Elon Musk Announce New Autonomous Taxi
Matthew Gupta
Tech Editor
Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced the company’s first Robotaxi. The announcement of the company’s endeavor into autonomous public transportation comes as autonomous car companies have partnered with rideshare apps to expand their operations across the western United States.
Tesla’s new Robotaxi dubbed the Cybercab, was announced at an event labeled “We, Robot” hosted at Warner Bros Studio in Burbank, California. The new vehicle featured scissor doors, a sleek exterior, and notably, no steering wheels or pedals. Musk stated that Cybercab vehicles will be fully self-driving and available in all current Tesla models. The Cybercab is expected by Tesla to cost $30000, and the given release date was before 2027 in states like California and Texas. Benefits of the Cybercab stated in the event include a reduced need for vast parking, saving lives from autonomous driving, less time in transit, and monetary savings, hoping to cost 1/5th of operation compared to a public transit bus.
Two other products were released at “We, Robot”. A new autonomous-driving van, dubbed the Robovan, was released as a solution to high-density areas, where the combination of poor public transportation infrastructure and low walkability in most American cities has led to a high rate of car dependency. The Robovan can carry up to 20 people or transport goods, and its design is sleek and futuristic. The event also announced a product that is unique to its current offerings. The new Optimus robot uses data collected from current Tesla vehicles to perform human tasks such as retrieving objects, mowing lawns, and even walking dogs. It is expected to cost between $20k-$30k once mass-produced. Musk predicted that the Optimus robot would bring forth “an age of abundance”, where we would have these robots at our request to perform any required tasks.
Despite the innovative designs and robot bartenders, investors were not bought in on the new age of Tesla. After the event, shares of the company were down 8%, despite shares of ridesharing apps Uber and Lyft being up 10% each. One of the major concerns of the new vehicle was safety. While competitors such as Waymo and Cruise rely on more accurate radar and LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) to model the vehicle’s surrounding area, Tesla has relied on cameras for its cars’ self-driving capabilities. Although it is cheaper to operate, the less precise detection sensors have made regulators queasy about permitting the cars to operate unsupervised.
Speaking more about Tesla’s competitors, the space has already begun to see stiff competition in the western United States, as companies like Waymo and Cruise have expanded in cities like San Francisco, Phoenix, and most recently for Waymo, Austin. This means that the Cybercab, which was previously supposed to be released in August, now faces stiff competition in the markets most receptive to this new change. These companies plan to further collaborate with the rideshare giant Uber. Last month, Waymo announced that it will be partnering with Uber in Austin and Atlanta. Cruise also hopes to maintain market share after an incident in October 2023, where an autonomous vehicle struck a pedestrian in San Francisco. The company partnered with Uber to dedicate autonomous Chevy Bolt taxis to the app.
Overall, the sentiment from the event was that the technology was great for looks and design but lacked any potential for reliable function. The event failed to go into specifics about the technology, pricing, or application of these new technologies. Tesla has also had a history of failing to meet deadlines, even having to push back the event date 2 months, so the given production date of “before 2027” seems unlikely. While the success of this program is uncertain, we can be sure that Elon Musk will stop at no obstacle to create the future of automated transportation with Tesla.
Contact Matthew at matthew.gupta@student.shu.edu