On Friday, October 11th, Nasdaq-listed Tesla shares plummeted more than 9% to a value of $217. Investors were reacting to the presentation of the Cybercab, the first autonomous taxi, which would operate without a steering wheel or pedals. The cost would be under $30,000.
On Thursday evening, Musk presented a fully autonomous car that, according to his forecasts, will begin production in 2026. However, it could suffer delays just like the autonomous driving system that the Tesla founder has been promising for eight years. Analysts and investors noted that they were waiting for more concrete details on how the company plans to transform itself from an automaker into an autonomous driving and artificial intelligence titan with a solid business plan. Some of the harshest critics quipped that Musk was more interested in dining with the largest shareholders than offering a clear vision for the company.
The party that Tesla threw for its $TSLA shareholders yesterday cost them ~$50 billion dollar. pic.twitter.com/AzDHEi2uSE
— Fred Lambert (@FredericLambert) October 11, 2024
The Cybercab has recently been christened as the ‘cheap Tesla’. A two-seater without steering wheel or pedals that will use induction chargers has arrived along with the Robovan, a kind of minibus with self-driving technology and capacity for up to 20 people. Musk hinted that the initial fleet of the Cybercab project would consist of up to 7 million vehicles, although he eventually said it could be “tens of millions.”
Robotaxi & Robovan pic.twitter.com/pI2neyJBSL
— Tesla (@Tesla) October 11, 2024
Musk assured during the presentation event that the cost per kilometre of this Cybercab will be about 20 cents, and under the current scheme, Tesla’s program would allow an owner of any of its vehicles to rent his car for trips and, from there, Tesla would keep a portion of the revenue, while the rest would go to the owner of the vehicle. In this way, the automaker could ensure greater fleet availability.
Robovan details pic.twitter.com/Pdito0dfRq
— Tesla (@Tesla) October 11, 2024
“It will save many lives,” Musk warned during his speech in reference to the investigations opened by the promises made around its autonomous driving technology. The US Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission have yet to question the company’s top management about possible fraud in this matter and in a similar vein is the case opened by the California Department of Motor Vehicles.
Now that the Tesla "We, Robot" Event has has passed, and the dust has settled, what are your thoughts?🤯
— SabatAge (@sabatage) October 11, 2024
Was the Tesla Robotaxi / Cybercab what you expected?
Were you impressed by the Tesla Robovan?
Did the fleet of Tesla Optimus robots give you iRobot vibes? How about the… pic.twitter.com/X57hjDyG4s
One of the manufacturers set to compete with the vehicle is Waymo, a subsidiary of Alphabet, which is also Google’s parent company. Tesla has lost over 3% of its market capital this year. Beyond Waymo, which has confirmed its alliance with Hyundai to increase its fleet of autonomous cars in various US cities, specifically through purchasing and deploying the South Korean manufacturer’s Ioniq 5 electric models, several companies are pushing to fight Tesla on the robotaxis front. Uber, Amazon, General Motors and Chinese internet giant Baidu are working on their respective robotaxi development programs.
Earlier this year, Croatia’s Rimac Automobili advanced its intention to debut its robotaxi service with electric cars in the European country’s capital, Zagreb, in 2026.
According to Forbes magazine, Tesla’s strategy is simpler and much cheaper than that of its rivals, but it has critical weaknesses. The main one is that the artificial intelligence technology on which its autonomous driving system is based makes it almost impossible to determine precisely why there was an accident or other failure, something that could worry regulators.