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Tesla gains approval to test robotaxis in Arizona

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Tesla has secured approval from the Arizona Department of Transportation to begin testing autonomous robotaxi vehicles in the Phoenix metro area, the agency confirmed Friday. The trials will initially involve cars equipped with safety drivers to monitor operations.

Tesla applied for the permit in June as part of CEO Elon Musk’s plan to launch an autonomous ride-hailing service that could reach half of the U.S. population by the end of the year. While no start date or trial duration has been disclosed, Arizona’s approval marks a significant expansion of Tesla’s robotaxi testing beyond its limited pilot in Austin, Texas, launched earlier this year.

In Austin, Tesla trialed about a dozen vehicles under strict conditions, including a safety monitor in the front passenger seat and a select group of passengers. The Arizona expansion puts Tesla into one of the nation’s most competitive self-driving markets, where Waymo and Cruise have already been testing robotaxi services.

The approval reflects growing state-level support for autonomous vehicle experimentation, even as federal regulators continue to scrutinize safety and data transparency. For Tesla, success in Arizona could provide critical validation for its long-promised robotaxi ambitions.

Musk denies $10B fundraising at xAI after CNBC report

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Elon Musk pushed back on Friday against a CNBC report that his AI startup xAI was raising $10 billion at a post-money valuation of $200 billion. “Fake news. xAI is not raising any capital right now,” Musk wrote on X, dismissing claims the firm was in talks with investors.

CNBC had reported that the funds would be used to build massive data centers with Nvidia and AMD GPUs and recruit top AI talent as xAI ramps up to compete with OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude. The company operates the Colossus supercomputer cluster in Memphis, Tennessee, which Musk has described as the world’s largest.

Investor interest in AI firms remains strong despite questions over the sustainability of big tech spending. If true, the $200B valuation would have more than doubled xAI’s reported $75B valuation in July and placed it among the world’s most valuable private companies—behind OpenAI, ByteDance, and SpaceX, but ahead of Anthropic, which recently raised funds at a $183B valuation.

Musk’s denial comes amid conflicting signals. In June, Morgan Stanley reported that xAI had already raised $5B in debt financing alongside a $5B strategic equity investment to expand its infrastructure. While Musk insists no new round is underway, xAI continues to scale aggressively, seeking to establish itself as a rival to OpenAI, which may soon be valued at $500B in a planned stock sale.

Oracle Pauses After AI-Fueled Surge Toward $1 Trillion Valuation

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Oracle shares fell 4% on Thursday, cooling off after a record-breaking 35.9% rally the previous day that had pushed the company’s market capitalization to $933 billion, edging it closer to the trillion-dollar elite. If losses hold, Oracle’s valuation will settle near $894 billion.

Ellison’s Billionaire Climb

The surge has also boosted co-founder Larry Ellison’s fortune to $371.7 billion, putting him within striking distance of Elon Musk ($441.2 billion) for the title of world’s richest person, according to Forbes.

What Fueled the Rally

Oracle’s rise has been powered by multi-billion-dollar AI cloud deals as companies race to secure massive computing power to lead in the AI arms race.

  • On Tuesday, Oracle reported its order backlog was on track to hit $500 billion.

  • The Wall Street Journal revealed OpenAI signed a $300 billion cloud deal with Oracle, one of the largest in history.

Market View

Analysts see the pullback as a breather.

  • Dennis Dick, chief strategist at Stock Trader Network: “A bit of buyer exhaustion here. I think the ‘buy the dip’ crowd is likely to re-emerge. The guidance was so incredible, hard to think that this story is over.”

Oracle’s stock has nearly doubled in 2025, making it one of the top S&P 500 performers, outpacing even the Magnificent Seven tech giants.

Valuation Check

  • Stock price: $314.45

  • Median price target: $342 (approx. +9% upside, LSEG data)

  • Forward P/E ratio: 45.3 vs. Amazon (31.3) and Microsoft (31).

Oracle’s premium valuation reflects investors’ conviction that its AI-powered cloud expansion will continue to drive outsized growth, even as short-term pullbacks test market momentum.