Tesla has a penchant for staging spectacles, and the Robotaxi unveiling on Thursday may be the most extravagant yet
At Warner Bros. Discovery’s movie studio in Burbank, California, the electric vehicle manufacturer is expected to introduce its highly anticipated Robotaxi vehicle. Today, doors will open at 5 p.m. PT, and remarks will commence at 7 p.m. PT for those in attendance.
Tesla will broadcast the “We, Robot” event live on X, which is owned by Elon Musk, and on its YouTube page, where the automaker typically transmits events live.
Given the technical difficulties that X’s livestreams have encountered, it is prudent to implement the YouTube fallback. And you can monitor the event through our own live diary, which is available here.
Musk initially hinted at the Robotaxi event in April, announcing that it would occur on August 8. However, Tesla was compelled to postpone the event due to “an important design change to the front.”
It seems that Musk’s promise of a next-generation $25,000 electric vehicle was sacrificed in favor of the Robotaxi.
Musk reduced Tesla’s personnel by over 10% within weeks of announcing the Robotaxi event and declared that the company was “going all in” to achieve autonomy.
Musk has been promising the inclusion of autonomous capabilities in Tesla vehicles for an extended period.
The company’s advanced driver-assistance system is rather brazenly named Full Self-Driving (FSD), even though it is not fully self-driving and requires a human driver to pay attention and take over if necessary. This fact is repeatedly demonstrated in drive-along videos that fans regularly post on social media.
Musk initially proposed the concept of robotaxis in 2019, to enable certain Teslas to function as autonomous robotaxis through software updates. This could potentially allow Tesla owners to generate revenue from their vehicles when they are not in use.
The plan, which was intended to establish millions of robotaxis on the road by 2020, has never been executed. Musk stated at the time that Tesla would establish a specialized fleet of robotaxis in regions with insufficient demand for car sharing.
We anticipate that this unveiling at a Hollywood studio will be less concerned with the autonomous technology and more with the vehicle itself.
Musk has expressed his desire to construct a robotaxi without a steering column or pedals.
The images of the vehicle, which were included in Walter Isaacson’s biography of Elon Musk, which was published in 2023, indicate that it is a two-door, two-seater compact vehicle that is inspired by the Cybertruck.
TechCrunch will be live-blogging the event and providing you with the latest news as it unfolds. Please remain engaged.