Tesla's Cybercab is here | WIRED

Film studios are where Hollywood creates fantastic worlds from unusual camera angles and special effects. So where better to showcase the Tesla Cybercab, a two-door self-driving taxi that CEO Elon Musk says will enter production in just three years – but that's still fascinatingly short on concrete details?

Nearly an hour after Tesla announced the debut event would begin, Musk was escorted to the butterfly doors of the silver prototype by a man dressed as an astronaut. He took a quick, seemingly driverless jaunt through the dark, spooky streets of Warner Bros. Studios in Southern California before getting out of the car to take the stage.

Later, before an audience of enthusiastic Tesla fans and shareholders, Musk referred to the entire facility as a “set” – a far cry from the chaotic, busy streets where an autonomous vehicle might one day drive.

Tesla also presented a “Robovan” that can move up to 20 people autonomously. Like the Cybercab, the van appeared to have no pedals or steering wheel, just seats.

Musk, a noted collector of missed deadlines, has been promising Tesla self-driving technology since 2016. On Thursday evening he made a few more promises. Fully autonomous driving (unsupervised), a technology designed to provide autonomy, will be available in California and Texas next year, Musk says. He says the Cybercab will go into production in 2026 and will ultimately cost less than $30,000.

“I think it will be a glorious future,” he said.

The Robovan.

Photo: WIRED Staff/Tesla

The interior of the Robovan. It holds up to 20 people.

Photo: WIRED Staff/Tesla

Musk reiterated a vision he had previously expressed: that Tesla owners might one day be able to send their vehicles out to offer rides of their own while driving others around, increasing the utility of each individual vehicle by five to ten times to increase. In the future, a person could own a fleet of autonomous taxis and “take care of them like a shepherd takes care of his flock,” Musk said. Tesla has shown models of an Uber-like app that could allow a driver to hail an autonomous Tesla taxi. However, Musk did not provide any new details about the service on Thursday.

Video renderings showed robots cleaning the interior of a cybercab, suggesting a solution to an oft-cited problem of autonomous taxis: how to keep things clean without the help of a human driver. The robotaxi would also be charged wirelessly, using inductive charging, Musk said. However, a timeline for both technical features was not mentioned.

The event ended with Optimus, a humanoid robot that Musk said could eventually make the automaker around $25 trillion by becoming “the largest product of any kind.” The robot is making progress, said Musk. To prove this, five bots illuminated by lights danced in a nearby pavilion. More Optimus bots mingled with the crowd after the presentation, serving drinks at the bar and posing for photos.

Optimus dances.

Photo: WIRED Staff/Tesla

It is your “humanoid friend”.

In April, Musk appeared to allay concerns that Tesla would lose its lead in electric vehicles by insisting that autonomy and robotics would be at the heart of Tesla's mission. “Tesla’s value is largely in autonomy,” Musk told investors this summer. He also encouraged non-believers to sell their Tesla shares.

The event comes at a critical time for Tesla, which faces increasing competition in electric vehicles not only from legacy automakers but also from emerging companies in China that are exporting low-cost vehicles abroad like never before. Tesla deliveries have fallen globally this year and the automaker fell short of analysts' expectations in the most recent quarter. The automaker laid off around 14,000 employees earlier this year, many of whom work on the core competencies of electric vehicle production, including batteries and charging infrastructure. A number of top executives have left the automaker in recent weeks.