Morgan Stanley: Even with Nvidia’s autonomous tech, Tesla is still “years ahead” of other automakers
Nvidia’s latest autonomous tech may help traditional automakers close the distance to manufacturing driverless cars, but not to Tesla, a research note from Morgan Stanley contends. Analyst Andrew Percoco argued that while Nvidia’s tech stack offers a “capital efficient on ramp to advanced autonomy,” that still leaves automakers stuck in a “faster follower strategy.”
According to the analyst, “Tesla is years ahead of competitors when it comes to autonomy with a clear data and scale advantage.” The comment is similar to something Tesla CEO Elon Musk said in the wake of Nvidia’s announcements:
“This is maybe a competitive pressure on Tesla in 5 or 6 years, but probably longer,” Musk posted on X.
You’re right.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 6, 2026
The actual time from when FSD sort of works to where it is much safer than a human is several years.
The legacy car companies won’t design the cameras and AI computers into their cars at scale until several years after that.
So this is maybe a competitive…