Elon Musk has been promising that Tesla’s robotaxis is coming soon – for more than a decade.
“I know I’m a boy who used to cry [Full Self Driving],” Musk said on Tesla’s second-quarter 2023 earnings call in July 2023. “But man, I think we’re going to be better than humans by the end of this year.”
At the “We, Robot” event on Thursday at 7 pm PT, Musk is expected to show off Tesla’s robotaxi, or self-driving car, for the first time. There is a lot riding on this event – investors have high expectations and want to see the performance of the robot.
Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives told CNN that “We, Robot” could be to Tesla what the iPhone was to Apple; it would be “one of the most important events” the company has held, Ives said.
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Tesla will likely display a robotaxi “Cybercab” designed specifically for autonomous EV fleet. In August 2022, Musk outlined a full self-driving program that includes Airbnb and Uber. Just like Airbnb hosts rent out their places, Tesla owners can rent out their cars when they’re not using them. Self-driving cars then operate on a ride-sharing platform like Uber for anyone to access.
Elon Musk in September 2024. Photo by Jean Catuffe/GC Images
With any self-driving announcement made Thursday, Tesla will have to show it can compete with existing robotics companies, such as Alphabet-owned Waymo, which has been making 50,000 paid trips a week since May with its self-driving fleet.
The bar is also high for fully autonomous vehicles. Tesla says on its website that “full autonomy” requires “reliability beyond human drivers” through “millions of experience” and “legal approval.”
Tesla’s latest earnings report released earlier this month showed its best numbers for the year with 462,890 deliveries, indicating that demand is there for its EVs. Musk said in April that new, more affordable Tesla EVs are on the way “in early 2025 if not later this year.”
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Tesla has two driving features currently available with the purchase of a new car: Autopilot, which drives and adapts to traffic speed and comes with new Teslas, and Full Self-Driving (Supervised), which helps the car change lanes, park and stop. on robots for $99 per month or $8,000 for a one-time purchase.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) investigated Autopilot and found that it was involved in at least 13 crashes and at least one fatality. The name Autopilot may mislead drivers into believing the system is more autonomous than it is, the agency said.
Here’s where the “We, Robot” event is happening and how to watch it.
When is the Tesla Event
Tesla’s “We, Robot” is scheduled for October 10 at 10 pm ET or 7 pm PT. Earlier this event was scheduled for August 8 but was delayed for two months.
How to watch a Tesla event
Tesla is live streaming the event from Burbank, California on X.
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