Tesla has given up on the long-rumored $25,000 EV, according to CEO Elon Musk. On a recent earnings call, Musk said that Tesla is focused on autonomous vehicles and called the affordable production model “pointless.”
A person on the call asked Musk when people could expect the $25,000 EV, which got him talking about autonomy and how Tesla was heavily focused on it. “I think we’ve been very clear that the future is autonomous,” he said. “Basically, having a regular $25k model is pointless. It would be silly. It would be completely at odds with what we believe.”
Tesla can focus on autonomous cars all it wants, but there are significant hurdles to cross before anything even slightly resembling a self-driving car is ready for the market. Most believe that Level 5 autonomy—the advanced level required for a vehicle to operate on its own—could be as much as a decade out, and that’s before we get into whether states will allow such vehicles on public roads.
Taken at face value, Musk’s comments demonstrate that Tesla views robotaxis as the wave of the future, but they also cast some doubt on the automaker’s long-awaited Roadster. How much longer will the company string reservation holders along before giving up on the project? After all, we’ve seen no indication that it’s anywhere near ready for release, so why would Tesla continue sinking resources into a vehicle that would also “be completely at odds” with what it believes?
[Images: Tesla]
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