Catching up to Waymo won't be easy because it has partnered with Uber Technologies, which operates the world's largest ride-hailing network with 170 million monthly users. It could take Tesla years to achieve that level of scale, especially if it builds its own mobility network from scratch.

Musk intends to work his way out of this bind by focusing on Tesla’s new and disruptive projects: the Optimus robot and the robotaxi, which Musk just confirmed will take to the streets of Austin in June. There too, Tesla faces headwinds.