Elon Musk Debuts Tesla’s ‘Cybercab’, Glimpses Future of Robotics

Tesla CEO Elon Musk unveiled a two-door gull-wing robotaxi with no steering wheel or pedals at a fun event Thursday and added a robovan to the roster as the company’s focus shifts from a cheap mass-market automaker to a robotics maker .

Musk, 53, arrived on the scene with a “Cybercab,” which he said will go into production in 2026 and will be priced under $30,000. He said the operation would cost 20 cents a mile over time, and charging would be inductive, requiring no plugs.

Musk, who is also the world’s richest man, said the cars are based on artificial intelligence and cameras.

He said the cars don’t need other hardware like what robotaxi competitors use — an approach that investors and analysts have pointed to as challenging from both a technical and regulatory perspective.

“The autonomous future is here,” Musk said. “We have 50 fully autonomous cars here tonight. You’ll see the Model Ys and the Cybercab. All driverless.”

The tech mogul also unveiled a larger self-driving vehicle – called the Robovan – capable of carrying up to 20 people and showed off Tesla’s Optimus humanoid robot.

Musk’s plan is to operate a fleet of self-driving Tesla taxis that passengers can operate via an app. Individual Tesla owners will also be able to earn money on the app by listing their vehicles as robotaxis.

Thursday’s event at the Warner Bros studio near Los Angeles, California, is titled “We, Robot” — an obvious nod to the science fiction short stories “I, Robot” by American author Isaac Asimov, but also echoes Musk’s insistence that Tesla “should be thought of as a robotic artificial intelligence company” rather than an automaker.

The futuristic event was attended by investors, stock analysts and Tesla fans.

Investors waiting for concrete details on how quickly Tesla can ramp up robotaxi production, secure regulatory approval and implement a strong business plan to beat rivals such as Alphabet’s Waymo were left disappointed.

“Everything looks good, but not much in terms of timelines, I’m a shareholder and I’m pretty disappointed. I think the market wanted more definitive timelines,” said Dennis Dick, equity trader at Triple D Trading. “I don’t think he said much about anything… He didn’t give much information.”

Musk said he tends to be optimistic about timeframes.

In 2019, the tech entrepreneur said he was “very confident” the company would have operational robotics by next year.

After missing promises, Musk shifted his focus to vehicle development this year after scrapping plans to build a smaller, cheaper car widely seen as necessary to counter slowing EV demand.