Tesla stock slips after Autopilot is dropped in U.S., Canada as robotaxi push meets earnings week

Tesla stock slips after Autopilot is dropped in U.S., Canada as robotaxi push meets earnings week

New York, January 23, 2026, 16:13 EST — After-hours

  • Late Friday, Tesla shares slipped roughly 0.1% following the company’s move to remove its standard Autopilot package from new purchases in the U.S. and Canada
  • Starting Feb. 14, Tesla will offer Full Self-Driving (Supervised) exclusively as a $99-per-month subscription.
  • Investors await the Jan. 28 results for the latest on software adoption, robotaxi deployment, and regulatory green lights

Tesla shares edged lower Friday after the company removed its basic Autopilot driver-assistance package for new buyers in the U.S. and Canada. Starting Feb. 14, customers will be nudged toward the $99-a-month Full Self-Driving (Supervised) subscription. New vehicles now come equipped only with traffic-aware cruise control, which maintains speed and distance, while the lane-centering feature has been dropped. The stock was last down roughly 0.1% at $448.96. Tesla’s CFO has said that just 12% of buyers have paid for the FSD software.

The timing is crucial as the market heads into a packed week, with the Federal Reserve’s rate decision looming alongside a flood of major tech earnings. On Friday, U.S. stocks closed mixed: the Dow dropped 0.58%, while the S&P 500 held steady, dragged down by Intel’s disappointing outlook.

Tesla plans to release its fourth-quarter results on Jan. 28, according to its investor relations calendar. On Thursday, the company published a company-compiled set of Wall Street estimates, showing a consensus forecast of roughly $24.5 billion in total revenue and GAAP earnings of $0.30 per share.

Elon Musk announced on X Thursday that Tesla has begun robotaxi rides in Austin with no safety drivers inside.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Musk said he expects supervised Full Self-Driving approval in Europe “hopefully next month,” with China on a “similar timing.” Tesla shares jumped 4.2% on Thursday following social media buzz about the driverless robotaxi rides, Reuters reported. Reuters

Insurance also gave a modest boost. Lemonade announced a 50% discount for Tesla drivers when their cars are running on FSD software, leveraging Tesla’s telemetry data for pricing. “We get millions of signals emitted by that car into our systems,” Lemonade co-founder Shai Wininger told Reuters. Reuters

Musk pushed the longer-term story this week, warning that Tesla’s Cybercab robotaxi and humanoid robot Optimus would start off with “agonizingly slow” production before scaling up, Reuters reported. Reuters

Traders know the drill: Tesla aims to convert its driving software into steady subscription income, just as the stock’s worth hinges largely on autonomy and robotics. A subscription model could stabilize revenue, but it also puts pressure on whether users find enough value to stay subscribed every month.

The downside is clear. Driver-assistance systems face heavy regulatory pressure, and Tesla admits its FSD isn’t fully autonomous, requiring drivers to remain alert. Any safety incident or stricter regulatory moves could delay overseas approvals and hinder progress toward driverless ride-hailing.

Tesla’s earnings report on Jan. 28 is next. Investors will be digging into details on FSD subscriptions, the scale of the Austin robotaxi project, and the timeline for getting approvals overseas. Then there’s the Feb. 14 deadline when Tesla shifts to subscription-only access for FSD.

Khadija Saeed

Khadija Saeed is a financial markets reporter at TS2.tech. Her coverage ranges from stocks and technology to emerging industries and developments across global markets. She studied economics and finance at the London School of Economics and worked in market research before becoming a financial journalist. Follow Khadija Saeed on Google News.

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