EV maker's stock has best day in over a year, but is still down for the month

Tesla is looking to expand its reach in Europe, where a growing number of countries are approving its Full Self-Driving (supervised) technology.

Tesla's stock just had its best day in more than a year after the company began rolling out the latest version of its self-driving technology,

On Monday, Tesla $(TSLA)$ said it would start giving some customers with older vehicles early access to version 14 "lite" of its Full Self-Driving (supervised) advanced driver-assistance system. The company's head of artificial intelligence, Ashok Elluswamy, said the update could be given a wider rollout after Tesla gets early feedback.

It's the first major FSD update for the estimated 3.5 million vehicles equipped with Tesla's older Hardware 3, or HW3, computers in more than a year.

"This build distills the driving behavior from AI4's v14 series into both the camera and compute config of AI3," Elluswamy said in a post on X, using the internal name for HW3. "It includes destination options and speed profiles on city roads, but more importantly significantly improved safety."

Tesla stock ended the day at $411.84 a share, up 8.5%. It was the stock's biggest one-day percentage increase since April 25, 2025, when it rose 9.8% after the U.S. Transportation Department announced an automated vehicle framework, according to Dow Jones Market Data.

Tesla was the sixth-most active stock in the Nasdaq-100 Index NDX and eighth-most active in the S&P 500 index SPX on Monday, according to Dow Jones Market Data.

However, the stock is still down 8.4% in 2026. That's largely due to a number of unfulfilled promises from Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who advertised serious progress with Tesla's robotaxis late last year. The stock hit a closing high of $489.88 a share on Dec. 16, 2025.

Tesla shares have also been volatile throughout June, partially due to recent turbulence for the broader tech sector. The company is also facing a lawsuit and federal investigations related to a crash that allegedly involved Tesla's automated driving-assistance system. However, Tesla argues that the driver manually overrode the technology.

The update for HW3 customers may appease older customers, who were promised for years that their electric vehicles had the hardware needed for Full Self-Driving capabilities. But Musk in April said that HW3 "simply does not have the capability," which disappointed owners who had expected to make full use of their FSD purchases.

"The difference between v12.6.4 and v14 lite is massive," a Tesla HW3 owner said in a review promoted by Tesla. "My expectations so far have been exceeded. It makes my now 7-year-old car feel brand new again."

In April, Musk said Tesla would offer a "discounted trade-in" for HW3 owners to swap their cars out for a more advanced model. Tesla also said it would offer to replace the HW3 computer and cameras in older models, though its plan has been criticized by some analysts.

Tesla is currently trying to expand access to FSD in Europe after the Netherlands became the first in the European Union to approve its use. On June 10, Belgium became the fifth European Union country to approve FSD. Tesla is also pursuing broader regulatory approval in China.

"Regulatory ratification of FSD meaningfully enhances the value proposition of a [Tesla] vehicle," J.P. Morgan analyst Rajat Gupta said in a note to clients last week. He rates the stock at neutral with a $475 per share price target.

Musk's SpaceX $(SPCX)$ ended the day up 7.2%, partially thanks to speculation over its ability to compete with established telecommunications companies. Musk said on Sunday that a new AI model developed by SpaceX and Cursor is in private beta testing at both Tesla and SpaceX.

The companies are working together on an AI project called Macrohard, and Tesla also own a slice of SpaceX stock. Analysts largely expect Musk to move to merge Tesla and SpaceX together as soon as next year. Baird's Ben Kallo puts a 12- to 18-month timeline on the "likely" move.

-William Gavin

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June 29, 2026 17:24 ET (21:24 GMT)

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