Tesla is stuck in the mud

• Tesla is having a rough start to the year.

• The EV maker reported disappointing deliveries for Q1, before announcing sweeping layoffs.

• With falling demand in the US and increased competition in China, Tesla is in a tough spot.

Tesla is in full-blown cost-cutting mode.

After releasing a disastrous first-quarter sales report this month, CEO Elon Musk announced the company would reveal a long-awaited robotaxi in August.

But that announcement was quickly overshadowed by sweeping layoffs, something Musk attributed to a reorganization and streamlining "for the next phase of growth."

In all, Tesla said it would cut more than 10% of its workforce, amounting to more than 14,000 people. Tesla is also losing some key top executives: Drew Baglino and Rogan Patel announced this week they would leave the company. Baglino was senior vice president for powertrain and energy engineering and Patel was vice president of public policy and business development.

It's unclear what, exactly, Tesla plans to show off in August as a self-driving, revenue-generating new product. And in the months between then and now, investors are demanding more than a rehashed robotaxi dream.

It's not Musk's first time promising a self-driving taxi

Musk said in 2019 that he expected Tesla to have 1 million cars on the road in the next year that could function as robotaxis.

"We believe we'll have the most profitable autonomous taxi on the market," he said on an earnings call in April of that year.

On a separate fundraising call around that time, he said Full Self-Driving could propel Tesla to a $500-billion valuation, and make Teslas worth up to $250,000, CNBC reported at the time. He also reportedly said Tesla robotaxis would be able to do 100 hours of work a week for their owners.

In the years since, Tesla's Full Self-Driving software (which remains Level 2, even as competing automakers have reached Level 3 and beyond), has rolled out to more vehicles as Tesla has continued to outsell competitors. Its market cap did, in fact, hit $500 billion, as Musk predicted. And it turned a profit at long last.

But a robotaxi never materialized, even as Musk continued to tout FSD as a continued linchpin to Tesla's growth.