Elon Musk unveils 'CyberCab' at Tesla Robotaxi event

Tesla boss Elon Musk unveiled the firm's long-awaited robotaxi CyberCab at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, California on Thursday. the evening

The futuristic car, with two wing-like doors and no pedals or steering wheel, piled up before an audience eager to hear details about a project Mr. Musk considers key to Tesla's next chapter.

At the event, billed as “We, the Robots,” the multi-billionaire reiterated his vision that fully self-driving vehicles would be safer than cars driven by humans and could even earn their owners money, by hiring them for rides.

But his estimate that production of the CyberCab would begin sometime “before 2027” raised questions about whether Mr. Musk would once again exceed his own deadline to deliver a fully self-driving car that could compete with rivals such as Alphabet-owned Waymo.

“I remain optimistic about the timeframe,” he quipped during the event when discussing the CyberCab, which he said would cost less than $30,000 (£23,000).

Mr. Musk also said he could see “fully autonomous unsupervised” technology available next year in Tesla's Model 3 and Model Y in Texas and California “where regulators approve it with a permit.”

But that approval is far from guaranteed.

“It's a big part of driving on the road at high speeds, so the safety concerns are big,” said Samitha Samaranayake, associate professor of engineering at Cornell University.

Tesla's self-driving ambitions rely on inexpensive cameras rather than the radar and lidar (light detection and ranging) sensors that are the technological backbone of many competitors' cars.

By teaching driving, Tesla plans to use artificial intelligence (AI) trained by raw data collected from millions of its vehicles.

But the research community “isn't sold on whether Tesla's operating style can provide the safety guarantees we want,” Mr. Samaranaike said.

The Cybercab project has been delayed outstanding For release in August.

this summer, In a post by X Earlier on Twitter, Mr. Musk said the wait was due to design changes he felt were important.

Meanwhile, competing robotaxis are already operating on some US roads.

Tesla looks poised to post its first annual sales decline, even as sales soften, as competitors pile into the electric vehicle market.

Despite that grim backdrop, Tuesday's event was complete with dancing robots serving drinks to the audience.

Mr. Musk unveiled another prototype for a “Robovan” that can carry about 20 passengers at a time.

The sleek shuttle “could be a mode of transportation that Tesla uses for years to come,” said Wedbush Securities managing director Dan Ives, who attended the event in person.

Another analyst said the event felt like a trip down memory lane and signaled the way forward.

“Musk has done a fantastic job of painting an ideal future for transportation that promises to free up our time and increase safety,” said Jessica Caldwell, head of insights at Edmonds.

But the positive spin didn't obscure the timeline ambitions Musk shared Tuesday night.

“Many questions remain about how this will be achieved from a practical perspective,” Caldwell added.

Robotaxi deployment faces setbacks along with driverless cars operated by General Motors subsidiary The cruise is being canceled in San Francisco After knocking down a pedestrian.

But the sector is expanding. Waymo said It will add the Hyundai Ioniq 5 to its robotaxi fleet in early October after the vehicles undergo on-road testing with the company's technology.

Ride-hailing giant Uber also wants to add more autonomous vehicles to its fleet to expand its delivery and ride-sharing options for customers.

it is announcement A multi-year alliance in August with driverless car developer Cruise.

Chinese tech company Baidu also allegedly Its robotaxi division, Apollo Go, is looking to expand beyond China – where the vehicles are active in several cities.