It's finally here: Elon Musk has revealed his long awaited autonomous Robotaxi (also referred to as the Cybercab) at an event in Los Angeles.
Looking a lot like the VW XL1 (remember that?), the Robotaxi has no steering wheel or pedals, just two seats, butterfly doors, a couple of cup holders and a massive 21in screen in the middle of the dash. As the name suggests, its crisp flat surfaces and full width light bars have more than a passing resemblance to the Cybertruck.
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This, then, is Musk's vision of a grand autonomous future, where we all get the, “12 days a year,” we spend behind the wheel back, to do more work, watch a film, or more doomscrolling on our phones. There are safety benefits too, Musk claims, “The Cybercab can see in all directions, and never gets tired.” He also promised they’ll be in full production by 2026 with prices starting from $30,000 (P1.7 million).
Although to own one of these in private is to rather miss the point as they are designed to make money scooting about—picking up passengers when a normal car would otherwise be sat dormant. He talks about Uber drivers who could amass a fleet of them, and tend to them like a shepherd with a flock of sheep. There is no word on the ride-sharing app or platform they would operate on.
Perhaps more important that the show-stealing Robotaxi, is the news that from next year, starting in Texas and California, the Model 3 and Model Y with full self-driving capability, will be allowed to self-drive around fully unsupervised. A pay off for everyone who ticked the $5k FSD (P268k Full Self Driving) option. But the significance runs deeper, because it means a huge fleet of Teslas using just their cameras and computing power will be unleashed, giving their owners the option of whether they want to drive themselves, be driven, or allow their cars to go out and make some cash.
Back to Robotaxi. A fleet of 20 fully-functioning prototypes were built to run around the Warner Bros Studio lot, the venue for Musk’s big reveal. Taking passengers on short obstacle laden routes, and Top Gear of course, was there, so we jumped straight in.
Despite looking petite on the road and surprisingly narrow, the interior space with both seats pushed back is dramatic. The seats themselves are flat, squishy, and reclined to promote a relaxed, lounge feel. As you fasten your seatbelt, the door closes automatically. Tap your destination and you’re off.—it’s ridiculously easy. Watch a film, play a game, drink a beer or have a quick snooze while the car does the work.
The driving style is cautious—like your gran taking you to the shops, with safety being the obvious key factor. These prototypes were subjected to all sorts of hurdles: parked cars, intoxicated pedestrians, junctions and parking bays. It dealt with them all just fine. We were expecting the experience to be unnerving, but the truth was without a wheel twirling around, you actually give your trust over to the computers far more easily. We felt at ease within a few meters.
No word on battery size or range yet, because it's still all being figured out. Tesla reckons it’ll be the most efficient EV on the road, returning 8.9km/kwh. A range of around 322 kilometers is the target, with a small battery to keep costs as low as possible. Hence the prototypes using inductive charging only, although whether it gets a plug for production is a topic of hot debate.
Of course, there were a few surprises too, like the Robovan (pictured above), that looks like a very large airstream trailer, designed to carry 20 passengers or cargo. “We will make it, looking like this,” Musk said, without offering any timeframe. Then there was the latest version of Tesla’s humanoid Optimus robot, a product Musk predicted could outstrip everything in popularity, because who doesn’t want a robot buddy? Er, us.
To be fair, we watched Optimus dance, we chatted with it (it hasn’t seen Top Gear, but has heard it’s a great show), it served us a drink, and we saw a glimpse of its potential. “There’s an 80% chance that AI humanoid robots like this will be a good thing for humanity,” Musk said.
Another fascinating night of Tesla fanfare, and finally something tangible to go with all the autonomy news. Driver-less cars are coming, and tonight we saw the shape of them. There's even space for your Optimus buddy to come too.
Watch the full video of our ride in the Tesla Robotaxi:
NOTE: This story first appeared on TopGear.com. Minor edits have been made.
