Film studios are where Hollywood creates fantastical worlds from stylish camera angles and special effects. So what better place to show off the Tesla Cybercab, a two-door self-driving taxi that CEO Elon Musk says will be in production in just three years but still lacks firm details?
Nearly an hour after Tesla said the debut event would begin, Musk kicked off the display by being escorted by a man dressed as an astronaut to the butterfly doors of the silver Cybercab prototype. He took a quick, apparently driverless tour of the dark, ghostly streets of the Warner Bros. studios in Southern California before exiting the car to take the stage.
Later, in front of an audience of excited Tesla fans and shareholders, Musk referred to the entire setup as a “stage,” far from the messy, crowded streets where an eventual self-driving vehicle might one day be challenged to drive.
Tesla also showed off a “Robovan,” a vehicle designed to autonomously move up to 20 people. Like the Cybercab, the van did not appear to have pedals or a steering wheel, just seats.
Musk, an admitted collector of missed deadlines, has been promising Tesla self-driving technology since 2016. On Thursday night, he made a few more promises. Fully autonomous (unattended) driving, a technology intended to be autonomous, will be available in California and Texas next year, Musk says. He says the Cybercab will go into production in 2026 and will eventually cost less than $30,000.
Driving change
Tesla’s approach differs dramatically from other autonomous vehicle developers: The electric car maker uses only cameras, rather than an array of sensors, to guide vehicles in space. Tesla’s techniques combine this visual data with artificial intelligence to allow its vehicles to make “decisions” on the road. Competitors, on the other hand, add information from lidar, radar and other sensors, “merging” this data. Musk has argued that loading vehicles with sensors is too expensive and adds unnecessary complexity to autonomous driving.
The event comes at a critical time for Tesla, which faces increased competition in electric vehicles not only from traditional automakers but also from startups in China, which are exporting affordable vehicles abroad like never before. Tesla deliveries have declined globally this year and the automaker in the latest quarter. underperformed analysts’ expectations. The automaker laid off about 14,000 employees earlier this year, many of them working on the core competencies of electric vehicle production, including batteries and charging infrastructure. TO top executive series have left the automaker in recent weeks.
In April, Musk appeared to counter concerns that Tesla was losing its lead in electric vehicles by insisting that autonomy and robotics would be at the center of Tesla’s mission. “Tesla’s overwhelming value is autonomy,” Musk told investors this summer. Non-believers should sell their Tesla shares, he said.
This is a developing story. Check back soon for updates.