Tesla has finally revealed its long-promised ‘Robotaxi’ – a compact, self-driving coupé that shows the firm’s vision for a global fleet of autonomous vehicles.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk showed off the autonomous Cybercab concept at an event in the US overnight, alongside a larger self-driving van with 20 seats that’s dubbed the Robovan.
The two vehicles, which have no steering wheels or pedals, are said to operate using artificial intelligence and cameras rather than Lidar sensors and inbuilt mapping software, as is more common for other autonomous vehicles.
They will also be capable of charging wirelessly, said Musk, so don’t have charging ports like Tesla’s conventional cars.
Touting the benefits of self-driving technology at an exclusive event dubbed ‘We Robot’ in California, Musk said: “Think about the cumulative time that people spend in a car, and the time they will get back that they can now spend on their books or watching a movie or doing work or whatever.”
En route to putting the two new self-driving vehicles in production, Tesla plans to have “unsupervised” FSD (full self-driving) technology in the Model 3 and Model Y by 2027.
It has recently rebranded its current-generation FSD software as ‘supervised’, meaning a human driver must be ‘hands on’ in the car and paying attention to the road at all times, after US safety authorities expressed concerns over the AI-powered system’s ability to respond to unpredictable scenarios.
“We’ll move from supervised Full Self-Driving to unsupervised Full Self-Driving. where you can fall asleep and wake up at your destination,” Musk said. “It’s going to be a glorious future.”
Musk said Tesla hopes to be producing the Cybercab by 2027, and selling it to consumers at a projected $30,000 (£23,000), but offered no categoric timeline for the Robovan. He did not confirm any plans to launch the vehicles outside the US.
