Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and owner of X, formerly known as Twitter, attends the Viva Technology conference dedicated to innovation and startups at the Porte de Versailles exhibition center in Paris, France, June 16 2023.
Gonzalo Fuentes | Reuters
You’re here will unveil its robotaxi product on August 8, CEO Elon Musk said in a social media post on X.
Musk has been talking about the robotaxi project for years, and it could represent a major new business for the automaker as investors become wary of the company in a period of slowing growth.
Musk shared the release date on Friday after Reuters reported that plans for his highly anticipated low-cost car model had been scrapped.
Tesla’s robotaxi project, according to Musk’s earlier remarks, would allow Tesla to use self-driving technology to travel autonomously and pick up passengers for fares. In 2019, Musk said he planned to have more than a million robo-taxis on the roads by 2020.
There is significant competition in the market for taxi services using self-driving cars.
Waymo, Alphabet’s autonomous vehicle unit, operates driverless ride-hailing services in Phoenix, San Francisco and Los Angeles, and is currently expanding to Tesla’s headquarters in Austin, Texas.
GM’s Cruise service previously offered self-driving car services in San Francisco before being shut down under regulatory scrutiny after an accident. Since the incident, Cruise’s robotaxis fleet has been grounded, local and federal governments have launched their own investigations, and Cruise’s management has been gutted.
This is breaking news. Please check again for updates.
cnbc
