Three years after initially announcing the idea of the robotaxi, Tesla CEO Elon Musk once again announced during the opening of the firm's new Texas Gigafactory that the car company is developing a self-driving robotaxi.
Musk said that the robotaxi will be produced on a massive scale and have full self-driving capabilities, a technology that is not yet fully functional even in today's Tesla despite years of promises. If ever the robotaxi goes through, the company could sell self-driving cabs to Uber and Lyft, which could completely take over human drivers' jobs.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk speaks during the official opening of the new Tesla electric car manufacturing plant on March 22, 2022 near Gruenheide, Germany.
Missing Target Dates: When Will Robotaxi Become Available to the Public?
In 2019, Musk announced during the Tesla Autonomy Investor Day in Palo Alto, California, that he is confident the robotaxi will become available by 2020. He based his optimism on the amount of data Tesla gathered from its electric cars on the road that they use to improve their software, CNBC reported.
Musk explains that all Tesla cars have the hardware onboard required for a fully self-driving car and all there is needed to do is improve its software. He predicted that Tesla will be making automobiles without steering wheels or pedals in the next two years and will release over 1 million robotaxis on the road by 2020. It has been two years since Musk missed the target date.
Musk noted that he might miss the timeline, but stressed that he always get things done. Musk is referring to the missed dates for Tesla in the past, releasing Model X two years later than its target date. Also, the carmaker was two years late in delivering the semi-autonomous features that it promised before. But in the end, he still managed to pull it out.
According to Daily Star, Musk has yet to announce the date for the launch of robotaxis in his speech last week. However, the SpaceX CEO promised that it will look futuristic with full self-driving capabilities. The company will also mass-produce the new car model.
"That has to happen to transition the world to sustainable energy. Massive scale, Full Self-Driving, there's gonna be a dedicated Robotaxi that's gonna look quite futuristic," the news outlet quoted Musk.
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Tesla Plans to Expand "Full Self-Driving" Beta software
Over the years, Musk has missed his targets for full self-driving capabilities. This year, he said that he will be shocked if Tesla will still not be able to achieve the goal of full autonomy in the coming years.
During the opening of Tesla's Texas Gigafactory, he also announced his plans of expanding its "Full Self-Driving" beta software to all North American FSD subscribers, New York Post reported. The company now sells advanced driver assistance systems for $12,000, although this software still does not make vehicles autonomous.
The electric car manufacturer started selling the beta software in 2020, which had been installed in over 60,000 cars in the US. The software is designed to help cars navigate city streets better.
Musk also announced that Tesla will start the production of its Cybertruck next year - a humanoid robot called Optimus. During the event last Thursday, Musk revealed he had brought a stake of 9% in Twitter and will join the board of the social media network.
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