Elon Musk and Tesla To Unveil Robotaxi in August

Elon Musk quietly dropped news via a one-sentence statement on X that Tesla would unveil a robotaxi on Aug. 8. He did not provide further details regarding his statement dated April 5, 2024.

CNN reports that Musk has in the past referenced that Tesla would make a car without controls. He has also noted that Tesla’s car area is already capable of fully self-driving.

This statement, which simply said, “Tesla Robotaxi unveil on 8/8,” piggybacks on comments Elon Musk made in 2019 about robotaxis. At that time, Musk announced at an investor event that he expected his company to start operating these special vehicles by 2020.

Musk expected his self-driving vehicles to provide direct competition to Uber and Lyft. He also stressed that Tesla owners could make a side income by renting out their cars for the service when not in use.

Tesla Robotaxi unveil on 8/8

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 5, 2024

USA Today reported on Musk’s 2019 commentary. At the time, he shared his thoughts regarding Tesla’s auto-driving future in the automobile industry.

“From our standpoint, if you fast forward a year – maybe a year and three months, but next year for sure – we’ll have over a million robotaxis on the road,” Musk said five years ago. “The fleet wakes up with an over-the-air update; that’s all it takes.”

He believed 2020 would bring a million Tesla cars on the road with complete self-driving hardware. Currently, its autopilot system is an advanced driver assistance feature.

Motorists can use this autopilot assistance program to help with parking and making lane changes. However, Telsa has yet to have its fleet of cars at Level 4 Autonomy, where the vehicle can perform all driving tasks while monitoring the driving environment itself. Currently, the driver must supervise the vehicle’s movements.

Capital One reports that Tesla’s Full Self-Driving capability, the name for its suite of semi-autonomous driving technology and tools, can be purchased for an additional $15,000 on top of the car’s roughly $40,000 purchase price. It can also be purchased monthly for up to $199, depending on how the vehicle was originally equipped.