“Tesla Robotaxi unveiled on 8/8”, he said theformerly known as Twitter, Friday afternoon.
A self-driving vehicle has been a key part of Tesla’s valuation in recent years, as Musk seeks self-driving features to increase the value of the company’s cars through software.
Tesla shares jumped more than 3% after hours following Musk’s tweet.
In past interviews and conference calls with analysts, Musk has touted Tesla’s Full Self-Driving software as having the ability to grow the value of cars. (Profit margins in the auto industry are notoriously thin, and new cars lose much of their value as soon as they leave the dealership’s garage.)
However, FSD remained in beta testing until earlier this year, when Tesla began calling it “supervised” FSD.
The software is currently classified as “level two” according to an industry standard ranging from one to six. Indeed, FSD still requires full human supervision and is not completely autonomous.
Other companies have successfully launched more advanced versions of autonomous vehicles, such as Alphabet’s Waymo division and GM-backed Cruise.
Earlier on Friday, Reuters reported that Tesla had canceled plans around a related project, a cheaper electric car, in order to devote more resources to the robotaxi. “Reuters is lying (again),” Musk wrote on X after the report.
It’s unclear what the price of a potential robotaxi might look like and whether it would be sold to consumers or businesses. FSD currently costs $200 per month for owners whose cars have the proper hardware to activate it.
In 2022, Musk theorized about a Tesla without pedals or a steering wheel “fundamentally optimized to try to achieve cost per mile, the lowest cost per mile, fully considered, taking everything into account.”
“I think this will really be a major driver of growth for Tesla,” he said, estimating 2024 as the production date.
businessinsider
