Part 12/14:
This more cautious but widespread deployment strategy could keep Tesla’s capital and operational risks manageable while still supporting exponential growth in free cash flow. It suggests a "slow and steady" approach aligned with regulatory realities, but with enough parallel expansion to spearhead a market shift within a few years.
For investors, the critical takeaway is that the timing of the “forcing function”—the point at which robo taxi economics become undeniable—might occur sooner than previously believed if Tesla leverages multiple states simultaneously. Early signals, such as fleet expansions in Texas cities or new cities announced by Tesla, could herald the approaching threshold.