Tesla announces Cybercab and Robovan, its first completely autonomous vehicles

2016: this is the date on which Elon Musk promised his enthusiasts the imminent arrival of cars capable of driving themselves. Ultimately, we had to wait 8 years for his promise to come true, at least in theory. Autonomous cars : this is what the Cybercab, but also the Robovan are. Let's start with the last one: the Robovan was presented this October 11 by Elon Musk during the “We, Robot” event, in front of Warner Bros. studios. It is a fully autonomous van (without steering wheel or pedals) capable of transporting up to 20 people, without further details. The party was indeed centered around Cybercabs, Tesla's ex-Arlesian.

Musk finally keeps his promises, 8 years later

The Cybercab should begin to be produced in 2026: the models presented during the livestream Tesla being in reality only prototypes. According to Musk, they should cost less than $30,000 each, and consume about 20 cents per mile in electricity (1.6 kilometers). “The autonomous future is here, we have 50 autonomous cars tonight, without any driver” boasted Elon Musk during the event. However, the boss of the firm could not help but make new promises: according to him, the technology will be accessible in two American states from next year (Texas and California).

But then, what will be the main use of Cybercabs? According to Musk, they can both act as taxis, but also as personal vehicles. Thus, Tesla is planning an application similar to Uber to order a Cybercab for a short trip. On the other hand, owners of these autonomous vehicles will be able to directly register their Cybercab in the application to offer its services to other passengers. This is a different method from that already used by Waymo (a subsidiary of Alphabet), which only offers a taxi service via automated vehicles (without the possibility of obtaining a vehicle for personal use).

Competition already established on the market

These new vehicles come at a crucial time for Tesla, which faces increasingly fierce competition in the electric vehicle market, particularly in China. Overall, Tesla model deliveries have declined this year, and the firm cut 14,000 jobs earlier in the year. Musk and Tesla are therefore counting on this futuristic novelty to bounce back, both in public opinion, but also on the stock market.

Note that Tesla concluded this “We, Robot” conference with the presentation of the Optimus humanoid robots, which according to Elon Musk could generate up to 25 billion dollars, becoming the “biggest product in history”. After the presentation, Optimus robots entered the crowd to serve drinks and pose for photos.