Elon Musk has once again made headlines with his controversial statements. Just hours after accusing Reuters of lying about abandoning their low cost EV plans, the Tesla CEO has announced on social network X that they will indeed be unveiling a robotaxi in an event on August 8.
This move comes after Tesla has been facing challenges with lagging EV sales and falling profits. In an effort to boost their numbers and perhaps their stock price, Musk and his company have been on the lookout for a new product to focus on.
Earlier in the day, a Reuters report had claimed that Tesla was ditching their plans for a cheaper EV and redirecting resources towards building a robotaxi. This self-driving vehicle is said to be based on the same small EV platform that was initially intended for the lower-cost car.
Musk took to X and accused Reuters of lying, although he did not provide any evidence to support his claim.
Not long after, he posted on X that the “Tesla Robotaxi” will be unveiled on August 8. This announcement has been a long time coming, as reports have been circulating for years about Tesla working on these two vehicles.
In his biography by Walter Isaacson, Musk’s wavering between creating a conventional car or one without a steering wheel or pedals was highlighted as he didn’t yet have a fully autonomous car at the time.
Despite the pushback from his engineering team in 2022, Musk persisted with the idea of a steering wheel-less car. At the same time, lead designer Franz von Holzhausen and engineering VP Lars Moravy kept the traditional car version as a “shadow project.”
Musk has made promises about autonomous capabilities in Tesla vehicles in the past, such as driving across the country by the end of 2017 and launching robotaxis in 2020. However, none of these promises have come to fruition.
Now Musk has set his sights on a dedicated robotaxi with no steering wheel or pedals to be released in 2024.
Tesla vehicles currently come with a driver-assistance system called Autopilot. For an additional cost, owners can purchase “full self-driving” (FSD) which CEO Elon Musk has promised will eventually enable fully autonomous driving. However, this is not the case currently, as FSD only includes various automated driving features that still require the driver to be ready to take control at all times.
The different features included in FSD include Summon, which helps with parking, and Navigate on Autopilot, an active guidance system that can navigate a car on highways, including interchanges and lane changes. The system is also meant to take control of steering on city streets.
