What we know so far about Tesla’s new Robovan

• Tesla is entering the van business with its Robovan.
• Elon Musk unveiled a prototype at Tesla’s “We, Robot” event on Thursday.
• Musk first talked about making a van in 2016.

Tesla has announced a new addition to its fleet of sedans and Cybertrucks – the Robovan.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk unveiled the Robovan at the company’s “We, Robot” event, where the EV giant showcased its latest autonomous offerings.

In addition to the Robovan, Musk also introduced Tesla’s upcoming vehicle, the Robotaxi, or Cybercab, and the company’s Optimus robots.

Robovan’s reveal came as a surprise, considering most people were only expecting to see the debut of Robotaxi.

“What if you need a vehicle that’s bigger than a Model Y?” Musk said Thursday night before a Robovan prototype rolled out to the front of the stage.

Passengers then began to disembark from the vehicle, which had doors in the middle segment – ​​not unlike a train.

The interiors of the prototype Robovan were white. Passengers were seated in rows of seats, facing each other. Television screens could be seen in the front and back of the vehicle.

“We want to change the way roads look. The future should look like the future,” Musk said of Robovan’s design.

Musk said the Robovan is intended for high-density use, such as transporting sports teams. During the presentation, he did not mention the Robovan’s price or release date.

“It can carry up to 20 people and it can also carry cargo,” Musk said Thursday.

This is not the first time that Musk has talked about making a van.

Musk published a blog post titled “Master Plan, Part Deux” in July 2016 in which he said the EV industry needs to go beyond making sedans and SUVs.

“In addition to consumer vehicles, two other types of electric vehicles are needed: heavy-duty trucks and high-density urban transportation,” Musk wrote at the time.

“Both are in the early stages of development at Tesla and should be ready for unveiling next year,” he added.

In a subsequent post that was published in April 2023, titled “Master Plan Part 3,” Tesla again teased the prospect of making a van.

Specifically, the plan included a table of vehicle types along with their Tesla-manufactured equivalents. Notably, the term “TBD” was listed for two categories – “Commercial/Passenger Buses” and “Bus”.

To be sure, Musk isn’t the only one looking to cash in on mass autonomous transportation.

In 2021, a Chinese self-driving company called WeRide unveiled its own self-driving cargo van, also called “Robovan.”

“It’s a self-driving vehicle. If you put a seat in there, it can serve as a robotaxi car. If you put a cabinet in there, it’s really a logistics car,” WeRide CEO and founder Tony Han told CNBC in 2021.

In May, WeRide said it had obtained a license to conduct road tests for the vehicle in Guangzhou, China.