At the “We, Robot” event held in Burbank, California, at Warner Bros. Studios, Elon Musk unveiled Tesla’s much-awaited robotaxi named Cybercab. It is a sci-fi vehicle with two wing-like doors and looks pretty sleek; it has no pedals or steering wheel. Speaking at this event, Musk claimed that fully self-driving cars could even be safer than human-driven cars and even make the owner money by paying to ride them.
Musk said production of the Cybercab:
Would begin “before 2027,” although this promise has a tendency to prompt doubts over whether he ever actually meets the deadline, given past instances where he has missed multiple deadlines. During the launch he also confessed to setting overly optimistic timelines, but the car, he said, would be sold for less than $30,000 (£23,000).
In addition, Musk said that in the US:
Next year, in Texas and California, its Model 3 and Model Y will offer “fully autonomous unsupervised” driving technology, pending the regulatory approval. However, pushing through a regulatory maze will not be easy due to the safety concerns raised by high-speed autonomous vehicles. According to Samitha Samaranayake, engineering professor at Cornell University, “compared to competitors who use radar and Lidar for extra safety assurance, the self-driving technology of Tesla still relies on cameras.”.
The Cybercab project was behind schedule,
Initially set for August roll-out. Such, the delay due to important design changes was what Musk had attributed to it. Incidentally, some other robotaxi services are already up and running in the U.S. market, emphasizing Tesla’s need to catch up considering that Waymo is adding more robotaxis to its fleet with the Hyundai Ioniq 5.
Even with the competitive scenario,
Tesla sales are on the cusp of experiencing its first annual decline even as the electric vehicle market expands. It was a relatively feel-good unveiling event though, with entertainment in the form of dancing robots serving drinks. Musk also unveiled a new prototype called the Robovan designed to transport up to 20 passengers, which eventually could provide a future solution for carrying people within the Tesla group.
While Musk brims with optimistic visions regarding the realization of ambitious timelines and safety guarantees in the burgeoning market for robotaxis, analysts noted many practical questions remain.
Robotaxi deployments have been marred with early glitches-from halting by San Francisco city regulators-including the suspension of driverless cars operated by Cruise after a pedestrian was struck in an accident. However, the industry remains growing, as Uber is reported to be looking to add more driverless car technologies into its fleet as part of a collaboration between the ride-hailing firm and Cruise, while Baidu is also reportedly looking to take its robotaxi business, Apollo Go, out of China.
