ) stock appears to reflect market concern that Tesla's progress in autonomous ride-hailing may threaten Uber's ( UBER ) long-term competitiveness, especially since Tesla's robotaxi model would eliminate the need for human drivers entirely. While Uber ( UBER ) remains positioned as a low-cost provider using other automaker AV platforms, Tesla's vertical integration and aggressive push toward autonomy signal growing pressure on the ride-hailing sector.

Tesla's robotaxi program is scheduled to launch officially on June 12, with the first phase expected to involve 10 to 20 Model Y vehicles running the latest version of Tesla's Full Self-Driving (FSD) software. According to industry analyst Gary Black, these vehicles will be remotely supervised by trained teleoperators, indicating a step toward unsupervised autonomy. A recent Tesla job posting also confirms the company is hiring engineers to build remote teleoperation tools for its robotaxis and Optimus robots.

Although Tesla's FSD has not yet received regulatory approval for unsupervised operation, its early deployment of remotely monitored autonomous vehicles highlights a potential shift in the competitive landscape. Uber's ( UBER ) decline comes amid investor reaction to the accelerating timeline of Tesla's autonomous ambitions.

UBER Price Action: Uber ( UBER ) shares were down 4.65% at $84.14 at the time of publication on Thursday, according to Benzinga Pro.

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