Elon Musk shows off Tesla’s long-awaited Robotaxi

• Elon Musk just unveiled Tesla’s Robotaxi at the company’s “We, Robot” event in Los Angeles.
• The autonomous vehicle, which has faced delays, is a key part of Musk’s vision for a Tesla transportation network.
• Musk said that “Tesla’s value is overwhelmingly autonomy.”

Tesla’s long-awaited Robotaxi has finally been unveiled.

Elon Musk introduced Tesla’s upcoming driverless taxi on “We, Robot” Thursday night.

The unveiling took place at the Warner Bros. film studio. Discovery in Burbank, California, which has a suburban lot. The location allowed Tesla to show off its self-driving capabilities without facing unexpected traffic situations.

Musk entered the event in a sleek-looking silver Robotaxi, a two-door vehicle that opened upward with butterfly-style doors. Robotaxi, also known as Cybercab, then took Musk on a ride around the grounds before exiting and taking the stage to start the event.

Musk said Robotaxi has no steering wheel or pedals and doesn’t need to be plugged in. Instead, he said the electric vehicle relies on inductive charging and simply needs to drive over the charger to charge.

Musk said Tesla had at least 20 cybercabs and there were 50 fully autonomous vehicles at the event, some of which were already driving without people in them.

Musk said Tesla would have fully autonomous unsupervised vehicles, the Model 3 and Model Y, on the roads in California and Texas next year, and that the Cybercab would be in production before 2027. However, Musk himself noted its tendency to be optimistic about deadlines, regularly delivering products later than originally estimated.

He also said that Cybercabs will be available for purchase. He expects it to cost less than $30,000.

Tesla provided more details in a post on X, announcing that the Robotaxi service will have no driver fees and that the fully autonomous vehicles will only use cameras rather than radar or lidar equipment. The company also said that customers can call Robotaxi once and use it for as long as needed, whether for a short trip or a full day.

Musk didn’t share many details about the technology behind Robotaxis or its safety features. Tesla has come under scrutiny in the past for the safety of its driver assistance systems.

Tesla also announced the Robovan, a large shuttle van that Musk said can seat up to 20 people.

Musk also touted Optimus, a humanoid robot that he said would cost between $28,000 and $30,000, but did not share a timeline for when the robot would be available.

“I think this is going to be the biggest product ever, of any kind,” Musk said, adding, “I think everyone is going to want their Optimus friend.”

At the end of the presentation, some of the robots danced on stage to a light show.

In a post on X ahead of the unveiling, Musk said Tesla created a “futuristic world” on the studio lot, reposting photos of a flyer from the event. The photos included a map showing four separate areas assigned titles that included “TSLA Theater,” “New York,” “Metropolis,” and “Westworld.” The document said guests could visit different areas for things like Texas barbecue, arcade games and a block party with street performers.

“Welcome to the future,” the brochure said.

The event got off to a late start, starting nearly an hour later than planned, which Musk said in an X post was because someone in the crowd had a medical emergency.

The reveal was streamed live on X, Musk’s social media platform formerly known as Twitter, and had more than 3 million viewers at one point.

The unveiling of Tesla’s latest vehicle is a major milestone for the company and has been highly anticipated for years. Tesla originally planned to unveil the Robotaxi in August, but pushed back the date after Musk requested a “major design change to the front end” of the vehicle, he wrote in a post on his social media platform. X. He also said that “in addition”. time” would allow the company to “show off a few other things.”

The Tesla CEO said that achieving full autonomy is key to Tesla’s future success.

“The value of Tesla is overwhelmingly the autonomy,” Musk told investors in July.

Musk, over the past decade, has repeatedly made predictions about when the technology, which also faces regulatory hurdles, will be ready. Tesla’s Autopilot driver assistance software is widely available, but the optional Full-Self-Driving upgrade is still considered beta software and requires constant human supervision and the willingness to take over the wheel. In 2016, Musk said during a press call that a Tesla vehicle will drive autonomously from Los Angeles to New York by 2017. In 2019, the billionaire said at a conference that Tesla will have one million Robotaxis on road in 2020. By 2022, the timeline has moved to 2023.

Despite Musk’s optimistic outlook, Tesla’s self-driving technology has faced significant challenges and regulatory scrutiny. A recent report by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it was investigating hundreds of crashes involving Autopilot, which resulted in 29 deaths.

While previous Tesla vehicles have Level 2 autonomy, Alphabet-owned Waymo, which has partnered with Uber, has achieved Level 4 autonomy, meaning the vehicle can drive without anyone behind the wheel in some US cities.

Some analysts don’t expect fully autonomous Robotaxis for several more years. Meanwhile, regulatory approval for Robotaxi and its fully unsupervised self-driving technology will be the main hurdle for Tesla to overcome in the coming months and years.