Ron Baron, chairman and CEO of Baron Capital, recently got a firsthand look at how Tesla's self-driving technology is progressing near the company's campus in California.
The billionaire investor told CNBC on Thursday that he visited Elon Musk's SpaceX near Los Angeles on Monday morning and met with engineers and financial staff. Then, in the afternoon, I headed north up the coast to Tesla to see employees and “computing guys” working on self-driving technology.
Baron said the 12th version of the technology benefits from the vast amount of data collected by Tesla cars and more AI-driven computing power. That's because previous versions required manual coding, which slowed progress.
“Humans can't do that. Now they have the computing to understand everything. That means we're now on the verge of self-driving cars,” he explained. “So I said, 'Okay, show me.'”
Tesla staff spent several hours reviewing the technology with him. The Baron then told them that he wanted to see how it worked before he had to return to New York.
So they got into a car in a parking lot, accompanied by an analyst and two Tesla employees, he recalled.
“We were sitting in the car and I said, 'Where do you want to go?'” Baron continued. “I said, “I want to see Steve Jobs' house.'' And they say, “OK,'' and they punch in the address. ”
The car took off on its own, driving through the Tesla parking lot and waiting for cars to pass before hitting the road.
It turned again and ran behind the other car. When the car reached the stop sign at the intersection, it looked both ways, waiting for other drivers before turning around.
Pedestrians then started crossing the road and the car stopped, Baron said. The pedestrian waved to the waiting car, which then resumed its journey.
“Then the car parks, turns left and goes in front of Steve Jobs' house,” he added. “It's a nice house, but it's just a house.”
The car then returned to normal. “We drove everything autonomously.” When asked by CNBC about when Tesla's self-driving feature would be introduced, Baron simply said, “Now.”
Tesla did not respond immediately. Fortune's Request for comments.
The first-hand demonstration of Tesla's self-driving technology comes at a critical time for Mr. Musk's electric car company. Tesla on Tuesday reported a sharp drop in first-quarter profit as lower sales and price cuts hit profit margins.
But while some analysts had previously worried that he would prioritize his robotaxi ambitions, Musk also said Tesla was working on a lower-cost EV model, and Wall Street breathed a sigh of relief. Meanwhile, Tesla has also announced layoffs, with top executives leaving one after another.
Barron remains bullish on Tesla stock, which is the largest position in his portfolio. Citing low-cost cars and robotaxis, he predicted his stock would “go up significantly.” Now is the bottom. ”
Still, he expressed some dissatisfaction with the stock's performance so far, which is up just 1% from the same period last year and has fallen overall since the start of 2021.
“Going up 1% in a year when the market is doing so well is not that exciting,” he told CNBC. “I always look around and see everyone getting rich. I'm not poor, but I haven't made much progress in the last three years, so I think it's like a rubber band. We’ll catch up again.”
