Tesla has started sending out invites to its Robotaxi unveiling event next month with the tagline: “we, robot.”
For a while, Tesla CEO Elon Musk discussed building a dedicated self-driving vehicle, which he has been referring to as the Tesla Robotaxi.
It was supposed to be unveiled at an event in August, but it was pushed to October 10.
Today, Tesla started sending out invites to the event to a select few shareholders and media:
Tesla wrote in the invitation that the event is going to be called ‘We, Robot’ and it will unveil “the future of autonomy”:
Join us for We, Robot – our official unveiling of the future of autonomy.
Not much is known about the robotaxi other than hints that it won’t have a steering wheel or pedals, and that it will be “Cybertruck-like” in terms of design. We might have also seen a glimpse of the interior in a video that Tesla released, and a heavily-camouflaged prototype testing on the Warner Bros. lot where the event will take place.
It is expected to be on the smaller side.
With a focus on autonomy, Tesla is also expected to do a demonstration of its latest Optimus humanoid robots.
Electrek’s Take
I think the most important thing to look for is the autonomous hardware that will power the robotaxi’s autonomous system.
Elon has been promising millions of Tesla owners for years that their vehicles will become autonomous with software updates. It has yet to happen and there are serious doubt that it can be achieve on the current hardware.
The fact that Tesla is now unveiling a new vehicle dedicated to self-driving is not helping those doubts.
Also, if the vehicle doesn’t have a steering wheel, it will be interesting to see if Tesla decides to launch a geo-locked ride-hailing service with it. It’s something that Tesla’s autonomous driving competitors, like Waymo, have done for years, and Tesla has always looked down on this approach, preferring its general AI driver approach, which has not worked so far.
It would be interesting to see Tesla validate this approach.
Finally, I also expect that we will see an Optimus update. What do you think? Let us know in the comment section below.