tesla “should be considered an artificial intelligence robotics company [IA] », and not only as a car manufacturer. In the future, its development will be based on the rise of autonomous cars. When presenting, on Thursday, October 10, during a large hall organized in Hollywood, his robot taxi called Cybercab, Elon Musk wanted to outline the long-term prospects of Tesla, which is failing to grow.
The magnate, who took the stage at the Warner studios in Los Angeles aboard one of these electric vehicles without a steering wheel or pedals, a kind of two-seater coupe with a very minimalist design, without a rear window, inspired in part by Cybertruck – assured that the Production would begin in 2026. The Cybercab should have a price of less than $30,000 (about 27,430 euros) and its operating cost should not exceed $0.20 per kilometer. Charging can be done by induction, stated the Tesla boss.
Fleets of self-guided Cybercabs will be operated via an app. The individual owners of one of these robot taxis will be able to use it for their own use, but also make it available to the public and therefore receive remuneration. In addition to an autonomous version of the Model Y, the best-selling Tesla in the world, Elon Musk has lifted the veil on the Robovan, an autonomous minibus that looks like a parallelepiped capable of transporting -without a driver- twenty people on urban routes. trips.
Technological barriers
Described as a promised event. “ to enter the history books »This Hollywood spectacle is the culmination of promises made almost ten years ago by Elon Musk. In 2016, it hoped to put robot taxis into circulation within two years and promised that one million of these vehicles would be in operation by 2020. Meanwhile, other protagonists have come to occupy the field of autonomous transportation in an urban environment.
Waymo (Google) has 700 vehicles in operation, making nearly 100,000 paid trips each week in San Francisco, Las Vegas, Phoenix and Austin, the Texas city where Tesla is based. Cruise (General Motors) is established in four major American cities. In China, operators have also launched driverless taxi services in several metropolises.
The vision presented by Elon Musk, who also mentioned the latest developments of Tesla’s Optimus “personal robot”, covers a distant horizon. According to UBS analysts, “ Large-scale deployment of Tesla robot taxi unlikely in coming years “. In addition to the technological obstacles to overcome and the experience that must be accumulated operating autonomous vehicles, the manufacturer must catch up in the regulatory field. Launching an experimental autonomous vehicle service requires long and complex procedures with the authorities.
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