Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk posted the unveiling date of Tesla Robotaxi on his social media platform X (Twitter) this past weekend.
According to Musk’s official tweet, the automaker/tech company will reveal its fully autonomous Robotaxi car on 8th August 2024 (8/8).
“Tesla Robotaxi unveil on 8/8” — Elon Musk posted on X. This post by Elon Musk came out of the blue — no one asked him about the subject matter. It wasn’t a reply, it was an announcement.
This announcement has likely put a lot of pressure on Tesla Autopilot AI engineers. But Elon Musk hasn’t put out the statement unprepared. He has most probably gauged the development of the company’s Full Self-Driving program and anticipated a solid date for the Robotaxi unveiling.
The recent success of the rollout of FSD (Supervised) v12.3.3 has most probably given Elon Musk the much-needed confidence to proceed with such a big statement.
The above image of a Tesla concept car was leaked from the Tesla Design Studio last year. We can see that the company’s famous Chief Designer Franz von Holzhausen is standing by a wooden frame of a smaller two-seater car. This concept car is allegedly the sub $25K Tesla Robotaxi. But in the short timeframe of around 4 months, it seems almost impossible for Tesla to come up with a new car that needs to go into production.
What we see above might be the basis of Tesla’s next-gen vehicle platform. However, there has been no official confirmation when Tesla is going to produce or even unveil a prototype of this vehicle.
At the last year’s Tesla Investor Day, the automaker revealed its plans to build its next factory in Mexico. According to Elon Musk, this factory is intended to build Tesla’s next-gen vehicle. However, Tesla has shifted its focus and this vehicle will now be built first at Giga Texas.
But in my opinion, the 8/8 Tesla Robotaxi unveil is not about introducing a new smaller car — Elon Musk will save this opportunity for another day. On 8th August though, what he intends to show to the world will be the potential of Tesla Autopilot Full Self-Driving software specific to the implementation of Robotaxi.
Back in 2019, Tesla announced that it would not sell its leased Model 3 vehicles to customers. At the end of the lease agreement, Tesla will hold these cars in its inventory. And these cars will be used as a robotaxi fleet. Because all of these vehicles were equipped with Autopilot Hardware version 3 (HW3).
Since Tesla already has both HW3 and HW4 cars available in its inventory, it’s wise to use them as a Robotaxi fleet. The hardware capability is there already, the confidence in Full Self-Driving software has now reached a level where Elon Musk felt it’s time to unveil its potential as a Robotaxi.
It will not be a surprise if Elon Musk unveils the Tesla Robotaxi in a geographically limited area at first. California has the largest number of Tesla vehicles compared to any other state. Tesla might introduce Robotaxi service from San Francisco to Los Angeles in the first phase. Tesla Autopilot has driven the most miles in this area, so, it might be the first route where Tesla offers the geofenced Robotaxi service in the initial rollout phase.
The unveiling of the Tesla Robotaxi will be a critical moment in the history of the company although I believe the expectations shouldn’t be too high. The scope of its operation might be limited at first and then expand gradually, it will not be like Tesla revealing its Level 5 autonomous driving for the entire North American region. Nothing like sitting in a Tesla Robotaxi driving you from coast to coast — maybe in the future not on 8/8/2024.
Creating a Robotaxi out of a Tesla vehicle that earns money instead of sitting idle in the garage has been Elon Musk’s dream for a long time. He also mentioned this in his official Tesla blog post named “Master Plan, Part Deux” which he wrote around 8 years ago.
– Create stunning solar roofs with seamlessly integrated battery storage
– Expand the electric vehicle product line to address all major segments
– Develop a self-driving capability that is 10X safer than manual via massive fleet learningElon Musk / Tesla Master Plan, Part Deux
– Enable your car to make money for you when you aren’t using it
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