Tesla employees secured two honors at MotorTrend’s Software-Defined Vehicle (SDV) Innovator Awards during CES 2026. Ashok Elluswamy, VP of AI Software, earned the Pioneer Award for advancing AI and autonomy. Staff Autopilot ML Engineer Lawson Fulton received recognition in the Expert category.
The awards underscore Tesla’s software-first strategy and its leadership in autonomous driving technology.
Separately, Truist analyst William Stein adjusted Tesla’s price target. Stein lowered the target to $439 from $444, while maintaining a Hold rating.
The adjustment followed the company’s Q4 2025 delivery report. Stein noted that vehicle deliveries missed expectations, but record performance in energy storage deployments offset the miss. The analyst suggests Tesla’s core investment thesis is shifting toward AI initiatives, such as Full Self-Driving (FSD), rather than solely automotive delivery metrics.