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Key Takeaways

• Tesla CEO Elon Musk did a series of live interviews on Tuesday, in which he emphasized his commitment to the company and robotaxi plans.

• Musk said that he plans to stay on as Tesla CEO for at least the next five years, and that Tesla's June robotaxi launch in Austin, Texas remains on track.

• Wedbush's Dan Ives, a longtime Tesla bull, said after Musk's interviews that he sees "a different Musk" compared to the last few months, while Musk was more involved in government work.

In a string of public appearances Tuesday, Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk emphasized his commitment to the role and robotaxi plans, leading one of Wall Street's biggest Tesla bulls to say he is seeing "a different Musk" compared to the last few months.

During an interview at the Qatar Economic Forum, Musk said he plans to stay on as Tesla's CEO for at least the next five years, and told CNBC's David Faber later in the day that the electric vehicle maker's June robotaxi launch in Austin, Texas remains on track.

Tesla will start with a small number of vehicles on the road, and scale up in the coming months as it expands to other cities, Musk said, with the possibility of "hundreds of thousands" operating autonomously on the road by the end of 2026.

Wedbush analyst Dan Ives, a longtime Tesla bull, said later on CNBC that he sees "a different Musk than we saw over the last one, three months" in watching the CEO's interviews.

Musk, who sported a Tesla branded jacket during the CNBC interview from the EV maker's Gigafatory in Austin, looks to have a "dedicated focus on Tesla, driving the next initiative" of autonomous vehicles, Ives said. The analyst added that he continues to believe 90% of Tesla's future value lies in its autonomous vehicle software and robotics technology.

Several analysts—including Ives—had called for Musk to step back from his government work and focus more of his attention on Tesla ahead of last month's earnings report, with JPMorgan analysts writing that they believed the company suffered "unprecedented brand damage" as protestors pushed back on Musk's politics.

During last month's first-quarter earnings call, Musk said he planned to return to spending more of his time at Tesla starting this month, scaling back his government work to one or two days per week.

Tesla shares ended the day up just 0.5% after rising earlier in the session. They are still down roughly 15% since the start of the year.

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