Tesla May Become One of the Most Valuable Software Companies: UBS

Tesla has been dominating the electric vehicle (EV) space as one of the few auto companies to offer a full lineup of zero-emissions cars. And according to the Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS), it could soon become one of the world’s most valuable software companies.

UBS analyst Patrick Hummel wrote in a study published Wednesday that Tesla was poised to become one of the world’s most valuable software companies, as reported by CNBC.

In the report, Hummel wrote that, although legacy automakers have advantages to both production volume and scalable, cost-cutting platforms, Tesla and CEO Elon Musk will dominate the software space – as has already been demonstrated by the company’s impressive first wave of Full Self-Driving, which is currently in beta and is set for launch later this year.

There’s no doubt that the future of EVs (and vehicles in general, of course) is in software and autonomous driving, and even Apple has plans to join the autonomous driving world as a software-based automaker.

According to Hummel, “Software is likely the next battleground in the global car industry, and no other carmaker is closer to monetize fully autonomous driving for everyday use [than Tesla], and the scalability of Tesla’s technology creates the biggest software-driven revenue opportunity in the industry.”

The analyst believes the autonomous vehicle market is valued at over $1 trillion USD. Tesla’s promise of a Robotaxi fleet powered by Full Self-Driving has yet to emerge, but the company is seen as a leader in the autonomous space.

The UBS report compared Tesla to many of today’s most valuable software companies like Adobe, Alphabet (Google), Amazon, Microsoft (the two latter of which are both also working on EV softwares), and Nvidia, among others – and still found Tesla to be the most well-slated for an electric, software-based automotive future.