Tesla delivered 486,532 vehicles in the third quarter, beating the company-compiled analyst consensus of 461,974 and marking its second consecutive major delivery beat, according to Stocktwits. Deliveries fell just 2% year-over-year despite lapping a record Q3 driven by the expiring $7,500 EV tax credit. Yet Future Fund managing partner Gary Black argued in a post on X that investors are looking past vehicle sales to the harder question: whether Tesla can close a widening autonomy gap with Alphabet's Waymo.

Autonomy is becoming the critical test for Tesla stock, Black says, even as delivery demand stabilizes. Markets reacted: Tesla shares closed nearly 5% higher on Friday while Alphabet's Class A shares gained nearly 2%, Stocktwits notes. Retail sentiment on Stocktwits around Tesla still trended bullish, but TSLA is down 18% year-to-date while GOOGL is up 8%, against an S&P 500 ETF up 17% and QQQ up 24% over 12 months.

The San Francisco Bay Area is next on deck for Tesla, while Las Vegas has been approved for a permit but is not yet live, Stocktwits reports. Meanwhile the public debate over driverless cars is intensifying elsewhere: EURweb reports Black Baptist pastors are lobbying against D.C.'s Autonomous Vehicle Deployment Authorization Amendment Act of 2026, introduced in May, with Rev. A. Michael Charles Durant warning automation could erode human interdependence, while Rev. Thomas Bowen argues AVs could remove drivers' ability to discriminate against passengers.