--- title: "While Tesla’s Robotaxi Program Crumbles, Its Sales Are Falling Apart" description: "Tesla's sales are still falling in Europe, while the alternative revenue stream promised by robotaxi fails to leave the starting line." date: "2025-06-27" modified: "2025-06-27" authors: - name: "Joe Wilkins" job_title: "Correspondent" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jwilkins" url: "https://futurism.com/tesla-robotaxi-crumbles-sales" categories: - "Advanced Transport" - "Tesla" tags: - "elon musk" - "self-driving vehicles" - "tesla" --- # While Tesla’s Robotaxi Program Crumbles, Its Sales Are Falling Apart ![Tesla's sales are still falling in Europe, while the alternative revenue stream promised by robotaxi fails to leave the starting line.]() *\Image: Kevin Dietsch / Getty / Futurism\* Tesla's sales in Europe have officially plummeted for the fifth month in a row in May, delivering a staggering blow to its investors. [Per *ABC*](), Tesla's automotive sales dropped a further 28 percent last month across 30 European countries, despite a booming demand for EVs from other manufacturers. As Elon Musk's pet company falters, other companies are making out bigtime. For example, China's SAIC sold over 18,000 vehicles across Europe in May, while Tesla didn't even break 9,000, according to *ABC*. The numbers come after Musk's loud — and [messy]() — departure from the White House, which Tesla insiders hoped would ease some of the pressure from anti-Musk protests and boycotts. While Tesla executives might be anxious to forgive and forget, consumers around the world are in [no hurry]() to move on. With sales in the gutter thanks to Musk's irreversible brand damage, and Donald Trump's cutoff of taxpayer-funded EV credits, the company [desperately needs]() Musk's long-promised robotaxi program to work out. Tesla's hype-laundering CEO [recently promised]() to put "hundreds of thousands, if not over a million" self driving cars on the road by 2026. But if the company's robotaxi pilot program in Austin is any indication, European EV sales might be the least of its concerns. In Austin, each robotaxi ride comes complete with a human "[safety monitor]()" in the front seat, ready to stop the ride the second things get hairy. And, being a Tesla, things often get hairy. Earlier this week, [video surfaced]() of a Tesla almost colliding with a mail truck as it dropped a passenger off. Luckily, the safety monitor was able to intervene. [Another video]() recorded the moment a Tesla Model Y's steering wheel begin rapidly turning back and forth in the middle of an intersection. One [media stunt]() organized by anti-Tesla group The Dawn Project and Tesla Takedown in Austin showed residents a self-driving Model Y's complete lack of regard for a stopped school bus, which it flies past before plowing into a child crash test dummy. Indeed, from almost the minute the pilot began, robotaxis have been [breaking road laws](), drawing intense scrutiny from government safety agencies. The embarrassing pilot rollout has sent Tesla's stock [into a tailspin](), despite an initial bump as the program went live. With time running out on Musk's last-ditch effort to save Tesla's spot as one of the world's most valuable tech companies, it'll take nothing short of a miracle to reverse the catastrophic damage that's already been done. In other words, Tesla's cooked. **More on Tesla:** [*Tesla Stock Plummets as Company Abruptly Halts Production of Cybertruck and Model Y*]() ## Author At Futurism, I focus on the intersection of technology and power — examining the economics, history, and politics behind today’s dystopian headlines. As a writer, I’m interested in topics ranging from AI’s impact on labor to startups nobody asked for. My prior work includes bylines in Jacobin, Verso, and Blue Labyrinths. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Forbes, The Guardian, MIT Technology Review, Time, The Nation, Mother Jones, The Verge, and Wired. I grew up in Michigan, attending Central Michigan University as well as Ball State University, where I earned a master of music. I now live in Brooklyn with my girlfriend and our cat Ziti. On weekends, you can find me hunched over a cold pint arguing geopolitics with the other transplants. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()