Tesla Stock Is Rising Again. Focus Shifts Back to Robo-taxis.

Coming into Wednesday trading, Tesla stock was up for five consecutive sessions, gaining almost 11% over that span. (Dreamstime)

Tesla stock was up in early trading. Shares are on one of their runs, going for six consecutive gains on Wednesday.

Shares of the electric-vehicle maker were up 0.5% in premarket trading at $342.52, while S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were up 0.2% and 0.3%, respectively.

Coming into Wednesday trading, Tesla stock was up almost 11% since Aug. 5, gaining for five straight trading sessions. A few things have helped shares. For starters, the market is higher over that span. Third-quarter EV demand in the U.S. is also looking strong, although that could be because buyers will lose the $7,500 federal tax credit in September.

Tesla sold about 721,000 cars in the first half of 2025, down 13% year over year. Investors, however, have been more focused on artificial-intelligence-trained self-driving cars than on car sales this year. Tesla’s self-driving technology probably also contributed to recent gains.

CEO Elon Musk posted several updates about Tesla’s Full Self Driving, or FSD, product over the weekend, pointing out that the FSD version that Tesla’s Austin, Texas, robo-taxis are running is more advanced than what Tesla drivers use, adding that coming versions of FSD represent dramatic improvements.

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The stock also looks better to technical traders. Fundstrat’s head of technical strategy, Mark Newton, wrote recently that a close above $338 would be a bullish technical sign for the stock. Tesla stock closed above $338 on Monday for the first time since late June.

Coming into Wednesday trading, Tesla stock was down about 16% year to date, but up about 64% over the past 12 months.

Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com