WEB DESK: Chief Executive Officer of Tesla Elon Musk has introduced two gull-wing doors and without a steering wheel on Thursday.
Elon Musk, who arrived at the stage in one of the robotaxis – called Cybercab – said production will start in 2026 and the vehicles will be available for customers to buy for less than $30,000. They will cost 20 cents a mile to operate, he said.
“The vast majority of the time, cars are just doing nothing,” he said on stage. “But if they’re autonomous, they could be used five times more, maybe 10 times more.”
Enthusiasm around the event has been on display across social media, with screenshots of invites and speculation on what might be disclosed. But investors and analysts have flagged challenges with the technology and reined in expectations.
Stellantis chairperson John Elkann was seen in the crowd along with Musk’s younger brother, Kimbal, a social media post showed.
Musk’s plan is to operate a fleet of self-driving Tesla taxis called Cybercabs that passengers can hail through an app. Individual Tesla owners will also be able to make money on the app by listing their vehicles as robotaxis.
Thursday’s event at the Warner Bros studio near Los Angeles, California, is titled “We, Robot” – an apparent nod to the “I, Robot” science-fiction short stories by American writer Isaac Asimov, but also echoes Musk’s insistence that Tesla “should be thought of as an AI robotics company” rather than an automaker.
Those attending will include investors, stock analysts and Tesla fans. Topping their list of questions will be how quickly can Tesla ramp up robotaxi production, at what cost, and, crucially, how much money it can make from the taxi business. Eyes will also be on progress the company has made with the partial automation software it markets as Full Self-Driving that company watchers expect to underpin its robotaxis
