Tesla: Elon Musk presents prototype for robot taxi

Tesla: Elon Musk presents prototype for robot taxi

Tesla boss Elon Musk announces his entry into the robotaxi business with a big show in Hollywood and wants to build the cars in two years. But there is criticism.

Tesla boss Elon Musk wants to give his company new momentum with the introduction of robotaxis. When the prototype was presented on Thursday (local time), Musk had himself driven to a film set in Hollywood in the so-called “Cybercab”. “Most of the time cars just do nothing, but if they’re autonomous they could be used five times more, maybe 10 times more,” he told the cheering crowd. Since it is private property, Tesla did not need permission from traffic authorities for the event, which took weeks to prepare.

In the expansive film sets, Tesla provided a small fleet of “cybercabs” to drive those present. Analysts and Tesla influencers who excessively praise the electric car company and its founder online were invited. Media representatives were not welcome. For the event, Musk took time out of his campaign support for Donald Trump, who wants to move back into the White House in November.

Elon Musk: “Cybercap” should cost less than $30,000

The Tesla robotaxi has two seats and wing doors and looks like a coupe based on the Tesla bestseller Model 3. There is neither a steering wheel nor an accelerator pedal. Musk only gave a vague answer as to when the vehicle should come onto the market. Production is scheduled to begin in 2026 and the vehicles will cost less than $30,000. Musk’s plan is to operate a fleet of self-driving Tesla taxis that passengers can access via an app. At the same time, the tech billionaire admitted that he tends to be too optimistic about timelines.

First of all, software for autonomous driving, in which humans do not have to intervene, should hit the streets in Texas and California next year in the current Model 3 and Model Y vehicles. Musk postponed the development of a cheaper Tesla model on a new platform for the robotaxi, which would open up a larger market for the pioneer. Instead, Musk announced that Tesla’s future lies in autonomous driving.

Musk also presented a futuristic-looking self-driving bus called “Robovan” that can fit up to 20 people. The wedge-shaped front is somewhat reminiscent of earlier visions of the future for locomotives. The “Robovan” could also transport goods, said Musk. There was no information on when the vehicles might hit the road.

Tesla’s humanoid robot “Optimus” also made an appearance, which, according to Musk, will be “the largest product of any kind ever.” Every person will have at least one as a mechanical helper.

“We’ve made a lot of progress with Optimus,” he said, adding: “The Optimus robots will now mingle with people, they’ll also serve you drinks at the bar.” Finally, he had another group of Optimus robots dance to music on a smaller stage so that spectators could see the improvements in the robots’ movements. According to Musk, the robots will become part of society and will cost between $20,000 and $30,000.

Big promises not yet kept

Musk has repeatedly announced since 2016 that Tesla would soon make a breakthrough in autonomous driving. But so far Tesla has only offered driver assistance systems such as “Autopilot” and “Full Self-Driving”. The drivers always bear responsibility and must be ready to take control at any time. Tesla has long been making car buyers pay in advance for the ability to drive autonomously. Investors always seem to take the big promises seriously.

Tesla drivers in the USA have been able to test the FSD version of “Autopilot” in a beta version for several years. Recently, many people reported that the software tried to drive through intersections on red or turn out of the wrong lane. That’s why drivers have to keep reaching for the steering wheel.

Unlike other car manufacturers, Tesla relies solely on cameras and does not use other sensors such as radar or lidar. Added to this is artificial intelligence. This approach is cheaper and simpler than that of other car manufacturers who use a large number of systems in parallel.

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Above all, the possibility of making the vehicles fit for operation without a driver with a simple software update is seen as an advantage. So far, Tesla has not commented on the question of how many of its customers order the Full Self Driving (FSD) self-driving package. But before Musk’s dream of a robotaxi fleet comes true, regulatory hurdles still have to be overcome. So far, only test fleets are in operation that operate in narrowly defined areas without a driver.

However, according to industry experts and engineers, it has two important weak points: Firstly, with cameras alone, it is more difficult to react to unforeseen events and also to reliably detect obstacles that are hidden for cameras. The second point of criticism relates to the AI ​​system, which a Tesla engineer describes as a “black box”: it is “almost impossible” to recognize what went wrong in an accident.

Waymo already makes 100,000 robotaxi rides per week

Now robotaxis have long been on the road, at least in the USA. Particularly far ahead is Google’s sister company Waymo, whose vehicles make more than 100,000 trips with passengers in four US cities every week without a human behind the wheel. In San Francisco in particular, Waymo’s Jaguar electric vehicles, which have been converted into self-driving cars, are an integral part of the cityscape.

In the competition for the autonomous future, Musk is relying on fleet size – and price. A current vehicle from Waymo can have technology on board for around $100,000, as co-chief executive Dmitri Dolgov said during a recent appearance. If Tesla actually succeeds in implementing autonomous driving using only cameras, that would be a significant cost advantage – and with several million vehicles already on the road. But it is still unclear whether the goal can even be achieved with Musk’s methods.

Waymo is testing autonomous vehicles in San Francisco

This Jaguar drives without a driver: Waymo is testing autonomous cars in San Francisco

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In recent months, Tesla’s once rapid growth has slowed significantly. Accordingly, the share price is well away from its previous highs, at which Tesla was worth more than a trillion dollars. Musk is known for repeatedly igniting investors’ imaginations with full-bodied promises and visions of the future. The share price is not insignificant for Musk: the Tesla stake makes up a large part of his assets, which the financial service Bloomberg currently estimates at more than 250 billion dollars.

Source: Stern

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