Tesla: Elon Musk promises self-driving car rides for the price of a bus ticket
Elon Musk has long been heavy-handed when it comes to the promises made for Tesla's future self-driving cars. As a reminder, the brand's models are currently equipped with an SAE Level 2 autonomous driving system, Autopilot requiring constant supervision from the driver.
However, Tesla has long been hinting at the arrival of an unsupervised version of its Autopilot, which would correspond to SAE level 4 or 5 autonomy. This will be necessary for the future Robotaxi dedicated to autonomous driving that Tesla will unveil in less than three weeks.
Responding to a Tweet questioning the ability of electric buses to operate in freezing temperatures, Elon Musk said on X that “Buses will no longer be needed when Tesla implements unsupervised self-driving, as they will transport people from one point to another for a cost similar to that of a bus ticket.”
A real feat or a new promise on the fly?
This statement is difficult to put into perspective, as the price of a bus ticket varies from one city to another, as does the distance that can be covered with this transport ticket. Our colleagues atElectrek However, they calculated the average cost of a bus ride in New York City at $0.34/mile, or about €0.19/km. study A joint study between several American universities had estimated the cost of a trip in a Tesla Model 3 provided by an autonomous taxi service at $0.663/mile, or about €0.37/km. This is almost double the cost of a bus trip in New York City, and it is quite logical for a vehicle that can accommodate far fewer passengers, but it is still significantly cheaper than the price of an Uber ride, underlines Electrek.
Achieving the goal of offering autonomous taxi rides that are as accessible as a bus ticket therefore seems ambitious. Moreover, this promise lacks precision. When Elon Musk indicates that“They will transport people from one point to another for a cost similar to that of a bus ticket”one may wonder who are “they”. Is he referring to his future Robotaxis, which we do not yet know when or on what scale they will be deployed? To vehicles belonging to customers who could have made them available to a car-sharing service, as Tesla promises them since 2019 ? Or to journeys in a vehicle owned by the passengers, which would completely distort the comparison with the price of a bus ticket?
