Elon Musk Says Tesla Robotaxi Reveal Coming August eighth

Join day by day information updates from CleanTechnica on e mail. Or comply with us on Google Information!

Properly, this one is bound to stir dialogue threads throughout the web once more. On the again of drooping Tesla gross sales but additionally the vast launch of Full Self Driving (Supervised) model 12.3.3, Elon Musk has tweeted that Tesla can have a robotaxi reveal on August eighth, 2024.

There are a number of issues to say right here.

To start with, I’ve examined FSD a bit not too long ago — model 12.3.1 a little bit bit on a highway journey to Miami and again, and model 12.3.3 yesterday round city with David Havasi and one other colleague with the FSD suite. Total, the system is a lot extra human-like, a lot extra pure, and thus significantly better. It’s spectacular, and as David mentioned, that is what we have been anticipating we have been getting just a few years in the past once we have been lastly in a position to obtain an early model of the system for metropolis streets. Nonetheless, there are nonetheless some issues popping up. I’ll write way more about this as soon as some movies we recorded are edited and printed.

Secondly, as already famous, Tesla gross sales (deliveries) took a dive within the 1st quarter of the 12 months. Tesla talked about just a few short-term points, however there are broad considerations that Tesla could also be dealing with demand challenges (relative to manufacturing capability and development targets) that it’s by no means confronted earlier than. We’ll see, however within the meantime, with out development, Tesla inventory (NASDAQ:TSLA) fell after the supply numbers got here out.

Third, there’s a report out right this moment from Reuters saying that Tesla has killed its lower-cost electrical automotive undertaking, which appears to have pushed down the inventory additional. Musk has tweeted that Reuters is mendacity, however he doesn’t point out any specifics in that regard. Should you learn the Reuters piece, it has some clear specifics.

So, there’s undoubtedly going to be hypothesis that Elon Musk is now tweeting about robotaxis (once more) to pump up the inventory. This has been a typical assumption from critics as to why he talks and tweets about Tesla robotaxis a lot.

On the flip facet, possibly Tesla is basically making sufficient progress with FSD that it feels able to reveal and begin testing of precise robotaxis, and maybe even regulatory approval for his or her testing or operations in sure locations. We’ll see. For now, it seems we now have to attend till August eighth for more information on this, however maybe Musk will tweet extra or share extra on the following Tesla convention name for shareholders.

I totally anticipate lengthy, vigorous, heated debates about what’s going on. And I stay up for studying them. I’m all the time curious to see robust arguments made both manner. There are a selection of clips and statements on the market relating to FSD (Supervised) now, so I’ll return to that dialogue with my very own extra detailed and nuanced ideas after I write about our video driving round with the most recent model of FSD. Keep tuned.

Replace: One Tesla fan tweeted that maybe Tesla shouldn’t be going to supply the lower-cost automotive to patrons as a result of Elon Musk looks like FSD is sort of able to function robotaxis, and he beforehand argued that there was no level in promoting a lower-cost automotive if there have been low-cost robotaxis. It seems that Musk is agreeing with that evaluation from his response to the tweet:

“Nonetheless, right here is my common pondering. Tesla’s low-cost $25k automotive and the Robotaxi have been all the time going to be based mostly on the identical platform. They have been going to be very comparable, however the $25k model was going to have a steering wheel,” Sawyer Merritt wrote. “Perhaps Elon and the workforce have been so impressed with how good FSD 12 has carried out and have been possibly pondering they need to be shifting much more assets to the Robotaxi/FSD effort. This doesn’t imply the $25k automotive is canceled. Once more, they share the identical platform.”

I’m positive it was a thought that crossed many individuals’s minds. In any case, there’s an extended historical past of Musk discussing this matter publicly and privately, and reportedly being practically pressured by Tesla workers to work on a lower-cost automotive simply in case FSD didn’t change into robotaxi prepared. Nonetheless, on the similar time, many individuals wouldn’t prefer to revive hype about Tesla robotaxis till they’re actually able to roll.

Additionally, it ought to be famous that the second paragraph within the article from Reuters that Musk mentioned was a lie is the next: “The automaker will proceed creating self-driving robotaxis on the identical small-vehicle platform, the sources mentioned.”

Care to chime in?