Elon Musk Shows Off His ‘Cybercab’ Robotaxi
Tesla CEO Elon Musk revealed his vision of a “fun, exciting future” on Thursday, with self-driving cars without steering wheels, parking lots turned into parks, and robots walking around. He promised these technologies would be available in a few years.
The announcement, which included designs for Tesla’s robotaxis, took place at a flashy event in California. The event showcased models of the robotaxi and a Robovan—a driverless vehicle designed to carry more people or goods.
The vehicle designs looked shiny and futuristic, like something out of a sci-fi movie. Musk mentioned the classic film “Blade Runner,” but said he wanted a more cheerful version of the future.
Musk is known for making promises that often take longer to come true. Five years ago, he said robotaxis would be ready in one year. On Thursday, Musk admitted, “I tend to be a little optimistic with time frames.”
Many investors seemed doubtful, considering Tesla’s history of missing deadlines for self-driving tech. Tesla shares dropped more than 8% in late afternoon trading on Friday.
The event, livestreamed on Musk’s platform X, started 53 minutes late. Despite the delay, the crowd eagerly waited to ride in the 50 self-driving vehicles, cheering Musk during his 20-minute presentation.
Tesla offers what it calls Full Self-Driving (FSD) as an $8,000 add-on. But even with FSD, drivers still need to be ready to take control.
Musk said Teslas with FSD might soon be able to drive without human help where regulators allow it, predicting California and Texas could permit this by next year. He also revealed the Cybercab—a car without a steering wheel or pedals. He said Cybercabs should be in production by 2026.
“It’ll be like sitting in a comfortable little lounge,” Musk said.
The Cybercab will charge by driving over a charging plate, instead of using a plug. Musk also introduced the Robovan, which could carry up to 20 passengers or cargo, though he didn’t provide a timeline.
Musk said Tesla plans to operate its own fleet of robotaxis, and Tesla owners could also rent out their cars when not using them to lower ownership costs.
This robotaxi service would compete with ride-hailing services like Uber and Lyft, as well as driverless services from companies like Google’s Waymo. Kara Swisher, a tech journalist, noted that other robotaxi services were already ahead of Tesla. She pointed out that services like Waymo had been running in places like San Francisco for a while. “Elon has just been talking about it. I would like to see him deploy something on the road,” she said.
“Typical Elon,” Swisher added. “He makes a big announcement, and then we see nothing.”
‘Overly Optimistic’ Predictions
Musk said Tesla’s data shows FSD—when supervised by a driver—is already safer than human-driven cars. But many testers question whether that’s true. AMCI Testing found that drivers had to take control every 13 miles on average.
This isn’t the first time Musk has made bold predictions about self-driving cars. In July, he told investors he expected unsupervised driving by the end of the year, saying, “I would be shocked if we cannot do it next year.” But he admitted, “Obviously, my predictions on this have been overly optimistic in the past.”
“I’m the boy who cried FSD,” Musk joked. “But I think we’ll be better than humans by the end of this year. I’ve been wrong in the past, I may be wrong this time.”
Experts like Gene Munster from Deepwater Asset Management believe Tesla will eventually develop driverless technology, but it will take years. Munster told CNN that human intervention is still needed for 3% of miles driven. “While 97% sounds close, it’s not enough. It needs to be well above 99%,” Munster said. He estimated two years to improve the technology and another two to three years for regulators to approve it.
He also noted that Tesla’s past product announcements, like the Cybertruck and electric semi truck, took much longer than expected to come to market. “Recent history should remind investors that patience is a virtue,” Munster said.