Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, has announced that the company will unveil a Tesla Robotaxi on August 8. This announcement comes amidst a backdrop of falling EV sales and profits for Tesla, leading to speculation that the company is seeking another product to boost sales or stock prices.
The Robotaxi is being built on the same small EV platform that was supposed to power a lower-cost vehicle. However, recent reports suggest that Tesla has abandoned its plan to build a lower-cost EV and is instead focusing resources on the Robotaxi. Musk disputed these reports on X, the social network he owns, without providing any specific details.
Musk has been promising autonomous capabilities in Tesla vehicles for years. In 2016, he said it would happen (it didn’t). In 2019, he promised to launch the company’s first robotaxis as part of a broader vision for an autonomous ride-hailing network (that also did not happen). A few years later, he said a dedicated robotaxi with no steering wheel or pedals would come to market. Tesla vehicles come standard with a driver-assistance system branded as Autopilot. For an additional $12,000, owners can buy “full self-driving,” or FSD — a feature that Musk has promised for years will one day deliver full autonomous driving capabilities. However, FSD includes a number of automated driving features that still require the driver to be ready to take control at all times.
Even if the Robotaxi is unveiled in August, that doesn’t mean we’ll suddenly have them all over the road. Dropping the curtain on a car is relatively easy when compared to having functional, safe, and legal automated cars on the road. Remember when Tesla unveiled a robot with a guy dancing in a robot suit then later unveiled a robot that couldn’t stand? Keep that in mind when thinking about what we’ll actually get in August.
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