Elon Musk denied the accuracy of a report from Reuters early Friday that claimed Tesla was scrapping plans to produce a low-cost electric vehicle in favor of a robotaxi. But the billionaire just announced on X that he’ll be unveiling a new robotaxi on August 8, raising obvious questions about whether Reuters really did get anything wrong.
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“Tesla Robotaxi unveil on 8/8,” Musk tweeted at 4:49 p.m. ET, after market close, without elaborating on any details.
Musk frequently tries to divert attention from any potential failures with big splashy announcements. And this isn’t the first time Musk has promised that robotaxis are just over the horizon. Back in 2020, the Tesla CEO said it was all up to regulators.
“Functionality still looking good for this year. Regulatory approval is the big unknown,” Musk tweeted in April 2020 about Tesla robotaxis.
The report from Reuters earlier on Friday clearly rankled Musk, who insisted that the news outlet didn’t have its facts right. But the Reuters story cites numerous anonymous sources, who said the pivot away from a $25,000 vehicle to a completely autonomous taxi service would be difficult.
From Reuters:
The stark reversal comes as Tesla faces fierce competition globally from Chinese electric-vehicle makers flooding the market with cars priced as low as $10,000. The plan for driverless robotaxis, which could take longer to deliver, presents a stiffer engineering challenge and more regulatory risk.
Two sources said they learned of Tesla’s decision to scrap the Model 2 in a meeting attended by scores of employees, with one of them saying the gathering happened in late February.
“Elon’s directive is to go all in on robotaxi,” that person said.
The third source confirmed the cancellation and said new plans call for robotaxis to be produced, but in much lower volumes than had been projected for the Model 2.
Who knows what will actually happen on Aug. 8, but it’s entirely possible Musk could present some shiny technology that will blow our minds. We’re just hoping it’s not some poor human dressed like a robotaxi, like in the summer of 2021 when Musk unveiled his robot. Even though Tesla’s Optimus is actually a real robot now, it’s pretty much smoke and mirrors compared to every robotics competitor.
Amazingly, we’re supposed to be just two years away from utopia if you believed the experts of the 2010s. Morgan Stanley promised self-driving cars would deliver a utopian society by 2026 all the way back in 2014. Only time will tell, of course, but we’re not going to hold our breath for a perfect world just yet. We’re just crossing our fingers we stay out of World War III, given the rumblings coming out of Iran right now.
