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James Douma on the Economics of a Future Tesla Robotaxi

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@jimmy_d explains how when Tesla achieves Level 5 self-driving and is able to deliver their planned Robotaxi network, the economics of car ownership will massively change. Tesla will likely want to maximize the profit it can draw from the years of investment in the technology by raising the price of FSD and/or by charging large network fees for those operating their privately owned Tesla vehicles as Robotaxis. Tesla will need to strike a balance between generating revenue and customers sentiment.

James is an engineer with a physics background. He has been working on neural nets and artificial intelligence since 2007 and has been featured on a number of Tesla and AI related podcasts.

This is a clip from Tesla Motors Club Podcast #37. The full podcast video is available here: Tesla FSD Beta V11, Powerwall, Neuralink, & AI w/ James Douma | Tesla Motors Club Podcast #37
 
As much as I think the concept of a robotaxi sounds great, I think there are many areas where it will never work. San Francisco being one example. I'm sure as soon as someone sees a Tesla driving around with nobody in it - it will be a very short period of time before it gets vandalized. Mirrors snapped off, windows broken, panels scratched etc. The people committing the crime will have masks on an won't care about being recorded. They will feel emboldened by the fact that there is no driver and that between rides it will be empty. I'm sure Tesla is considering all of this, I just don't see a good solution for it.

Again, the concept is cool, but I don't think I'd ever do it unless I considered my Tesla a total beater car.
 
Will Tesla pay for any damage to the vehicle while on the network? If the car gets a flat tire will Tesla pay for it? Rock chip on Windshield who pays? Will Tesla require you to have Tesla only insurance.? Will Tesla accept any and all liabilities if someone is injured in a Self Driving Tesla? Could I be sued if the car does something wrong and a rider or someone else gets hurt or worse?
 
When Elon talks about fully autonomous driving, not just robotaxis, he asserts that the number if cars will decrease because they will be utilized more. I think he's assuming a lot more people will be willing to make their cars available to others than will actually be the case. Aside from people or companies who are or want to be in the fleet business, I can't see a majority of owners making their own cars available in this way. I know I wouldn't do it.

Regarding the cost, people who buy Teslas for personal use aren't going to pay an exorbitant premium for true FSD software once it's available, and for owners who do want to "rent" out their car, Tesla can't force them to use Tesla's network vs. something else, say a future version of Turo or driverless Uber. Elon wants everyone to have FSD, not just the people who want to make money from it.

When we get to true FSD, there will be people who will use to it make money, but it's not something the majority of owners will do, in my opinion. I think it will be a very long time before we find out.