Last week, reports surfaced that Tesla had canceled its affordable car project as CEO Elon Musk pivoted to focus on autonomous taxis. Though he called the reports fake news, Musk is pressing ahead with his plan to develop Robotaxis, but said the company would reveal the taxi project on August 8.
Musk made the announcement in a post on X/Twitter last Friday but didn’t elaborate further. The company’s valuation has depended heavily on its autonomous tech, though it’s faced enduring scrutiny over how it monitors drivers to ensure safe use of the features. Tesla stock rose more than three percent on the news last week.
Though Musk has repeatedly touted Tesla’s Full Self-Driving tech as the future of driving, it’s only a Level 2 system that requires constant driver attention and the ability to take over for the computers at any time. Other companies, including GM’s Cruise, have tried to crack the autonomous taxi nut over the years, but repeated accidents and safety failures have suppressed public trust and interest and riled regulators.
Even with an August reveal, Tesla’s timeline is unclear. The company has no shortage of driving data from millions of driver miles using its FSD tech, but that won’t replace live testing and troubleshooting in real-world situations. Tesla has also toyed with its sensor configurations, opting to rely on camera tech instead of LiDAR and the sensor arrays employed by Cruise and others, so it will be interesting to see how it configures the Robotaxis.
[Image: Beach Media via Shutterstock]
Become a TTAC insider. Get the latest news, features, TTAC takes, and everything else that gets to the truth about cars first by subscribing to our newsletter.
