At Thursday’s presentation, Tesla CEO Elon Musk unveiled the highly anticipated Cybercab, the company’s first robotaxi. The electric vehicle is designed to operate without pedals or a steering wheel, providing complete autonomy for passengers.
However, Musk’s most significant announcement involved the release date and price. Cybercab will enter production in 2026 and cost below $30,000. If these plans materialize, it would be an extremely quick timeline for launching a vehicle of this nature at such an affordable price.
In addition to the robotaxi, Tesla also introduced the Cybervan, a fully autonomous bus with a glass exterior and seating for 20 passengers. The presentation also featured Tesla’s Optimus robots, which were showcased as waiters and nightclub go-go dancers.
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Tesla seems to always strive for improvement, taking unconventional routes to success. The company is resisting the traditional carmaker path and is exploring new business opportunities to stay ahead. In 2023, Musk said the company could “sell [cars] for zero profit, and then yield actually tremendous economics in the future” through driverless software. This, in fact, is his major goal.
During the Tesla event, the company projected a straightforward message: “Today’s transportation sucks.” They supported it with simple, direct arguments: “Costs too much,” “not safe,” and “not sustainable.”
The video showed images of vast parking lots in major U.S. cities near sports stadiums and airports, contrasted with renderings of a clean, green landscape without cars.
The cars were actually “taking a break” before resuming their service of transporting users back home. Tesla’s concept is to provide a personal transportation service using fully autonomous vehicles at an incredibly low cost. The aim is to achieve a price of $0.20 per mile.
To accomplish this, the company announced that production of its Cybercab will start in 2026. As mentioned earlier, it aims to sell the car for less than $30,000 thanks to minimal production costs. The vehicle will feature inductive charging but won’t have steering wheels, pedals, and sensors. Musk emphasized that the vehicle’s autonomous functions will be controlled solely by cameras and artificial intelligence, aligning with Tesla’s current approach to its vehicle technology.
However, there are many uncertainties regarding the production of this self-driving vehicle. During the presentation, Musk talked about when he expected approval for completely autonomous driving. “I tend to be a little optimistic with time frames, but [we expect to start Cybercab production] in 2026. Before 2027, let me put it that way,” he said.
In the event, Tesla only demonstrated the Cybercab’s ability to move within a closed environment. However, vehicle manufacturers have long excelled in this type of scenario.
Some cars, such as BMW’s models for the past five years, can leave a parking space on their own. Mercedes has long had an assistant for the car to search for parking without the driver inside. Meanwhile, Xiaomi’s SU7 can navigate multiple floors of a high-rise parking garage until it finds a parking space.
Closed environments aren’t the problem. The issues arise with real-time traffic, especially in the city. Again, Mercedes has managed to enable its cars to drive fully autonomously in the U.S. under very specific traffic circumstances (up to 40 mph), in specific spaces, and on specific roads. At least for the moment, Tesla hasn't received the same authorization for its Autopilot features from regulatory bodies.
For years, Waymo and Cruise have been working to offer robotaxi services on the streets of cities like San Francisco. However, the service continues to encounter serious problems. These problems eventually led to the temporary withdrawal of Cruise’s license after one of its cars was involved in an accident. At the same time, companies like Uber are starting to understand that they need alliances to monetize their investments.
Musk didn’t mention profitability, profit margins, and other potential economic justifications for one of Tesla’s biggest bets in history. For now, he’s only made vague statements about the potential launch of the autonomous car. When the time comes, if it does, Musk will likely shift the blame to regulatory bodies.
It remains to be seen whether Tesla will fulfill its plans or face delays and increased costs, as has happened with previous projects such as the Tesla Cybertruck and the Roadster. In fact, the Cybercab, which Musk previously said it would begin production in 2023 for less than $25,000, is already experiencing delays and cost increases.
Image | Tesla
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