(Credit: Tesla)
Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Thursday finally unveiled two autonomous electric vehicles during a livestream dubbed "We, Robot," featuring a smaller "Cybercab" and a larger "Robovan."
"There's no steering wheel or pedals, so I hope this goes well," Musk said during the event at the Warner Bros. Studios lot in Burbank, California.
The Cybercab is a smaller coupe with two butterfly doors, two seats, a single band of headlights similar to the Cybertruck, and a stainless-steel look. It doesn't have a charging port, either, as it can charge via induction. Tesla hopes to start production before 2027 and says the Cybercabs will cost less than $30,000 per vehicle.
The Robovan is an autonomous van with hidden wheels that can seat up to 20 people. Tesla renderings envision the Robovan as a camper van, a school bus, or a sleek ride to a wedding. As one Redditor points out, it looks a bit like a transport van from the 2004 sci-fi film I, Robot.
Neither the Cybercab nor the Robotaxi use LiDAR like competitors Waymo or Cruise. Instead, Tesla uses a combination of AI and "vision," Musk said. Tesla's autonomous vehicles don't have steering wheels or pedals, either—which could make them a regulatory challenge.
Musk claims the Cybercab will eventually only cost about 20 cents a mile, while operating the robovans will cost owners about five cents per mile.
He argues that fully autonomous vehicles will be far safer than human-operated vehicles because AI-powered computers don't text or get distracted while driving and are trained on tons of irregular scenarios. But the claim that robotaxis are safer than human drivers ultimately remains to be seen, as existing robotaxis have crashed, hit people, or stalled in the street.
Tesla plans to start fully autonomous, unsupervised Full Self-Driving in Texas and California next year for its Model 3 and Model Y EVs. Eventually, Tesla will look to enable it for all of its vehicles. Musk also shared that Tesla has continued to work on its humanoid robot, Optimus, which may cost somewhere between $20,000 and $30,000.