Elon Musk unveils safer than human-driven robotaxi

Tesla CEO Elon Musk showcased on Thursday night a long-awaited robotaxi with two gull-wing doors and no steering wheel or pedals and surprised with robovan, betting on a shift in focus from low-priced mass-market cars to robotic vehicles.

At a glitzy unveiling, Musk reached the stage in a “Cybercab” to be produced from 2026 — eventually in high volume — and priced under $30,000.

He then introduced the robovan which can carry up to 20 people though offered few further details. But Musk, who has a record of missing projections — and himself said he tended to be optimistic with time frames — did not say how quickly Tesla could ramp up robotaxi production, clear inevitable regulatory hurdles or implement a business plan to leapfrog robotaxi rivals such as Alphabet’s Waymo.

The Tesla CEO said the fully electric car would be charged wirelessly with inductive technology and would be “10 to 20 times safer” than human-driven cars.

“You can think of the car in an autonomous world as being like just a little lounge,” he told a crowd at the Warner Brothers Studio lot near Los Angeles. “You’re just sitting in a comfortable little lounge, and you can do whatever you want while you’re in this comfortable little lounge, and when you get out, you will be at your destination.”

He said the company was expecting to begin “fully autonomous, unsupervised” driving in Texas and California next year with existing models, and then move on to production of what he called the “cybercab.”

“I tend to be a little optimistic with time frames, but in 2026, so yeah, before 2027. Let me put it that way.” Musk also brought out dancing humanoid robots called Optimus that he said would one day be able to do menial tasks, as well as offer friendship.

“I think this will be the biggest product ever of any kind,” he said, adding that he expected the robot to retail for $20,000 to $30,000. Anything Tesla tries to put on the road will face the same kind of regulatory hurdles, as well as skepticism from the general public, many of whom have never seen a car without a driver.

Immediate reaction to the reveals was mixed. “Delusional nonsense from a liar who has been promising a robotaxi every year for a decade,” wrote user @goodandnormal on X.

Others on the platform were more enthusiastic, with some predicting that Tesla’s share price will soar when US markets open. “Tesla self-driving ‘Robovan.’ The future looks promising,” wrote @CollinsEbot1.

Agencies