Tech stocks today: Tesla's Cybercab event fails to impress, Feds launch investigation into the robotaxi

Tesla ( TSLA ) stock fell in early trading after the company's private Cybercab launch in Austin, Texas, underwhelmed Wall Street.

The company had built hype heading into the event, and investors saw it as a potential turning point for the company's self-driving ambitions, with Tesla's stock rising 5% the day before. But few details were offered on the size of the robotaxi fleet.

Hours after the event, federal investigators opened an investigation into Cybercabs over whether the robotaxi — which has no steering wheel or pedals — complies with federal motor vehicle safety standards.

Nvidia ( NVDA ) stock continued to rise, meanwhile, after the AI leader announced it was buying the open-weight AI platform Hugging Face for roughly $13 billion.

In a statement, Nvidia said Hugging Face would remain "an open platform for the entire AI ecosystem" and that the company would continue to support open-weight and open-source AI models. Nvidia said it's the largest contributor of open models and data to the Hugging Face platform.

The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2027, pending regulatory approval.

The United States' top automotive safety regulator has opened an investigation into Tesla's decision to launch its new Cybercab on public roads with no steering wheel or pedals.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced Friday morning that it opened the probe mere hours after Tesla put the first Cybercabs on the streets of Austin, Texas. Federal vehicle safety regulations require manual controls like brake pedals, though the Department of Transportation recently proposed removing those requirements for vehicles that are designed to be autonomously driven.