In a much anticipated launch at Warner Bros Studios in Burbank, California, Tesla pulled the sheet off its Cybercab.
Journalists have been getting revved up about an autonomous launch from Tesla since CEO Elon Musk started making bold claims in 2016.
In 2019, he declared that his autonomous taxi fleet would be on the roads by the following year and so it was with pens poised that journalists waited at the press event to see if a vehicle would actually be unveiled.
Wing-like Doors and No Steering Wheel
Clutching their “We, Robot” invites, the crowds in California waited for Musk to appear and when he did (nearly an hour late), it was in the new vehicle.
The Verge shared this video of Musk saying goodbye to an astronaut (as you do) before climbing into the futuristic looking prototype vehicle.
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The cabin is reported to be big enough for two passengers, it has no steering wheel and no pedals.
Surprise Cybervan Launch
The Cybercab wasn’t the only reveal. Attendees also got a glimpse of the Tesla Cybervan, which can either carry goods or up to 20 people.
“The Robovan is intended for the company’s Tesla Network, an autonomous ridehailing service for purpose-built self-driving cars, as well as Tesla customers’ personally owned vehicles”, says The Verge.
The van was accompanied on stage by an army of Optimus robots, which then, reportedly, mingled with the crowd and served drinks.
Musk Claims Vehicle will Save Lives
Musk repeated his previous conviction that this autonomous vehicle will save “a lot of lives and prevent injuries”. The Verge reports that his statement that these “autonomous cars are expected to be 10-20 times safer than human-driven vehicles and could cost as low as $0.20 per mile, compared to the $1 per mile for city buses”.
Tesla shared in a post on X that the vehicles don’t “rely on high definition maps” but instead the Autopilot and Full Self-Driving (FSD) driver-assist features are “powered by learnings from our global fleet of millions of vehicles”.
The event also saw Musk share his hopes that “fully autonomous unsupervised” technology will be available in Tesla’s Model 3 and Model Y in Texas and California next year. This will obviously be down to regulatory approval and some are already concerned.
Samitha Samaranayake, an associate professor in engineering at Cornell University, told BBC News: “It is a big chunk of metal driving on roads at high speeds, so safety concerns are big.”
Ambitious Production Schedule
Also drawing raised eyebrows was Musk’s schedule and the promise that production will start of the Cybercabs “before 2027” . The tech billionaire did quip that he tends to be “optimistic with time frames”.
Musk has also stated the grand ambition that there will one million of these Cybercabs vehicles on the roads alongside privately-owned Tesla vehicles that owners sign up to be available when they don’t need them.
Musk used the event to mention his grand opus that the computational power of idle vehicles could be used as “AWS for AI”.
Can Tesla Overtake Rivals?
Musk revealed that the vehicle will have a price point of less than $30,000. However, will this be enough to overtake its rivals? What Tesla doesn’t have is hours and hours of road time, which is exactly what competitors Waymo and Cruise have both banked.
Uber has also made moves towards adding autonomous vehicles to its fleet thanks to a deal with Cruise.
What will be critical is whether Tesla can get its new vehicles on the road within Musk’s self-confessed ambitious timeframes or whether competitors will continue to drive circles around it as it pushes production back and still has to seek regulatory approval.
