This Is When Tesla's Pie-In-The-Sky Robotaxi Dream Is Happening

Apr. 21, 2022 4:08 PM ET by Michael Butler Electric Vehicles / 7 Comments

Fully self-driving cars from the world of Elon Musk are supposedly happening... again.

Whenever Tesla announces a new model, technology, or weird product launch, the world has learned to take it with a big pinch of salt. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has been known to throw around large quantities of baloney, and the majority of us are wary of his tactics. Take the Tesla Cybertruck for instance. This futuristic EV truck has been postponed countless times, and we're still not 100 percent sure when it's supposed to arrive. The same goes for the Tesla Roadster, and who can forget Tesla's supposed army of robotaxis. The company has been promising a fleet of self-driving robot taxis for a couple of years now, and last promised to have them ready before the end of 2020. Musk has now announced a new date for his utopian transportation device: the year 2024.

Tesla

Musk shared some details of the coming robotaxi at Tesla's first-quarter earnings conference. "We're also working on a new vehicle that I alluded to at the Giga Texas opening, which is a dedicated robotaxi that's highly optimized for autonomy, meaning it ," Musk said. He mentioned a number of innovations surrounding it that he said "are quite exciting." However it's not necessarily an easy task, with Musk highlighting the difficulties with "trying to achieve the lowest cost-per-mile, cost-per-kilometer, accounting everything." Musk is confident the product will be a success though saying that he thinks "it's gonna be a very powerful product."

Tesla

With Tesla's share of the EV market quickly slipping away to other major players such as Ford and GM, the company hopes that the robotaxi will generate a new source of income. According to Musk, riding in a Tesla robotaxi will cost less than a subsidized bus ticket. In order to meet a 2023 unveiling, and full production by 2024, Tesla will have to focus sharply on its full self-driving technology, which has to date proven to be littered with issues. If Tesla manages to get it right however, there could be massive profits to be had, as Ark Invest analysts have predicted. The company recently forecasted that Tesla's army of robotaxis could bag up to $486 billion in annual revenue by 2026 which will make the Robotaxi Tesla's largest source of income. Driverless robotaxis could be cool, but we're not holding our breath. Sorry Elon.